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Episode 249:  Cheers to (More!) Activities for Busy Seniors and Teens

Well hello there, my studio teacher friends! Welcome to Episode 249 of the Beyond Measure Podcast. Christina Whitlock here, your host and self-appointed Anytime Piano Teacher Friend.  I created Beyond Measure to give teachers like you a little dose of solidarity each week and I’m so glad you’ve found me. Today’s episode is a continuation of last week’s episode. We’re looking at WHAT TO DO with those busy Seniors, and, perhaps, those busy teenagers in general. Are you ready?  Let’s get on with the show! You are listening to episode 249 of the Beyond Measure Podcast.

If you didn’t listen to last week’s episode, you’ll want to go back and do that. We talked about helping make sure our Seniors got some exposure to all the top hits of the piano repertoire.

I received a ton of excited feedback after last week’s episode, so let’s keep the party rolling today with four MORE things you can do with busy High School Seniors.

First up today: Have you ever considered using your Senior’s lesson time to talk about the basics of piano teaching? Taking a few weeks to explore foundational piano pedagogy or exploring method series so they can get a peek into that world?

You may know, I often run pedagogy programs for High School students in the summers.  I run one local to me for students who can come in person, and I run one online for students all around the world.

I’m passionate about this because I *know* these students will often end up teaching someone – or many someones – when the opportunity appears.

I think it would be incredibly fruitful for you to set aside a few weeks of a students’ Senior Year to talk about the basics of teaching. We all know our musical understanding is further solidified when we teach these things to others. So, why not let your students get further inside these concepts by learning to teach them to others?

I don’t think you have to dive too deeply here; just pull out a few method books and study them together with your student; talking about different approaches and letting them brainstorm their own ways to teach rhythm and movement and technique. I would have LOVED doing that with my teachers in high school.

Even if you don’t want to go back to the very beginning and address the earliest elementary levels, you could also talk about ways to teach concepts from the later elementary or intermediate levels of study.

In a perfect world, it’s actually much more ideal for a new teacher to work with students who have more experience.  A high school senior working with an early intermediate student, for instance, is often an even better setup than introducing them to the art of teaching younger children. When a teenager is able to work with someone whose music more closely resembles theirs? Magic can happen.

Let’s not forget: when you study how to TEACH something, you end up learning that thing on a whole new level. We’ve all experienced it ourselves. Why not bring a little bit of that benefit to our high school students?

It’s been awhile, but I’ve run informal masterclasses in my studio where my High School Seniors are the featured teachers.  It can be very sweet. You can invite younger students to play pieces your Seniors once loved to play, or new repertoire; either way… but you can then give your seniors a few minutes to share their thoughts and experiences with your younger students.

This is a GREAT way to encourage community in your studio, and SOME seniors – not all, but SOME – will really rise to this occasion. It’s not the right fit for everyone, but if you have some really personable seniors this year?  I’d really consider how you can help them get their feet wet in the piano teacher world. However small.

Moving onto our second idea for Busy Seniors: What about planning a low-key senior performance of some kind?

Here’s the deal:  For many years, I was spoiled with Seniors who wanted to put on full solo recital programs. They were absolute capstones of their study with me, and I have GREAT memories from each of those performances.  However, in recent years, I’ve noticed a drastic change in my students’ desires to put together that kind of performance Senior Year. Even my students who are fully gung-ho on the idea in the fall often pitter out by January and decide they just want to take it easy and soak up the remainder of their senior year.

The truth is, there are MANY ways to host a senior performance.  If we’re not doing a formal recital, I love having students give a small performance of 2-3 pieces at their Graduation Party, if the location has a piano.

I *also* love the idea of hosting small in-home recitals for a handful of family members. This does not have to be a big deal. In fact, my favorite thing to do is to have students plan, essentially, a walk down their musical memory lane.  I ask students to think back through their favorite pieces at each stage of study.  This takes the pressure off to learn a bunch of monster repertoire. Instead, they can showcase a big piece or two, and then enjoy revisiting older repertoire.

Last week, I talked a bit about the sentimentality of senior year and this is a way to REALLY lean into that.

Years ago, I had a student perform a program that began with Dad’s Dune Buggy by Myra Brooks-Turner, and she ended with Schumann’s Aufschwung.  That was quite a range of repertoire… but it was so fun.

Even if you’re not putting together a program, why not take a few weeks of Senior Year and dedicate them to revisiting old favorites?  We all know how you find things you never noticed about a piece when you revisit it after time.  And, our understanding of the instrument is ALWAYS evolving… so there’s always something new to try, even with old repertoire.

Tell your Senior their assignment for next week is to bring you something OLD. Like, from YEARS ago. Without fail, my students seem to enjoy the excuse to go back through their old books and explore.

Secretly, this embodies everything we WANT our seniors to feel about music study: it feels low-pressure, low-stakes, and it’s fun to EXPLORE those piles of old books and to reminisce about what’s inside. It’s something WE should be doing with our old books, too.

Okay, onto number three: this is something I often recommend to try with teenagers, in general. Let’s not downplay the importance of listening to great performers with our students, okay?

Many years ago, I had a student preparing one of the Grieg Lyric Pieces for a masterclass. We were in that position where he was VERY well-prepared weeks in advance and I decided to take an entire lesson and devote it to studying different interpretations. We had SUCH FUN pulling up different REPUTABLE performers on YouTube and studying their tempo choices, their articulations, their physical approach…

In hindsight, that was one of my favorite lessons with that student and we barely played the piano.

And yet – I promise you – sitting with him and exploring the impact of these different artistic choices?  It really unlocked his perspective of what was possible with our repertoire. Not just the piece he was working on, but everything we did after the fact.

Sure, I could have assigned him those listening assignments at home… and that would have been better than nothing.  But, sitting together and talking through those interpretations?  Saying – “Oh hold up..did you hear that?” and jumping back to listen to a passage again? It was priceless. I would absolutely encourage you to do the same with your teens from time to time.

Seriously, friends… if WE are not exposing our students to these great performers… if WE are not the ones shaping their view of interpretation… who do we expect to do it?

Funny story, though… when I was in undergrad, the oboe professor decided to play her studio class three recordings of a piece for them to discuss. Mind you, this was just an audio recording. YouTube didn’t exist yet, if you can believe it. Anyway – the studio all HEAVILY criticized one of the three recordings –  basically ripping the interpretation TO SHREDS – only for the professor to reveal at the end of class that was HER recording! My friends in that studio were mortified.

So, you know… that’s a cautionary tale about sharing your OWN recordings with students.  It’s not for the faint of heart.

Our fourth and final suggestion for today is really basic, but maybe the most important. DUETS: DUETS DUETS DUETS.  Many years ago I started a tradition where I play a duet with each senior at our spring recital. It’s a fun treat. But regardless of whether or not you’re preparing for a performance… if your student hasn’t practiced well?  If they don’t have their books? Duets are almost ALWAYS a great way to spend your lesson time.  It’s like practicing sightreading but on steroids.

Stock your teacher library with duets at every level. They’re so important for enforcing rhythmic integrity, for unlocking the imagination, for helping students feel like they’re playing something bigger than they are…. Sigh. All the love for duets, friends.

Okay!  SO: If you feel like your Senior is hitting a slump, I really hope you’ll consider these ideas. Just to recap, we talked last week about exploring excerpts of famous piano themes, and today we covered talking about foundations of teaching, exploring OLD favorite pieces, watching and listening to different interpretations of their repertoire, and good ole DUETS.

Before you go, I wanted to remind you that my SuperFriends on Patreon will gather THIS FRIDAY for another session of Teachers Teaching Teachers.  This week’s focus is on SCALES and how to keep them fresh and inventive for students.

Can I just take a second and brag about Teachers Teaching Teachers for a second?   This month marks our THIRD YEAR of TTT sessions.  We’ve been having live discussions for more than three years, but TTT officially launched in its official format in February of 2023. We’ve covered A LOT of repertoire in that time.  We’ve answered a LOT of questions, and I have made Teacher Friends that I wouldn’t trade for anything. If you’re looking for a crew of teachers to support you… who never speak out of judgement… you should totally check out the Beyond Measure SuperFriends on Patreon.  It only costs $6 to join and that helps ensure this podcast can continue getting produced.

Anyway… all that to say, let’s toast our way out of here!

Studio Music Teacher Friends from all around the world: Today we celebrate the harrowing journey of wrapping up studies with high school seniors. May we embrace the idea of stepping outside the box… foregoing the status quo with these students, constantly asking ourselves what we want them to know when they leave our studios. Let’s prioritize the way they FEEL as musicians. Let’s do everything in our power to help them nurture a relationship with their instrument that they WANT to return to, whether they’re taking private lessons or not. For our seniors, the training wheels are about to come off. Let’s prepare them to go on their merry way equipped with a strong love and appreciation for playing their instrument. Are you with me?  I know you are.  Hear, hear.

That’s it for today, friends!  Check out ChristinaWhitlock.com/superfriends for all the details on joining the patreon crew for this week’s Teachers Teaching Teachers. I’ll be back with you for a special episode next week: number 250!  Get excited. I’ll see you then. Onward and upward!