What follows is a rough-edit of the episode, so please forgive typos and/or formatting errors.

All content is my own; requests to use this material – with proper citation – can be sent to [email protected] 

Episode 210: Cheers to Your Springtime Pep Talk (An Encore Replay of Episode 070)

Hello, my music teacher friends. Welcome to the Beyond Measure podcast hosted by me, Christina Whitlock, also known as your anytime piano teacher friend. This is a space for teachers who like to think beyond the status quo of traditional piano lessons and explore the very human elements of what we do in our work.

We are one another’s greatest assets as teachers, and I am so glad you’re here. So let’s get on with the show. You are listening to episode 210 of the Beyond Measure podcast.

In an attempt to balance my life a little better as we head into the throes of spring in piano teacher land, today I am offering up a replay that first aired three years ago. Here’s what’s funny, friends. This is an episode I completely forgot about. I was hunting for a good candidate for a replay episode and this episode 70 ended up

ministering to me as I listened back to it. It’s exactly what I needed to hear this week, and I’m hoping it does the same for you. What’s even funnier is the fact that literally earlier this week, I started laughing to myself about a goofy story from my past, and I started trying to decide if I could work it into a podcast episode or not. Well, lo and behold,

That story is at the end of today’s replay. So I guess the answer is yes, I can work it into a podcast episode. And I already did. I’m telling you, life is so funny. What follows is a pep talk for spring and it centers on three really important things. Work, rest, and play.

It’s an episode that has something for everyone, and I’m really excited to share it again today. So without further delay, I give you the encore replay of episode number 70. Cheers to a pep talk for spring. Please forgive the less than stellar audio quality on this one. I was still new and recording on my phone in my closet. Here you go, friends.

Christina Whitlock (02:47)
I hope I have your full attention today because we’re going to talk about something really important. We are going to give ourselves a big pep talk for the months ahead. If you happen to be listening to this episode the week it releases, you will know that we just entered a new season. It’s spring everybody. I love spring.

There’s something about that renewed energy that just brings everything right back to life. And yet there’s also something so exhausting about it as music teachers. I actually take a very firm stance that the months of April and May to me feel even crazier than the months of November and December.

And we all know how crazy those months are as musicians, but there’s just something extra crazy feeling about the spring. I’m sure some of it has at least something to do with these like residual feelings of being a student, right? Like springtime was our time to prove ourselves and prove that we had gained another

years level of knowledge and performance skills, right, to move on up the chain in our course standing, right? So maybe it’s some of that, but I also think it’s because, I mean, if your studio structured anything like mine, your students are doing a lot of performing these months. And that brings added stress of preparation. It adds added stress of

just soaking up all of your students’ performance anxieties and all of that concern we have over how our students are going to be perceived and of course, in turn, how we are going to be perceived. The list goes on and on, but I just always think that these next few months are the craziest of the entire calendar year. So I am…

really trying to gear myself up to do it better than I’ve done it in the past and to try to keep my focus on what really matters in these next few months. And I’m hoping you’ll join me today because I have a feeling you could use a little pep talk for spring as well. So I have a really important question for you today.

And I just like, really want you to think hard about this. Okay. This is definitely a heavy participation episode. All right. So I want you to picture your future self at the end of this academic year. So for me, that is the end of May, but I know many of you have academic years that trickle into June or even into July. So just, you know,

Change your calendars accordingly, but think about how you want to feel when you wrap up this academic year. If you were going to ask yourself what it’s going to take for you to feel really successful at the end of this school year, what would that look like? What’s it going to take? I don’t want this to come off like all formulaic or something.

But I just know that because as music teachers, we do lead very busy lives, we tend to fly through a lot of things by the seat of our pants. I just know that we don’t always do a great job of playing the long game or really establishing what it is that is going to allow us to feel accomplished or successful in what we do. So I want you to really think about it.

when you glance into your future, give me something that is going to help you evaluate whether you’re a success this year or not. So I’d be willing to bet money that a lot of you are thinking about your students like final performances, right? You’re thinking, okay, well, if my studio recital goes really well and everyone’s prepared and plays their best and, you know, the list goes on and on.

you know, then I will feel successful. And you know what? That’s great. That is a very accomplishing feeling. Some of you might look at your re-enrollment numbers for the next year. For those of you who ask students to contract at the end of one academic year for the beginning of the next, then yes, those student retention rates offer a really clear picture of how

committed your students are to your studio, yes? Maybe you have a financial goal that’s going to help you feel successful. Actually, I think that’s really great. Maybe you’re trying to save up a certain amount of money or you’re trying to pay off a certain amount of debt. That, for the record, is a great goal because it’s very measurable. It gives you a clear idea of whether you met the goal or you didn’t, right?

I want to stick with that one for just a second because I know, you know, we are a teaching profession and we are passionate about what we do and we love our students and many of us take the stance that we would keep teaching even if we didn’t need the money, right? Well, I can say that has been true for me in some seasons of my life, but in this season of my life right now, yeah, it’s about the money.

to some extent. mean, again, I adore my students. I am fully invested in them and their futures. I just think they are the best. However, I give up way too much time with my own family while I’m teaching to not make decent money doing it. It’s just not worth it. So the financial picture here, I know some people kind of

frown upon it like we’re not supposed to be motivated by money in our profession, but you know, that’s okay too. It is a job after all. And I just want you to recognize that it’s okay to factor the money that you make into your evaluation of what makes you a success. All right, so again, I ask you, what is it going to take for you to feel good and satisfied

and proud of the work that you do over the next few months. I’ll tell you mine and you know for better or worse here it is. So it’s not a big surprise to you I’m sure that I am a big people pleaser. I really like to earn other people’s approval. So for me one of the things that really contributes to my feeling of success at the end of the school year

is having a studio full of families who are not just satisfied with their lesson experience this year, but who are like really enthusiastic about it. I wish, I mean, I really wish that I didn’t look so hard for the approval of my students’ families because I mean, in the end, we never really know what they’re thinking, right?

are not always as they appear. But at the same time, I love ending a semester with successful performances and really happy studio families. I love getting flooded with words of affirmation. I love again seeing those contracts come back signed, eagerly ready to sign up for another year, regardless of rate increases or

policy changes or whatever it may be, I love knowing that my families see value in what I do and that they are ready to keep signing up for more. That to me makes me feel successful. All right, so I am fully aware that the measure of my own success should not weigh in on any kind of perception I hold from other people.

but I’m also all about keeping it honest here. So I hope that you have a better measure of your own success than I do, but there it is. It just is what it is. knowing that those final performance perceptions are going to play such a strong part in how I reflect on this year, that helps me shift my energy to all of the places it needs to go.

instead of letting it get spread to areas where it doesn’t need to go. For example, I know that choosing my students repertoire for that final recital is a really important task, right? So I can prioritize providing them with choices that they’re going to love and that they’re going to be able to handle, right?

I can prioritize making sure that I gather their feedback so that I know that they are especially enthusiastic about what they’re playing this next couple of months. I can prioritize the timeline they’re working on to make sure they are ready and comfortable and set to have a great spring performance. I can prioritize my organization of my spring recital so that I can

get as much done ahead of time as possible and that way I can, you know, float through the day as effortlessly as one can when they’re hosting a piano recital. In other words, what you may not be gathering as I paint this picture of my expectations is that over the course of the next several months, my students participate in several events.

We have a lot of competition play and festival play and school events and all of these kinds of things that creep into the spring performance calendar. And what that assessment on my own priorities means is that, yeah, I’m going to help my students be as prepared as I possibly can for all of these other events. But actually what matters to me is having a really

great spring recital. And as long as I’m focusing my energy there, I know that that is a good like return on investment of all of my brain power and sweat equity. So teacher friends, again, I just think you would be so well served to really take a few minutes today, sit down and think about

what success looks like for you at the end of this academic year. I would be so interested in knowing what you come up with. Okay, so I told you this was a pep talk today. So I have three pieces of advice for you before we go today. Are you ready? They’re pretty simple. But I think there’s three things that we have to do this next few months. My friends, they are work hard.

rest hard and play hard. So let’s start with work hard. Yes, we are not in the off season here, friends. We are really like in peak performance time, quite literally. So it’s important that we are putting in the time that we are putting in the planning. We are working with our students. are keeping positive mindsets and we are cheerleading them all to the finish. Yes.

100%. I think you all have that part down just fine. But we, and I’m talking to myself here as I’m preaching to you, but we have got to rest hard and rest well because we just cannot run this gauntlet if we are not well rested. All right, friends, can we all take a vow together today that we are going to rest better?

I know for me, I am coming off several weeks where my days have been planned to the hilt, like from 6.30 AM to like 8.30 PM. I have not had a single block of time to do like normal people things like go to the grocery store or do the laundry or whatever, right? Let alone things like reading a book or doing any kind of like spiritual development. No.

been a really crazy couple of weeks. So I am using the following two weeks when I’m not teaching on spring break to do a massive overhaul of my calendar and to try to figure out where on earth I’m going to rest because it’s just so important and I know there are so many of you out there in the same boat as I am and we’ve

Just gotta rest, friends, we just have to. Do you remember back in episode 63 when I was talking about my recurring life lesson of the fact that if you try to do everything, you are not going to do anything all that well? Well, here we are. I am relearning it for the thousandth time and it’s just so true.

And I know you and well, I don’t know you necessarily, but I know a lot of you and I know that the quality of our work really matters to us. So we have to refuel our bodies in numerous ways to make sure that we can be at our best for these students. Yes. And yes. And you know, that third thing I mentioned, that whole play hard thing. Well, I’ll tell you.

I don’t think we’re all that great at it. I have been doing a ton of research lately on the effects of fun and play and frivolity in our lives. And I think as teachers, we actually do know the research on play pretty well, right? We know that our students are going to learn faster and better and deeper if they are engaged in an act that they perceive as play.

versus just instruction, right? We know this. The research has been out there for a while. And we’re really good at applying that knowledge to our teaching, but I don’t know that we’re so great at applying it to our lives. So I am on a mission to do more things just for the sake of fun. And I’ve got to tell you, I mean, I know I’m a pretty lighthearted person and I like to have a good time.

but I don’t know that I’m all that fun. So I’m working on that one. I had this random memory recently of a time when I was in high school and my friends and I had gone to like a yard sale and there was this elderly woman selling like boxes and boxes of these like really ill-fitting polyester pants. They had like a, you know, like an elastic waistband.

and they were in all these like really bizarre prints and we all got really tickled by them. And so she was selling them for like a quarter or something. And we each bought a pair. And one night we like wore our like old lady pants out to like go mini golfing. And it was so ridiculous because I know we looked so goofy, but we just laughed.

the whole time. And it was just over something silly, like wearing funny pants. And not that you’re probably going to see me sporting those out and about now, but I just can’t help but think about how reluctant so many of us are just to like go out and do silly things that have no consequence to anyone else, but just make us smile and make us laugh. So I

want you to join me in planning one or two just like silly things to get us through the next few months. My friends, I think we’re going to need it. We have all been through the wringer a few times this last few years. And you know, there’s this slight hint of optimism brewing on the horizon here that life may, you know, start to return to something like we used to know and

I want us to enjoy it. So I want you to plan your silly events. We’re going to work hard, we’re going to rest hard, and we’re going to play hard. Is that agreeable to you? I hope so.

And on that note, I think it’s time for a toast. Music teacher friends all over the world, today I am raising my glass in celebration of you and all of the things you are going to accomplish in these next few months. I hope you can keep your eye on the prize. I hope that you remember that your students’ performances are not the only reflection of the good work you do each and every day.

And I hope that in the end, you’re able to look back on these months full of pride and satisfaction in what your students were able to accomplish and likewise in what you were able to accomplish through them. So I again, raise my glass to you and offer you the best spring 2022 that life has to offer you. Hear hear my music teacher friends.

Christina Whitlock (21:59)
there you have it friends, our encore replay of the springtime pep talk. it’s a fun walk down memory lane and also such a great reminder that when it comes to piano teaching, there really is nothing new under the sun. The struggles of today have often been struggles for a long time.

Switching gears for a quick second, I want to remind you that I am only able to produce this show each week because of the support of my super friends on Patreon. If you appreciate the fact that you don’t have to sit through ads for things I may or may not actually like, I hope you’ll consider joining the Patreon community today. Or if subscriptions weird you out, I get it.

You can also support me by purchasing the 2025 recital guide. The price will be increasing later this week, so if you want a solid overview of 36 supplemental piano works that are sure to please and to support my work in the process, head to christinawhitlock.com slash 2025 and get your guide today. That’s christinawhitlock.com.

I’m adding some bonus material later this week over there, and I think you’ll be really glad you got it when you did. I have no new teacher friend of the week for you this week, so Sarah Roth, I guess you reign for another week. I hope this frenzy to the end of the school year treats you well, my friends. Onward and upward, indeed.