GTD for the Music Studio Teacher, Step 4: Reflect and Review

This article discusses step 4 of the GTD ("Getting Things Done") methodology and how it applies to the music studio teacher.

This next step is a crucial one because the system stands or falls with it. My first article in the GTD series for music studio teachers began with a brief look at the GTD Methodology. Up to this point we gathered and collected all the loose ends around us that have cluttered up our physical and mental spaces in step one.

Then we clarified what we had collected in step two. What does all of it mean to us in terms of what needs to be done?

In step three we organized what we gathered and clarified into various systems or holding places and we gave some thought to the tools and resources we would use for this purpose.

In step four, we now come to what I consider one of the most important steps: reflect and review. We review what we have, and we do that on a regular basis. At the same time we reflect on what we have, where we have been, and where we want to go. This step keeps us from going stale or getting stalled, and it prevents us from slipping and sliding back down the mountain into the old habits of cluttering our physical and mental spaces.

How Often?

GTD methodology tells us that the best review happens weekly, preferably the same time each week. How long the review lasts will vary from person to person. Review is not engagement, meaning that we do not act on the items that we review other than to make notes that clarify or clean up. We make sure that our list items are current and clear.

If I have any loose notes somewhere, I need to be sure that my system has gathered and collected those notes. If I have anything lying in my inbox (or electronically too), I need to clean that out and gather it, clarify it, and organize it appropriately. I will "engage" or act on these things later once I put them on my "next actions" list. For now, I note these items, clarify what they are and what needs to be done in order to be done with them, and I put them in the proper "containers."

How to do a Weekly Review?

So how to do a weekly review? First, I find it helpful to take a look around me to be sure that I have not forgotten to include something in my system. Is there something lying around that needs me to gather or capture it, clarify it, or organize it? I search around my physical locations and inside my head. I look for loose ends or things that I forgot to record or collect. I thumb through my weekly planner for the past week, maybe the week before that (just in case), and the coming week. Sometimes this act will spark a memory of something that I wanted to remember or accomplish, and I then include that item in my GTD lists.

One reason I like the Omnifocus 2 for Mac program, aside from it being available on my iPhone and my MacBook Pro, is that it includes a "review" feature. It reminds me weekly to do the weekly review. I open up the app, look through every item on the lists, and mark them "reviewed" when I finish. Simple! Quick!

If you are using lists on paper, sit down with your favorite beverage and start looking through your lists. Cross off tasks that you completed, add new items to your lists, and rewrite your lists if it helps you to gain a better footing on what you need to accomplish in the next days, week, or month.

Bullet Journal and GTD Weekly Review

My bullet journal serves a lot of my GTD purposes right now, and I find that I look through that journal much more often than once a week, although I think it is a terrific idea to set aside a specific time for this special weekly review. I think by setting aside a special time that we create a better focus. I thumb through many pages within my journal, not only to enjoy what I have written there -- the splashes of color, the notes I included, the new collection sets I created -- but because I look to complete items on the various pages so that I can "close out" the page as being finished.

As of this moment, I use my bullet journal as the "brain dump" area. As I begin a new month, I leave a page (or 3) open to allow me to collect any ideas, thoughts, reminders, or notes throughout the month. When I begin a new month, I add a new set of pages for this brain dump to continue in the next month. Meanwhile, during the previous month, I systematically check off things that I accomplish. At some point, I will reach the "almost done" point, and I will then decide to migrate any tasks that I still deem relevant to the next month's brain dump list, or I will cross off tasks as irrelevant, unnecessary, or no longer something I want to do. Then when the items on the page are dealt with, that means I can "close out" the page. It is done and never needs to be revisited again unless I want to reminisce about to do lists from the past. I put a star at the top of the page, and I can make that page a thing of the past.

Weekly Review for Music Studio

What are some things that we need to be sure to review in the music studio? Here is a list of things that I like to review each week:

Tuition Payments -- Are they current? Do I need to send a reminder to anyone? Have I deposited checks in the bank? Have I brought my studio's financial records up to date?

Physical Environment -- How clean is my teaching space? Do I need to put things away, run the vacuum cleaner, or organize the bookshelf? Does my space look clean, energized, and exciting for learning, or does it look tired, dull, and messy? Are there things lying around that remind me of things to include on my lists of things to do?

People -- I like to consider this category to help me remember to contact people that I need to connect with. I run through my student list to see if I recall anything. Was I going to send an email to a parent? Schedule a special parent-teacher conference? Suggest something helpful to a parent for a home practice? Contact another teacher about doing a joint performance? The people category can also refer to people I need to connect with, such as my accountant or bookkeeper, someone in charge of a venue where I want my students to perform, or someone associated with my local Suzuki community.

Calendar -- I like to look ahead by the month or two in case there is a holiday or special occasion opportunity. Since I have not been as good at this in the past, I have resolved to make notes about these sorts of opportunities and events for the coming year. As I note these things this year, I am also making a note of them for next year as well. When I look at the calendar, I also recall future plans I might need to add some next steps to take care of.

Other Reviews

There are other regular reviews that might be helpful, such as monthly reviews, quarterly reviews, semiannual/biannual (6-month) reviews, and end-of-year reviews. Just about any time frame you want to use would be appropriate for some sort of review process. I have not discussed goal-setting in the context of GTD, but goal-setting is certainly the sort of topic that would apply here.

Daily Review Focus

A friend of mine also follows an interesting review plan on a daily basis, which I find intriguing. She suggests that there be a particular focus on each day of the week. You are permitted to do other things besides that particular focus, but when you have a focus on a particular day of the week, you will visit that topic definitely once a week. Some suggested focus ideas might be to take the above topics and assign them to particular days. On those days, you will first and foremost give attention to that particular area.

You might also find a "weekly review" easier to accomplish if you do it in bits and pieces. I often do this, and the Omnifocus 2 for Mac allows me to review whenever I can. Anything I mark as reviewed is then set aside until a week later.

Make Review Your Own Creation

How you do your weekly review can be your own creation. There is no right way to do this. In fact, many people adjust things to suit their own personalities and needs. Everyone's review may look different from everyone else's review. The purpose of the review is to stay in touch with the things that you have gathered and collected and to make sure that you keep focused on what next actions to take to make forward progress.

The most important reason for doing a weekly review is to keep your system operating properly. If you neglect this aspect of GTD, then you begin to distrust the reliability of your system. You begin to hold things in your head again or leave them piled up in an inbox or on a corner of the desk. When I forget to do my weekly reviews, I find that my counter tops get covered up again with stuff.

So make a weekly appointment with yourself to review your stuff. With my bullet journal lists, I enjoy looking through things regularly. I have begun to highlight certain areas of my life with certain colors (personal is pink, writing/creating is blue, university/symphony/gig is orange, and studio is green). I also use splashes of color and sometimes some cute stickers here and there to make the pages more pleasing to the eye. My color pens really help me do this. I pick the color that suits me for the day, and because these pens are erasable, mistakes are a thing of the past.

At the moment I concentrate my thoughts on how I can turn the bullet journal into even more of a GTD masterpiece. For now, things work fine. This tool has really helped me stay focused, and it helps me to gather all my stray thoughts. I turn my thoughts into projects and special pages once I have captured the thoughts initially. All good. I hope to write a specific post in the future that is related to the bullet journal because it has really helped me.

Here are some links to the items I talked about in my articles. If you wish to explore further, click on the picture or link:

bullet journals

color erasable pens

This page references affiliate links, which will help to support the time it takes me to write articles for the blog, research information, and write and produce the Teach Suzuki podcasts. You are never under any obligation to buy anything or to use these particular links. If you are in the market for any of the items I have listed, please consider supporting my work with the affiliate links I have provided. There is no additional cost to you, but I will receive a small benefit if you do use the links.

Until next time,

Happy Practicing! (or GTD'ing)

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

You Can't Make Me Do It! (Or Can You?)

This is the last in our series of discussions about environment, and although we have not yet said everything there is to say about this topic, we have covered a lot of ground. If you are interested in revisiting my previous articles about environment, I have posted links below at the end of this article.

"No! I Don't Want to!"

In previous articles we have discussed physical environment and its impact on our teaching and learning "atmosphere." We also discussed briefly about how the concept of time and its impact on our scheduling can impact our environment. I would like to discuss now another aspect of our psychological environment: motivation.

What is motivation? Motivation is what is inside us that drives us to do something. Motivation is the reason behind any goal-directed behavior. Motivation is what causes us to act:

• What motivates me to get a drink of water? "I'm thirsty" is usually the motivation behind that behavior.

• What motivates a student to practice?
• "I want to get better." [perfect]
• "My mom will kill me if I don't." [sad]
• "My teacher expects it, and I like to please my teacher." [better, still . . .]

• What motivates parents to sign their child up for music lessons?
• "I want my child to share my joy in making music." [great]
• "I want my child to be exposed to as many things as possible, and I heard that music lessons were good." [maybe]
• "We have a teacher within a short driving distance, and she has a slot that fits our needs." [um, maybe not]
• "I want to fill my child's heart with beauty." [I hope this parent calls me]

The problem with motivation is that it is internal and invisible to the outside world. We cannot see someone else's motivation; we can only infer motivation from what we see someone do.

As teachers and parents we want our students and children to be motivated to do well at lessons and practices. How can we motivate them to do that?

The Joy of Music

 Dr. Suzuki is often quoted as saying, "Man is the son of his environment." Dr. Suzuki recognized the value of the environment. This is a subject that bears thinking about and discussing at great length. One article will not cover the subject to its very edges. We can, however, still bring up several good ideas.

What motivates students to learn? To practice? To want to play an instrument? Here is a partial list of possibilities to add music to the environment and strengthen the motivational building block:

• Listen to good music (recordings, concerts, videos)
• Observe good performances (concerts, videos)
• Arrange home recitals or other community performance events (local shopping center, grocery store, town market days)
• Attend or organize talent shows or school performance events
• Observe other student lessons and performances
• Observe and attend group classes where the student can observe other role models and even serve as a role model as well for younger or less experienced students
• Attend performances given by the teacher, who is also a good performance role model

On the home front, there are several things that parents could include in home practices to bolster motivation:

• set goals for learning and practices
• create a practice plan and method for following through
• teach how to set goals and work to achieve them
• offer applause and appreciation
• show enthusiasm and excitement
• be fascinated and curious
• discover and experiment
• say kind words
• smile and laugh
• give love, affection, and hugs
• create quality time and quantity time (in other words, lots of quality time!)

As you can see, the possibilities to create, build, and fuel motivation are limitless. If we were to focus on ways to create and maintain an environment that encourages motivation, we would be able to come up with even more ideas. Please write me comments that suggest other ways that you have found to motivate your students or your children to want to be involved in this fabulous world of beautiful music.

If you were interested in reading the previous articles that I posted recently about environment, you may find them below:

Studio Focus: Environment: This article discusses how focusing on our environment might impact behavior and learning.

Studio Focus: Physical Environment: This article argues that when we are mindful, aware, and observant about our environment, mood, and energy, we will have a favorable impact on our teaching, practicing, and learning environment.

Studio Focus: Physical Environment and Timing: This article considers how time and timing impacts our environment.

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

Studio Focus: Physical Environment and Timing

In a previous article about physical environment, I discussed the location of your teaching, practicing, and learning space and explored such things as setup, physical location, mood, and energy of the space. In today's article I want to discuss an additional component of physical environment, and that is the concept of time.

Many of us do not think of a physical environment in terms of the impact that time has on us physically, but I think that this is very important. I have various periods each day when I have more or less energy. I feel stressed on occasion to finish a list of tasks, or I feel relaxed because my day has not quite begun. So timing may be of great importance. Here are some aspects and questions about time that may impact on our environment and therefore bear thinking about on a deeper level.

Teaching Time

Well do I know that the time available to us teachers may not be the optimum time for a student's lesson. Unfortunately, private studio teachers are unable to do much about the time available for lessons if a student attends public school. Our "daylight" teaching hours usually encompass the time of day when students may be tired from a long day at school, in need of a snack or other pick-me-up before beginning the next segment of their after-school day, and generally needing a little downtime to unwind and get those wiggles out. For the very little ones, lessons may occur after nap times or perhaps during the optimum times for naps, and this situation brings out other problems of scheduling.

I have also been increasingly aware that some day's teaching schedules demand more of my energy than I might actually have. Sometimes during a season, I notice that particular teaching days demand more concentration, creativity, or physical exertion than other days. I try to be mindful of these different needs and schedule accordingly.

Practicing Time

These same time considerations impact on a parent and child's practice time together. I think the guiding principle should be to schedule practice times in a way that works for the child. Unfortunately, all too often we schedule activities based on the parent's convenience. We all wish that it were different, but in reality sometimes schedules need to reflect the parent's priorities rather than the child's, but wherever possible, I think it best for optimum learning if we were to put the child's needs before the adult's needs.

Sometimes it helps us to think "outside the box" and find creative solutions. Traditionally we think of practices occurring after school before dinner. What about practicing before leaving for school? Some families find that there is a good 10-minute window of practicing opportunity that occurs before everyone leaves for school. One family discovered that there was actually a time period during school that worked. In this case, the school was amenable to the parent coming and practicing with the child. Actually, in this particular case, more than one family was involved, and the parents shared the practicing responsibility. Even if this solution worked on 1 or 2 days, it would be 1 or 2 days closer to meeting a daily practice goal rather than no practices.

Another family divided its practice routine into different parts for different parts of the day. The morning might be for working on new material and the afternoon might be for review work. This practice schedule division worked well for the child because the practice agenda matched the child's energy levels and focus abilities.

(Over)Scheduling

This is an important issue and one that I wish more parents would spend time contemplating. I have noticed in the past decade that parents have been scheduling their children into so many activities, that the children have become more stressed (as well as the parents). They have also become less able to master any skill or ability development, because they have less time in which to do so. I understand that the current fashion in parenting is to expose children to as many activities as possible, but as a teacher I note that I have observed more tension in the way that children approach their physical relationship to the instrument. I have also observed more tension in the behavior of the family and parents in general, as everyone needs to be on an accelerated movement path. Families rush into the studio for lessons, having raced through school traffic to be on time for lessons, and then having to dash off to be on time for the next activity. I have heard stories of late nights spent doing homework assignments because there was little time left in the regular day due to extracurricular activities.

I remember myself wanting to add a sport to my high school activities. At that point I was already taking piano and violin lessons, participating in school orchestra activities, and rehearsing with the local youth orchestra. Do not forget to add driving time to all of those activities. I wanted to add the intramural sport of field hockey to the mix. After trying it for one week, my mother wisely pointed out how everything else in my life had begun to tilt as a result of carving out time for this new activity. I dropped the sport. Instead we found other ways to participate in sports as a family, and I look back with fond feelings on these family memories of tennis, biking, hiking, and swimming. I appreciate much more the family relationship bonds we forged than I ever would have appreciated the team sports bonds of an intramural sport activity.

When considering adding a sport or other activity to your child's day, consider the following things:

• the time available for the new activity
• the time that will be taken away from other important activities
• the quality of time that will be available for the new activity
• what the trade-offs will be (e.g., family time sacrificed for the new activity)

Please consider this issue carefully. There are many wonderful activities out there to spark a child's educational growth, but research has continued to show us that one activity does the most for using and developing all the brain's ability, and that is music education. Other activities have their benefits, but music learning is the one activity that does it all at once. There is also the added benefit of the gift of ability and skill development. Your child's self esteem will grow as your child learns and is able to show more and more skills.

How does time affect your environment in your studio or home practices? Do you have similar problems or different ones? How do you handle these issues?

If you like the clock timer shown in the photo at the beginning of this article, which shows the time period shrinking, you can find it here.

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

Studio Focus: Physical Environment

Last month we focused on posture. This month I thought I would spend some time focusing on our environment. This is a rather large topic though, so we may touch on merely a bit of the subject and save a deeper discussion of another aspect of environment for another time.

Become Mindful and Aware

In order to make any changes about anything, we need to become mindful first. We need to know what it is that we want to change and why. We need to discover what we really want to accomplish, and then we can think about the next steps that we need to follow in order to accomplish this.

Painting by Mikiko Kudo 2015
(mikikokudo.com)

So if we were to focus on our environment, we first need to become aware of what our environment is. This involves paying attention and being observant. What sorts of things will we learn?

There are two kinds of environment: physical and psychological. The physical environment may be the easiest to address, so let us start with that aspect first. Let me put forth some questions that might help us to focus on our physical environment.

Notice and Describe

What is our teaching or practicing location like? Is it the same place or a different place from time to time? Is it a small or large space? Is there enough room? Do we have all of our supplies near to hand or do we need to interrupt our teaching and learning momentum in order to retrieve an item that is necessary to continue teaching, practicing, or learning? Take a few moments to note and describe the physical location, the setup of the space, and the items contained therein. What sorts of things do you notice now that you’ve written that description?

Mood and Energy

Painting by KM Robinson 2014)

What is the quality of your space like? By quality I mean, how would someone describe the type of mood that the space creates? Is your space colorful and vibrant? Is it noisy? Is it peaceful and calm? Is it messy or clean? Is it organized or does it spill over the edges?

Take the time to observe and answer carefully these questions related to the quality of the space, because my theory is that there are many children and adults who respond in less than positive ways to various sorts of “energy” being expressed in a room. I’ll never forget the feeling I got when I walked into a colleague’s office that had well crossed the boundary of orderliness and spilled over into chaos. When I found myself holding my breath for fear that by letting it out I might blow over a stack of papers that was taller than I was, I knew that this situation was much less than ideal.

Cleanup after the 2015 flood

I’m not the greatest housekeeper. I do, however, clean my space on a regular basis and focus on consistency as my main priority. I also try to be mindful about how my space looks to others. I spend a few minutes daily putting things in their proper places, and I think about organizing the things in the studio in a way that looks “neat and straight.”

As for calm and peaceful, I do things to help myself exude relaxation. I do a lot to breathe out my air, because I find that I completely calm myself down when I do that. We can spend more time this month thinking of ways to bring calmness to our studio. I welcome reading your suggestions in the comment section below.

For now, give some thought to the above areas and let me know what you discover. In the meantime,

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird

Studio Focus: Environment

Last month we focused on posture. This month I would like to focus on environment. All kinds of environment.

I like the story that Dr. Suzuki tells about his foster son, Koji Toyoda, who is now the head of the Suzuki world-wide organization after Dr. Suzuki's death in 1998. When Dr. Suzuki brought young Koji into the home after the war when Koji was a young child, Koji had some bad manners and habits. Dr. Suzuki’s family complained about this, and Dr. Suzuki called a family meeting to talk about how the family could refrain from scolding and complaining and instead focus on improving the family’s own behaviors as role models and examples. The family turned its attention to its own individual contributions to the family environment, and the atmosphere changed as a result. Relationships in the home became more pleasant and agreeable. The negative focus on Koji turned aside in favor of a positive focus on behaving well and pleasantly as a family. And young Koji responded himself in a positive way as a result.

It is easy for us to focus on things that we do not like, and, as a result of this negative focus, we find it easy to continue to make a litany of complaints, because the adage is true that we get what we look for. If we are looking for negative, then we will find negative. However, if we can teach ourselves how to look for positive rather than negative, we might be able to turn the environment in a different direction. Certainly we will build a more positive experience.

So this month let us think about placing an emphasis or turning our focus to building a more positive home and studio practice, teaching, and learning experience for everyone. Let us start by acknowledging how much we treasure each other and our relationships with each other. We can do this by making a list of all the parties involved in our teaching and learning relationship and thinking of ways to show our appreciation. Is it a short note of thanks, a little card that says we are thinking of each other, a small gift, a hug, a few choice words of love? What can we do this week to express how much we care about each other?

I hope you will comment below about your plans and ideas to put this focus into practice in the coming week.

Happy Practicing!

----- Paula -----

© 2016 by Paula E. Bird