May Day! May Day! Studio Recital Stress!

This month seemed liked the perfect time to talk about upcoming recitals and preparation to avoid any undue stress associated with the event. There are many possibilities to structure studio activities in a way that eliminates or minimizes potential stressors. Here are a few ideas.

Weekly Observation

I actually begin this particular activity in March at the end of our spring break, but teachers can begin this activity at any time. My purpose here is to capture what I need for the recital. So I grab a small legal pad and start taking notes as I observe things that need to be done, come up with ideas for the recital, or think of things that I need to remember. My legal pad fills up rather quickly within 2 days. Here are the sorts of things I include on my list as I note them during the usual weekly lessons.

·      Recital selections: I begin noting the particular pieces that each student would likely perform well and make plans to be sure the student is ready to go by the recital date. 

·      Tools I Need at the Recital: I begin making my list of items I need to bring to  the recital, such as:

o   Piano foot stool

o   Piano cushions of varying height; I need one for myself as well

o   Suzuki piano accompaniment books (this is almost a list in itself!)

o   Other piano accompaniment books (nonSuzuki repertoire or special group class arrangements)

o   Tuner: I use a special tuner that sounds rather loudly to help me do the pre-recital violin tuning. This is a different tuner than my regular tuning app on my iPhone, so I need to remember to bring it.

o   Extra rosin, so I can rosin any bows that I find a quart low during the tuning process

o   My own instrument

o   The printed programs, which I ask students to fold for me at the recital. I also ask students to act as ushers before the recital begins.

·      Items we need for after the recital: We have a reception after the recital, and we bring refreshments for this. I do this informally rather than a sign-up sheet, and it usually works out. I do, however, bring the “extras,” as you will see listed here.

o   Napkins, plates, utensils, cups

o   Any item that would help a quick clean up after the recital, such as:

§  A dustpan and brush

§  Bottle of window cleaner

§  Roll of paper towels

o   I ask parents to discuss amongst themselves what they might bring, and possibly ask someone to be in charge of providing drinks.

Recital Preparation

I make sure that everyone has chosen his or her recital pieces with my approval by the week after spring break. This gives everyone at least a month to have any final teaching points learned and pieces memorized. I have a rule that students must have their pieces memorized by one month before the recital date. On occasion I have permitted a student to play a particularly tricky memory piece with music if there are extenuating circumstances, such as a student has been heavily involved with school performances that require a great deal of memorization. I use my discretion and sparingly, but there are times when this is the obvious solution to a difficult set of circumstances outside of my or the student’s control.

I have made sure to inform the parents before the beginning of the semester concerning the recital date, but I remind parents often again from this point on, just in case someone has forgotten to put the information on the family calendar or there is a new parent who is unfamiliar with the recital process.

I remind students weekly about the recital and the need to be ready. I think I will do a “recital countdown” sign at the studio next year, with the number of days remaining before the recital, and I will hang it on the studio door.

Countdown to the Recital

One month before the recital, I check memory issues. I have reminded students for several weeks before this date, and I have also helped memory issues along the way. Still, there needs to be a deadline, and I have chosen the one month out from the recital as the deadline for this. I usually am the accompanist for my students’ recitals, but if my students were to use someone else, then they would need to make these arrangements by this time if they had not already done so. These students must schedule accompanist rehearsals for the next few weeks.

Two weeks before I begin typing up the program. I take my recital piece selections list and begin entering it in the computer. If I have any issues, I take care of them in these last two weeks:

• I verify the correct spelling of my students’ names and their accompanists.
• I like to add the child’s age to the program, so I verify my students’ current ages at the time of the recital.
• If I have time, I like to include a sentence or two about the children’s other interests, such as black belt in karate, tennis competitor, ice skater, artist, and so forth.
• I adjust the order of the program to fit whatever direction I determine is appropriate for this time. I often go in order of the book songs, with a tweak here and there to avoid repetition of the same pieces (more than one performance of a piece does not bother me at all, and I think it should not bother the parents and students either). The program could also go in order of children’s ages, and that would provide lots of variety. Sometimes I have even ordered the program by listing a piece from each book and rotating. There are many possibilities here.

One week before the recital, I do these things:

• Finalize the program and print out the final version
• Get the program printed. This is as simple as running colored paper through a copy machine, but I have also had office supply stores or copy centers print the copies for me.
• Send a final email reminder to parents about the recital.
• Date and time
• Location, address, and directions if needed or a GPS link
• Any other special information or instructions, such as
• Remember to bring items for the reception
• Be there early for tuning or to help younger students tune
• Help to set up for the reception
• Watch out for any anticipated traffic issues (this is prom and commencement season, so there are days that have heavier traffic surprises on occasion)
• Check the state of recital preparation one last time
• Remind students to do extra listening and practice in this remaining week.

Whew! This article turned out longer than I thought! I am glad that I started writing this out, because now I have my own checklist to follow for recital preparation. I feel better already and less stressed because I now have a list to guide me. In future articles, I intend to list things that need to be done at the recital, so be sure to add your comments below so we can add your ideas to the checklist!

Let me know if you have any other items to suggest to the list.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

Monday Morning Check In: What's in Your Schedule?

What a busy few months I have had! I am sure you all share the craziness with me. I finally finished a few projects and got a little free time, and then I found myself running errands and scheduling  appointments. Before I realized it, I completely used up any small amount of free time I could have carved out, and yet I still face many things that need to be tackled with little or no time in which to do them.

At this point, my husband would love to turn to me and say, "it's your choice how you schedule your life." Grrr, except that he is correct. It really is my choice how I structure my life and spend my time. This is true for all of us.

I know it is not the half-year point yet, but I think we should consider a review of our yearly plan at this point. How far off track might we have gotten? Are we headed where we wanted to go by this point?

I find it helpful to start out such a review by considering those tasks and projects that I have already accomplished this year. Rather then cause myself stress over those things that I have not accomplished (yet), I find it encouraging to contemplate how much I have already done to show for how busy I have been.

Well, when you put it like that, Bird, that paints a different picture, and indeed it does. I need not bore you with a litany of my accomplishments. The purpose of this exercise is for me to give recognition to the fact that I have indeed done many, many things so far this year and to remind me not to beat myself up over the head over the things I still face on my yearly to do list. I may be disappointed with myself for not making as much progress in some areas as I had hoped, but I do not want to lose a grasp of how far along the road I have come.

As I thought about all this, one idea stood out in my mind, and that was that if I needed to find time for certain things, then I was going to have to schedule that time for myself. After all, I am in charge of my own life and am captain of my scheduling choices.

For the next few days, I plan to make a list of the most important things I want to work on in the coming months. I am going to bring out my toolkit items, which have gotten lost under a pile of papers that need to be filed, and I will begin using these tools again in earnest. (To read more about my toolkit, click here).

Most important of all, I will remind myself daily that I am in charge of my scheduling choices. I will begin to schedule the time I need for the projects that I want most to accomplish in the next few months.

Recently, one of my adult students began paying me more money than I normally charge for a lesson. He told me that he thought the time I gave to him was valuable, and that I should be paid a particular amount that he thought more appropriately reflected the value of a minute of my time.

Who am I to argue?, I thought, although I did try to talk him out of this idea. Later I found that I like the idea of thinking about my time as having that particular monetary value associated with it. I found that I made wiser choices about how I spent my time. If I decided to slack a little bit and watch some TV, at least I was more aware of the value of the time I spent in front of the screen.

How much is a minute of your time worth to you?

This week I will spend my time contemplating the state of my schedule and making a list of the things that I need to finish in the next few months. I will devise a plan to address how I will schedule my time to accomplish my remaining tasks for this year. I will also avoid any urge to engage in mental scourging concerning how many items and projects I did not yet accomplish. Instead,  I will focus my mental energy on a scheduling plan that will lead me down the path to fulfill my goals.

Monday Morning Check In: A Rock in a Sea of Confusion

It’s Monday Morning, and I want to discuss the importance of what we do as teachers and the gift we give to others. I want to share some powerful photographs with you throughout my discussion.

The US Coast Guard photos you see in this blog post depict Tillamook Rock Lighthouse ("Terrible Tilly"). I travel to Oregon every summer and have done so since 1984. I have visited the town of Tillamook and the cheese factory of the same name every year and most of the Oregon lighthouses, but I have never seen this lighthouse. I know it only by photos I have seen in books or on the Internet. When I look at these photos, I experience a lot of fear. This is not a place that I would seek to visit or live. This is a dangerous place. I would eagerly vote for hazard pay for anyone who was assigned to this post. This lighthouse serves a valuable purpose. It alerts others to the presence of danger and serves as a warning. It is a rock in a sea of confusion.

This is a great pictorial representation of what we can become as teachers to those around us whom we may influence. As teachers we are highly respected. I learned about this over a decade ago when I still practiced law (music was my first career, and I added a law degree along the way). Everyone loved to hate lawyers. When my life’s circumstances pushed me back into teaching music full time during my mother’s failing health circumstances, I quickly learned that everyone loves teachers. Teachers are respected, revered, and adored. Lawyers are not. I am reminded of the Nathaniel Hawthorne quote when asked by his mother about his choice of profession as a writer: “I do not want to be a doctor and live by men's diseases, nor a minister to live by their sins, nor a lawyer and live by their quarrels. So, I don't see that there is anything left for me but to be an author.”

As a lawyer, I had already experienced the disapprobation of our times; I say again that people love to hate lawyers, except when a lawyer is needed, usually in the middle of the night to help a parent handle a child’s transgression against society. The days of the respected and trusted Atticus Finch (ˆTo Kill a Mockingbird by Lee Harper) are gone. The picture of Perry Mason as the idealized attorney representing the innocent client who is a victim of police power corruption does not represent our current time.

Instead our children are presented with events such as 9/11 or the Columbine school shooting. I have survived both events and been touched by each of them. (Atticus Finch: "There's a lot of ugly things in this world, son. I wish I could keep 'em all away from you. That's never possible.)

On September 11, 2001, a Tuesday, I was teaching an early day, about 8 am. As I finished up the lesson, my husband called to inform me that someone had flown a plane into the World Trade Center. Huh? Since my father is a pilot, I knew that there were restricted air spaces in that area. Someone must have been incredibly stupid, I thought, to have violated this restriction.

I kept the news station on the radio while I cleaned the studio and waited for the next students to arrive. During that time, I learned about the tragic events in New York. Stunned, I spent a good portion of my day sitting at my desk and thinking (and writing, which is how I glean the most comfort). As the day unfolded, I realized that the businesses near to me were closed or had shut down and it was eerily quiet outside (due to the US flight restrictions).

I wanted to go home and sit and contemplate the momentous import of what had happened that day. But I could not. I was not sure who would come to the studio, and I was not sure how I could reach all of my students to find out their intentions. Instead, I just stayed where I was in the studio and kept cleaning and practicing and writing.

As the day progressed, my students arrived one by one. Their parents would tentatively open the studio door and poke their head around to peer at me: “Are you teaching today?” they would ask. “Yes!” I told them.

They would come into the room, the parents would exchange a tearful glance with me, and we would have our lesson. The students would be a little bit subdued: they knew something had happened but not what it was (and they would not understand the "hugeness" of the occasion at that moment anyway).

What I learned that day was that what we do as teachers is incredibly important. We can be the rock in a child’s life when everything around them is a sea of confusion. We are the stability that allows the child to handle difficulties or grief. We provide the child with the anchor they need so that they can go through the scary stuff. We are something that the child can hang onto when things are tough.

We do not have a 9/11 every day or every year. Still, children experience difficulties in enough measure that we teachers can be called upon to provide strength and support. Perhaps your student is suffering the effects and aftermath of a divorce in the family. Perhaps your student’s family is struggling to recover from a death or serious illness in the family. Whatever the type of event is in your student’s life, you the teacher can be the rock in the sea of confusion or despair.

What an awesome responsibility! What an honor to offer this kind of service!

This week, think about how you give the gift of yourself to your students. You may be the one bright spot in your students' week. 

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This is the last Monday of the month. Time to check in and finish up what we have not done so far to keep our studio running smoothly. Review your checklists from the previous weeks and attend to any items that you have not yet taken care of. Because we are at the end of the month, look ahead to these items:

• Time to set up your bill paying program. Arrange to pay your next month's bills.
• Your students should have all paid their tuition by now. If they have not, make sure that you send an email reminder that the tuition is due (plus the coming month), and set a reminder in your calendar to check in with the student's parents at the next lesson.
• Set up your monthly record keeping system for the coming month.
• Clean up the studio. I was fortunate this past weekend to have my studio toilet overflow for some reason. The event caused me to mop the floor, but do not wait until a catastrophic event to get around to cleaning your teaching area. You do not need a large amount of time to clean your studio:
• Set a timer for 10 minutes and run the vacuum until the timer goes off.
• Swab a mop around the common areas for 10 minutes.
• Grab a sponge and some cleaner and attack the bathroom with vigor for another 10 minutes (be sure to clean the mirror).
• Run a dust rag or feather duster around the room for another 10 minutes. Then straighten up the place and throw away magazines or other trash.
• Take another 10 minutes to put things away that need putting away or filing. There! You have spent an hour (or less) and the place looks terrific.

It is the beginning of tax season. If you have not yet taken care of these items, time to get cracking!

• Gather your tax documents for the previous year and put them in a folder for processing later when you do your tax preparation.
• Set up your studio record keeping system so that you can begin capturing your next year's tax records.
• Make sure to file any tax record documents you may have generated in this current month.

Is there anything you can clear out of your studio space? I like to subscribe to the periodic suggestion from http://flylady.net to do a 27-fling boogie. This activity requires you to have a receptacle or large plastic bag and run around a designated area and collect 27 items that need to be removed from the area. What you do with the items is your choice. When I do a 27-fling boogie, I aim to collect items to be given to a charitable organization. I could also designate two boxes: one box for giving away and another box for putting away. Still, I think it is more productive to get rid of clutter rather than file it away somewhere else in an already overcrowded environment.

My catastrophic studio toilet experience this weekend reminded me that I need to organize my files better. I had two boxes of music on the floor, and they needed to be filed away (fortunately, the boxes were unaffected by the extra water, but it was a close one!). I plan to set aside 10 minutes at least every week to attend to any piles of music or supplies that are sitting around the studio and need a permanent home.

Happy teaching week!

Monday Morning Check In: How to Handle Grief

This will be a different kind of Monday Morning post, because this is a different Monday for many of us in the Austin Symphony Orchestra. On December 27, 2011, the symphony’s members lost a valuable colleague when Jennifer Bourianoff died in the hospital from a viral pneumonia infection that seemed to spring up overnight. Although our colleague had been in poor health in the past year, she continued to fulfill her symphony responsibilities as best she could while she battled her health issues.

This past weekend the symphony honored Jennifer, a valuable member of the first violin section and Assistant Concertmaster, by dedicating the subscription series concerts to her memory. As the symphony members and conductor Peter Bay prepared for the weekend’s performances, we wrestled with how to handle our individual emotions and feelings about the situation. Rehearsals were subdued. Many musicians expressed themselves through conversations, story-telling, and recalled memories. Others were more introspective and quiet.

Almost everyone found something to “grinch” about in a small way, a phenomenon I refer to as “kicking the dog.” Most of the musicians handled the rehearsals just fine, but there were pockets of time when folks seemed a mite more irritable about something trivial than the situation required. I thought this was one example of how people handled their grief. Things were not normal. Things would never be the same. We continued to play our instruments and make music together, but there was a rift in the fabric of who and what our symphony was. As hard as we all worked to make our final gift to Jennifer and her family as beautiful and flawless as we could, we still struggled ourselves with having to work around the hole in our hearts and in our membership.

As I watched these small occurrences of kicking the dog, I thought about what would be a good way to handle grief and mourning. The answer will be different for everyone, but I made some observations of the types of things that people found helpful in our situation.

Dissociation

Basically, dissociation is a defense mechanism. We have probably all used this technique at some point when we “zone out” or daydream while performing an activity. Many of us can probably recall a time or two when we drove somewhere and have no recollection of the drive because we were on autopilot. I have used this technique to focus or “tunnel in” on something I am doing, such as writing a lengthy paper, running a marathon, or surviving a difficult recital performance.

I have also used this dissociation technique when I am faced with grief in great proportions. As a performing musician, I learnt from an early age that “the show must go on.” This old saw refers to the fact that musicians cannot really afford to take a night off. We have to dig deep on those days when we do not quite feel up to snuff. When faced with deep grief, I hypnotize myself to tune out those thoughts while I get the task done. I get into my “work mode.” And so I used this technique to survive this past week, as I sat behind Jennifer’s empty chair, which had been draped with white satin and decorated with a large bouquet of flowers.

Today, however, there is no longer a need to use this technique, and the dissociation walls have crumbled. I am now turning to the second useful technique for handling grief.

Tears

I spoke with a therapist years ago about why therapists encourage the expression of grief through tears and crying. The therapist explained that tears were nature’s way to heal the body. Although we need spiritual and emotional healing, tears are a physical expression of that intangible healing. So rather than hold the tears back, the therapist suggested that it would be better to let the tears flow, and the more tears that flowed over time, the closer the person would come to achieving ultimate emotional healing. Today I am accepting the catharsis that comes from using this technique, as have many of Jennifer’s friends and colleagues as well as her family.

Writing

Years ago I lost a very important pet, my black lab mix Zubin (yes, named after Zubin Mehta as suggested by a conductor friend). This was my first dog as an adult, and I felt as if he was my best friend, my child, and my sweetheart, all rolled into one package. We took trips together. We played together. I taught him so many tricks. We had so many memories, so that when he passed away, I was “heart sick.” I came to the conclusion that I was hanging on to my memories with my grief because I was afraid that I would lose the fresh crispness of my memories; I feared that my stories and memories would fade with the healing of time. I could not bear the thought of forgetting all that my sweet fellow had been to me, and so my thoughts were making my heart sick.

I bought a pretty little journal and spent an evening writing in it until I could think of nothing more to tell about my darling boy. I wrote about all the tricks my dog performed, all the funny stories I could recall, and my feelings of loss now that my beloved pet was gone. I drank a lovely bottle of wine during my writing event, as I recall, and turned it into my small celebration of my love for my sweet dog.

After I finished, I closed the book and put it on the bookshelf. Every once in a while I would feel drawn to pull the little book off the shelf and read what I wrote that night. These feelings seemed to occur on or about the anniversary date of my pet’s death. (I find it interesting that our mind and spirit revisit these feelings on a cyclical basis). Once I finished writing my little book of memories, my grief subsided and I was able to move on past it, in spite of my loss. Because I had taken the time to write my way through my grief, I now had a permanent record of my beloved dog, and I no longer needed to fear that I would forget him. He would always be a permanent part of me through my writing. Jennifer has also been a big part of my daily morning pages entries in the past few weeks as I write my way through my memories.

Instead of sending a sympathy card, our symphony members opted to write in a small journal instead, as suggested by our musician’s committee chairman. Some members wrote personal letters to Jennifer. Others wrote stories and memories to share with Jennifer’s family. People glued pictures of Jennifer on the pages. We used the journal as a special place to pour out the words that best reflected everyone’s individual emotional needs. We remembered our Jennifer in unique ways, as each person who wrote in the book found their own special way to share our individual and collective connections with Jennifer on the journal pages. I am sure the book will be a treasure to Jennifer’s family in the future.

Celebration

Every person we meet makes a valuable contribution to our lives in some way and on some level. We should celebrate that connection, no matter how brief or momentary, how complicated or complex. As with all performing musicians, each of us connect and relate with each other on a sliding scale of intimacy depending on the type of performance collaboration we are called on to make together. No matter whether we were very close or just the briefest of acquaintances, we have made a connection together. That small connection — that thread in the fabric of life — ought to be acknowledged, respected, and honored.

The symphony celebrated our connections with our colleague of over twenty years through a series of performances. Other members celebrated through special dedicated performances in the community or as part of the funeral events. Other members bought flowers or sent cards to the family. Still others may visit the grave site or schedule an intimate gathering of friends to celebrate that Jennifer touched our lives in a special way.

I noted with interest that in these past two weeks, there were different combinations of people grouping together and making new connections or rebuilding former connections that had been lost. Death has the unique ability to tenderize the heart in a way that nothing else other than a deep religious faith can. Jennifer's death softened the hearts of many of our symphony members in a way that drew us closer to one another as we shared our mutual grief over this new entry in our organization's history.

All of these different expressions of celebration help us to individually honor the value and worth of the person whose memory we celebrate. Just as the ancients of the bible erected pillars or altars to commemorate a place where a special event occurred, so does our individual acts of celebration remind us of the importance of the person who touched each of us in a special way.

Acceptance

Finally, I offer the technique of acceptance. When we accept something, we no longer fight to change circumstances. We no longer express disbelief or shock that this tragedy has occurred. We no longer shake our fists in the air or our heads at the ground. We sit quietly as the momentous experience wraps itself around us, and we accept that “it is what it is.” Once we can do that, we can begin to face the next stage our life holds for us.

Let me remind you that everyone experiences and survives grief and mourning in different ways and over differing periods of time. While you may have reached this stage of acceptance, there may be others who still struggle to break the surface of the emotional pain and breathe air again. Look around to see if there is someone who needs help. Helping others to process their grief may be just the thing to help you to handle yours.

There is no one way to handle grief, and many people use many different ways to wrap their minds around sad events. Ultimately, time will pass, and the grief will lessen. We will not forget the person we lost, nor should we try to do so. Everyone comes into our lives for a purpose and a season. Some stay in our lives longer than others, and some touch us in very special, close ways.

I will miss you, Jennifer. You were a part of my life in many ways over the past two decades. I have many memories and stories of times we shared together, on and off stage. Thank you for the gift of yourself that you gave to all of us, and thank you for the gift of your music.

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This is the middle of the month checklist:

• Have you received all of your tuition payments for the current month? If not, make a list of who owes what money, and make one or two calls per day to remind your students' parents to bring the payments up to date.

• Is your studio or teaching space straightened up and clean? Take a few minutes at the beginning and end of each teaching day this week and put things away, straighten up teaching materials, and clean the bathroom.

• Do you have the schedule for the next week or two laid out? If not, take the 5-10 minutes to do that. Then look through your calendar and determine when you will practice or devote time to your other goals.

• Have you set up a system to catch your receipts and records to be used in filing your 2012 taxes? Take a few moments to set up such a system now. 

Monday Morning Check In: Checklists for the New Year

Good morning and welcome to the new year 2012!

Like me, you have probably been recently inundated with emails and articles about goal setting and resolutions. You do not need me to add another level of information to a topic that we have discussed repeatedly throughout the year. Of course, if you do want to revisit those blog posts, just search for goal setting or goals in the search box above.

Today is the first Monday of a new year. For my recent readers, I devote my Monday blog posts to more general topics that will aid us to become better teachers. In the past my topics have sometimes included goal setting. Other times I focused on organizational tools, practice planning, or anything that crossed my mind in a general way and which I thought might help us to improve our effectiveness as teachers.

Weekly Checklist

Since it is Monday morning, let me start out by asking whether you have done your homework for the week? Have you thought ahead to what your schedule will be this week, and have you figured out what you need to accomplish? Here is a general checklist to consider:

• Have you scheduled all your necessary appointments or lessons for the week on your calendar?

• Is there anything you want to accomplish this week that needs to be broken down into manageable steps over several calendar days?

• What major projects or goals are you working on this week?

• What materials do you need to gather to complete a particular project this week?

• What steps can you take this week to move yourself forward on your goals?

• What can you do today to make some forward progress on your goals?

• What phone calls do you want to make this week? Do you need to schedule time to make those calls?

• What emails do you want to make this week? Do you need to schedule time to write those emails?

• Are you waiting to hear back from someone? Have you scheduled the day when you will follow up with that person?

• What errands do you want to do this week?

• Have you scheduled time to do those errands?

• What materials do you need to gather together to complete those errands?

• Have you sent out your tuition bills for the month?

• Have you done your record keeping from the previous week (or month)?

• Have you scheduled your practice time for the week? Maybe I should move this item further up the list, because I think it is an important daily item.

Monthly Checklist -- January

Because this is January, and we have just completed 2011, this is also a good time to begin gathering your documents and records to get ready for tax preparation season. So here is a checklist to begin the tax records process:

• Gather your income records into one folder.

• Make a list of the next steps you will need to take to put this information in a form that you can easily use or access when you prepare your taxes.

• Since I maintain a simple income register log with a new page for each month, I simply add up each month’s figures and ultimately add up each month for the yearly total.

• Gather your expense records into a master folder.

• Make a list of the next steps you will need to be able to access this information easily when you prepare your taxes.

• I have several subcategories related to the main studio category, and I have a folder for each of those subcategories. To get ready for tax preparation time, I go through my master folder and sort out these various receipts into their respective folders. Ultimately I will total up the subcategory figures.

• As part of the new year, I make sure that I have set up the studio record keeping system for the coming year. This involves adding new monthly sheets to my studio notebook for the year.

The Japanese have a tradition of cleaning their homes on New Year’s Day. This might be a good time to consider whether there are any areas in your studio that need attention aside from general housekeeping:

• Are there any piles of music that need to be refiled?

• Are there supplies or teaching aids that need to be sorted, cleaned, or put away?

• Are there any toys or books that need to be repaired, cleaned, or put away?

• Does your piano need to be tuned?

• Do you need to buy any new supplies or equipment?

• Do you need to replenish any studio necessaries, such as paper towels, drinking cups, or toilet paper?

• Do you need to repair anything or do anything to maintain your instrument?

• Are there any student records that you need to update?

• Are there any new students that you are beginning this month?

• Do you have a record for the new student in your income register?

• Have you updated the new student's contact information?

• Are there any other places that you need to update your student's contact information (such as your phone, computer, or website contacts list)?

• Have you set up your budget for the month?

• I highly recommend YNAB to help you get your finances in shape so that you learn to live on last month’s income.

• http://youneedabudget.com

• Have you arranged to pay your bills at the end of the month?

• Have you planned for your quarterly IRS payment?

• 4^th quarter for 2011 is due January 15 (maybe January 16).

• While you are thinking about this, go ahead and calendar the other quarterly payment due dates:
• April 15 (maybe April 16)
• June 15
• September 15
• January 15, 2013
• Check with http://irs.gov for the exact due dates, because sometimes a payment date is extended a day or two to accommodate a weekend

• Have you set up your semester teaching schedule?

• Have you put your teaching schedule on your calendar, including any semester break or vacation?

• Have you notified your students and their parents of the semester’s teaching schedule?

• Have you determined the group class dates for the coming semester?

• Have you notified your students and their parents of the semester’s group class schedule?

• If you maintain a studio newsletter:

• Are there any news items or event information to include?

• When do you plan to publish the next newsletter issue?

• Have you calendared the dates related to publishing the newsletter?

• Look ahead to the studio’s next recital date and put that on your calendar.

• Make a list of the items that need to be addressed for the recital and schedule dates on your calendar for those items.

• When is the deadline for securing a recital location?

• Who will be the accompanist?

• When do you need to contact your accompanist?

• When do you need to provide music to the accompanist?

• When do you need to schedule rehearsals with the accompanist?

• Will you need to schedule a recital dress rehearsal?

• Have you notified your students and their parents of this date?

• When do students need to have their music selected, learned, and memorized?

• Now is a good time to think about what your summer plans will be. Add a page to your notebook, label it “Summer Plans,” and start making a list of ideas, including:

• Attending an institute

• Setting up a summer camp or workshop

• Visiting with another teacher and his or her studio

• Organizing a studio event-performance-trip

• Planning a vacation for yourself

• Schedule time to review the systems you have set up. One idea is to consider your lists on a weekly basis. Why don't we plan on this every Monday morning? [See below].

I am a big fan of checklists and systems and project notebooks. I draw up a plan, type it up, and stick it inside a plastic sheet protector. I use a dry erase marker to check off items. The dry erase marker is easily erased, and the checklist can be used again. If I need to include some new item I had not thought of previously, I just add it to my checklist. At some point I will retype my original checklist if it has gotten messy.

Something I would suggest we add to our list of weekly things is time to think about the things I have listed above. We need to remember to schedule time to reflect upon our lives. Consider scheduling 15 minutes every Monday morning for the purpose of checking in here with our blog community of teachers and parents and committing to the next week or renewing your commitment to growth as a teacher.

I love setting goals. I love accomplishing things. I enjoy the feeling of satisfaction I get when I turn around and contemplate what I accomplished in the past, whether last week, last month, last year, the last marathon I attempted, or the last long hike I trekked up a mountain. I enjoy the journey better if I have a good sense of where the starting point is. I need a record in order to remember. So I create checklists that can be used again and again.

I have many goals for 2012, as is customary for me in every new year. Some may fall by the wayside as I discover on my yearly journey that a particular goal is not as important to me as I had anticipated on January 1. That is okay too. One goal that I think would be good for all of us to adopt is the goal of simplifying our lives. Making checklists and project notebooks will go a long way to help us to simplify our lives in the future.

I hope in this next year that we will build a sense of community together. Please comment with your ideas or questions. I hope you will  contribute to our checklists.

And, if I have not said it before, I hope your holiday was a blessed one, and that your new year is fruitful and prosperous.

Happy New Year!