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Hello, my teacher friends!  Welcome to Episode number 13 of the Beyond Measure Podcast.  My name is Christina Whitlock, happy as always to be your Anytime Piano Teacher Friend.

So, first off – thanks for loving last week’s episode!  As we navigate these fresh strategies for a New Year, I thought we’d spend a few weeks doing some light self-evaluation.  You should probably know, if you haven’t figured it out already, I’m a total sucker for all things self-reflective, vision-planning, personality-analysis… you get the idea.  Many of you messaged me this week to tell me you enjoyed my little 5-minute homework assignment from last week, so I thought I’d give you a little bit more to ponder this coming week.

Today, I thought we’d talk about Teaching Philosophies.  Have you ever written a teaching philosophy?  If you’ve ever taken a course in Pedagogy, the chances are somewhat high you have.  But, I know that doesn’t apply to every studio teacher, and for others, well, perhaps it’s been a minute since you wrote one.

First off, let’s talk about what a philosophy of teaching is.  Maybe that sounds complicated to you?  Maybe it sounds like unnecessary busy work.  Maybe it sounds intimidating, or whatever…but I’ll beg to differ with all those things.

A philosophy of teaching is, simply, a collection of ideas you have about your approach to teaching music.  Here’s the deal:  it is no secret the music teaching profession employees a WIDE variety of individuals.  If we’re being honest, most of us are guilty of judging the approach of a teacher or two in our past.  In the end, I’ve learned to make peace – and, actually, to EMBRACE – the fact that there are teachers out there with a wide variety of experiences, expectations, and approaches to teaching.  Barring any type of behavior that is actually HARMFUL to a student, I have no problem with the fact that there are many educators out there who see the world of music teaching differently than I do.

Knowing this, challenging yourself to write a teacher’s philosophy can help you carve out a more clearly-defined role for yourself in this diverse profession we share.

You – being you – probably have some idea of what you feel strongly about in your studio.  However, I think there’s something more impactful about giving your insights enough designated attention to put them in writing.  And- of course – if it exists in hard-copy, it provides a great marketing tool to share on your website, your social media, or to distribute to current students.  A well-articulated studio philosophy can be a REAL selling point for potential students.  I credit mine with helping attract the types of families who understand I am ALL IN when it comes to piano teaching; as opposed to someone who just does this as a little side hustle.

(Let me just say, again, there’s nothing wrong with side-hustle teachers; it’s just not who I am).

Now, of course, I could end the episode right now and say, “Hey – go write your philosophy of teaching and let me know how it goes” – but that would be of pretty little help, wouldn’t it?  Never fear!  I have a tried-and-true system to share, and the best news is, it does NOT involve five straight hours of deep thinking and beating yourself up over the inability to craft a perfectly-written philosophy.

Truth be told, I love to write, and pouring over crafting the perfect sentence is something that actually brings me a lot of joy.   BUT – I would not consider myself to be in the majority, so here’s my Foolproof Strategy for writing a studio philosophy:

Many years ago – probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 2008 – I attended a symposium at Butler University, where Steve Roberson talked about this idea of building your studio philosophy.  He compared it to a program that aired in 1951 on NPR, called, “This I Believe”.  This program aired for four years, and consisted of individuals – some famous, some not – writing short essays on whatever beliefs they’ve come to feel sure of in this life.

During that workshop, Dr. Roberson challenged us to approach our teaching philosophies with that one simple question:  When it comes to teaching music, what do you believe?

Well, even though I’d written MULTIPLE philosophies for MULTIPLE pedagogy courses by that point in life, I found Dr. Roberson’s perspective to be delightfully straightforward, and it has stayed with me ever since.

Now that I’m teaching piano pedagogy courses myself, my first-semester students are given a handout on Day one, titled, “This I Believe”.  I invite them to keep this document close in class, and to set up a note on their phones where they can keep track of ideas as they come to them (after all, we know some of our best ideas come to us when we least expect it, right?).

The reason I like this approach, is the prompt doesn’t give any pressure.  There’s no need to craft the perfect sentence, because you can do this in bullet points.  It doesn’t have to be a life-defining reflection of your contributions to this field.  There’s no requirement of how many beliefs you must list.  After all, when it comes to something like this, simplicity often communicates more than something verbose ever will.  There’s also no timeframe.  It’s an easily-editable, adaptable collection of thoughts.  Since our approaches to teaching are likely to evolve over our careers, something as simple as asking yourself, “when it comes to teaching, what do I believe?” is manageable.

So, teacher friends, that’s what I would encourage you to do today.  Start a note in your phone, in your bullet journals, or somewhere you have easy access to.  Over the next few weeks or months, add whatever thoughts come to your brain.  Just fundamental aspects of music teaching (I’ll give you mine momentarily).  After a few weeks/months/whatever of collection, you can then go back and think a little deeper, edit a little more substantially, and oila!  You will have yourself a Studio Teaching Philosophy that helps define your place in this space.

So, in the name of “going first”, I’ll share with you the Philosophy I have on my studio website at the moment.  But – let it be known – that after putting this episode together, I feel challenged in my own rite to start from scratch.  Perhaps you are in the same boat:  I review my philosophy every summer, and sometimes make small tweaks, but I also can’t help but feel like, rather than editing an already-existing document, I think it might be helpful for me to start from a clean slate.  So, I’m going to join you in compiling a fresh list of ideas over the next several weeks.  Maybe I’ll end up with the same ideas…but maybe I won’t.  If nothing really changes, I can move forward affirmed.  Or, perhaps I’ll stumble upon some worthy improvements.  J

As I mentioned before – I tend to think simple is the way to go here.  However, brevity has NEVER been my strong suit, so these are a little lengthier than I would probably like.  More reason to revise, I suppose…  But, just so you know, I’m going to read the primary bullet points of my philosophy, but on my website, each of these bullets contains a small bit of accompanying text.  If you’re interested in reading my philosophy in its entirety, feel free to google Whitlock Piano Studio Philosophy and I’m sure you’ll find it.

Anyway – the basics of My current studio philosophy read like this:

As founder of Whitlock Piano Studio, and as a teacher of music, I believe the following:

• Everyone, regardless of age or unique ability, is capable of making music successfully. With proper training and motivated practice, ANY student can learn to find fulfillment at the piano.
• Relationships are key to successful music study.As a teacher, my students need to know I am equally invested in them as artists and as human beings.  Therefore, what might be perceived as student “chattiness” may actually be an important aspect of building the teacher-student bond.
• Music is a language, thus a form of communication.The music we make is often a reflection of what is going on in our lives.  As such, open dialogue  between students and teacher, parents and teacher, as well as students and parents, is incredibly beneficial to the learning process.
• The importance of art for the sake of art. While science continues to provide undeniable evidence for the MANY benefits of music study, we must not lose sight of the fact that enjoyment of music is a fundamental aspect of human nature, and the pursuit of making music simply for the joy of it is worthwhile in its own right.
• Musical studies foster more than creativity and entertainment.  While keeping the above point in mind, the development of critical thinking, analysis, research, inquiry, and problem solving skills are all part of this training.  With greater nationwide emphasis being placed on STEAM areas of education, it is important to recognize how proper musical training supports these systems of thinking.
• Natural abilities may help individuals achieve greater success, but this never occurs without focused effort.There is no substitute for time spent at the piano.
• Parents play a pivotal role in the success of young musicians.The amount of necessary parental involvement will vary by child and age, but every student needs to feel support, encouragement, and investment from their families throughout the week.
• Effective practice time involves a balance of discipline and enjoyment.Successful students focus their attention consistently throughout the week on all assigned material, but also spend time exploring music independently, in various styles that satisfy their musical curiosities.

So, my friends, there you have it!   A non-threatening, non-time-consuming way to build (or refresh) your Studio Philosophies.  It might work out very well to simply collect ideas for the remainder of the semester, and use the summer months to compile your “final draft” – even if it’s never really final.

Of course, once you go to this effort – however minimal it might be – I would strongly encourage you to SHARE this philosophy! Publish it on whatever piece of internet real estate you have, distribute it to current families and potential students, and maybe even consider displaying it in your studio itself.  My dentist – of all people – has a copy of his Philosophy of Dental Practice (yes, it’s a thing) – displayed in every single room of his practice.  It’s something I noticed right away, and instantly admired.

From a parental perspective, I can say this: my daughter has had the same teacher for 4^th and 5^th grades, and at the beginning of the school year, she distributes THE MOST FANTASTIC teaching philosophy; centering on ideas of how struggle is an integral part of the learning process, and on the benefits of gamification in the educational process.  I seriously love this philosophy so much, I’ve found myself pulling it out and reading it for my own enjoyment as an educator.  No joke.  I love it that much.

(music) The time has almost come to say goodbye, but first – you know I can’t help myself – I need to give a proper send-off.  Allow me, once again, to offer a toast, to you:

Music teacher friends of the world, we are changing lives every week.  And, as you know, those lives are changing us as well.  I hope you will take steps this week to record your beliefs when it comes to teaching – or any other important aspect of your life – and, ultimately, I hope these will help you feel ever-more-secure in your identity as an educator.  Your ideas DO NOT HAVE TO resemble mine.  In fact, the entire point of this exercise is to search your own values and ideas.

I raise a glass to you, my teacher friends, and honor the uniqueness you bring to our field.  Thanks for being part of such important work.  Here here!

That was fun, wasn’t it?  I hope I’m not alone in finding self-reflection so much fun.  J

Speaking of FUN, be sure to come hang out with me on Instagram and Facebook – just search BeyondMeasurePodcast.  I also want to throw a HUGE thank you to those who are writing reviews on Apple podcasts.  If you don’t know, star reviews are awesome – thanks for those! – but written reviews REALLY give the algorithms incentive to boost this podcast further in cyberspace.  Those of you who have left written reviews thus far are AMAZING!  Seriously, you have echoed every hope I’ve ever had for this podcast so that has been wildly affirming.  So, those who have written, please know you hold a special place in my heart…and, for the rest of you, know that’s a place that has room for more!  J

Alright – I’ll leave that there, my friends.  Thanks again for hanging out with me today.  Take those philosophy notes this week, and I’ll see you back here next Monday!  Make it a good one!