 We are wanting to encourage our students to listen to different and important musical works. Your Assignment: Listen to the link below, share with your family, and add comments to let us know what you think! Our second one is Moonlight Sonata, movement I Time Period: 1801 Style/Mood: Soulful, reflective Live performance of this most famous Beethoven piece by André Watts.
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Whenever I teach a student a new song, one of the first things we do is figure out what the starting notes are in each of our hands. I always point to the note and ask “What letter is this?” At first, I might get a blank stare, then I say, “Remember the silly thing I say to remember the lines and/or spaces or treble/bass clef?”. Those little funny mnemonic phrases really help my students to remember those letters! How do I remember the spaces of treble clef? They spell FACE. That one most kids remember.  How do I remember the lines of treble clef? EGBDF, or Every Good Boy Does Fine. Now, sometimes my girl students don’t like this one, so we try to come up with something else. For a while, I used Every Good Boy Deserves Fortnight. I was cool with the kids then. How do I remember the spaces of bass clef? ACEG, or All Cows Eat Grass. This one is not only silly, but also factual! I have also used All Cars Eat Gas, but that one isn’t as silly. How do I remember the lines of bass clef? GBDFA, or George Bush Dances For America. I learned this one from my piano teacher growing up and it stuck with me, most likely because George W. Bush was president at the time. But now, kids have asked me “What is a george bush?” I felt OLD. So I came up with a new one, Good Burritos Don’t Fall Apart. Again, silly but true! This one has been a big hit with my students recently!  So, all of these mnemonic devices got me thinking, our students could probably come up with some amazing ways to remember the note names on the staff. So we should have a little contest! We are calling all students to submit their favorite way to remember the lines and spaces, or come up with a fun one themselves! Prizes will be awarded! Treble Spaces: FACE Treble Lines: EGBDF Bass Spaces: ACEG Bass Lines: GBDFA DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS OCTOBER 24, 2020
 We are wanting to encourage our students to listen to different and important musical works. Your Assignment: Listen to the link below, share with your family, and add comments to let us know what you think! Our first one is J.S Bach's Cello Suite no. 1 Time Period: Baroque Style/Mood: Stately, dancy, serene This is a famous work for solo cello! It has seven contrasting movements, you might especially like the 1st, the 3rd (7:09) and 7th (17:38) We have started using an app to help our students with their practice. And, we want to help you get started! Once you receive an email, it will look like this:  Log in by using an email address and the studio code. For families with more than one student, the options are:
Once you get logged in, you will be taken on a tour of the app. Below are screenshots of the tour.
If you have questions, please let us know. We hope this will be motivating and a great practice tool to use.
The title of this post sounds rather negative, almost repentant, but I ask that it not be viewed so. The problem with many people’s attitudes about learning is that it is based on the fundamental principle of improvement—which is accompanied, for some reason, by the shaming of “unimprovement”, when that is the most natural component of learning anything. It is “unimprovement” that shows just how much one knows, and “unimprovement” that teachers should care about the most. Most teachers are reluctant to address weaknesses as they are. They are afraid of hurting their student’s feelings (such a well-intentioned act of love!) I, too, am afraid of hurting my student’s feelings. I’m afraid to address my student’s weaknesses: to tell them that they are sliding backward from their goal, or that they must turn back to the fundamentals…I’m afraid because I have the same attitude as them. Mistakes are shameful. They must be eradicated or buried as soon as possible. If they are not, social consequences occur, and along with them the feelings of guilt, exclusion, even abandonment. I need to shake off this fear of being wrong. I will be wrong. I will always be wrong about something. I need to learn that mistakes are a good thing. In fact, they are the most helpful tool to learn. The more I understand my mistakes, what I’m doing wrong and why, the less I fear them. They will become friendly to me, and I will care about them and will want to change them because I love them. I’d like to practice embracing my mistakes by listing them here, for all to see. My goal this year is to become comfortable with them, then to understand why they are my mistakes. What fundamental source do they come from? What basic truth do I need to re-address? How can I keep myself from committing these bad habits? Some of my “wrongs” are listed out in the chart below, as well as my procedure for how I will work on them:
There are many other things I must improve. If anyone wants the rest of my list, I’m more than happy to share. The more I expose my weaknesses, the less I have to hide, and the more I will trust myself in my ability to improve.
For my own students (and my student’s parents), keep me accountable and tell me when I make these mistakes. Help me become a more useful teacher to you all. -Robin Coolidge These are stressful times...unprecedented...uncharted… You have heard these terms ad nauseum in the past several months. We have been forced to learn more technology than ever before-as students, teachers, parents, and families. We are living through a pandemic and social unrest. We have been separated from friends and family. Our normal way of life has been put on hold  And yet… Here you are, at the beginning of a new school year, starting music lessons in the midst of the chaos; adding more to your already overflowing plates. Why did you decide that this was a good idea? I submit to you that you know something on a deep and visceral level. You understand that across cultures and across eras, music is the thing that connects all of humanity. You understand that in all times, but especially during difficult times, music practice is self-care. To be sure, it is not to be taken lightly; to get good at anything, one must put forth effort and dedicate time to the study of an instrument. But, the creative process in general and music study specifically, affects our brains and our whole being. “Music”, as Oliver Sacks writes in Musicophillia: Tales of Music and the Brain, “is part of being human.”  Certainly listening to music for the purpose of affecting or reflecting our mood is not a groundbreaking idea. However, learning a musical instrument can be even more beneficial than passively consuming music. In addition to increasing cognitive functioning, memory, and focus, learning an instrument, increases dopamine, the “feel good” hormone. And couldn’t we all use more of that these days?
So, when it is time to practice your instrument each day, don’t think of it as yet another duty to check off your to-do list. Instead, recognize it as a gift to yourself. Taking moments out of each day to tap into that which connects us to all of humanity is the highest form of self-care. In a time when connection may seem hard to achieve, let music be the glue that connects you to our human family. Take good care. Robin Coolidge Work cited Williams, Amanda. (August 20, 2018) Stop. Pause. Play-Using Music for Self-Care. https://www.tendacademy.ca/using-music-self-care/  The topic of divorce has been close to my heart in this past year as I have witnessed it first hand with my sister. However good or bad the situation is, the main goal is to keep our children in music lessons with a trusted teacher. It can be healing, beneficial in its consistency, and an escape for the child. As I have watched my niece go back and forth to the different households, I have made note of some of the things that are helpful in her piano lessons. In addition, I have reached out to teachers and other divorced parents to ask about their tips and tricks. If you have other suggestions, please feel free to comment or send me a note!
  Well, last you hear, I had just completed my Yoga Teacher Training...and now, I just finished my Music Teacher Certification. Ha!! I told you I had been busy! And thanks to COVID for shutting things down, it helped me stay a little more sane! So, what's all of this music teacher certification? Wasn't I already qualified to be teaching piano? Well, yes, I was and still am. However, I wanted my national certification. We are all members of our local (Dallas), state (Texas), and national association, which is Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). Through MTNA, they offer a program for teachers to get their national certification, but it has nothing to do with how long you've been teaching or your experience. Once I applied to be certified, I had one year to finish five projects. The 5 Projects were: #1: My Teaching Philosophy and a statement of my Educational Goals. This was pretty easy and straight forward. #2: Analyzing Four Pieces from different eras. (side note, this was probably the project I avoided the most! Each piece required 1,500 words, but it definitely tested my theory skills, and I really had to study for this one!) #3: Present My Teaching. For this one, I had to get one of my students who would allow me to video tape and analyze, and state my goals (repertoire, theory, & technique) for him. I also had to submit past student theory tests, festivals and contest critiques, and student evaluations. I sure am glad I had always had those! Whew! In addition, I had to perform a piece of a certain skill level (I put that off too). #4: Share Information about my Teaching Environment (which I'm sure they were totally jealous of in seeing our awesome studio space pictures! Ha! #5: Discuss My Studio Business Ethics and Policies, including how I respond to parents and students about certain things. I was able to send in the 35 page report by the end of April. My certification was confirmed at the beginning of July! I was so nervous waiting!! So, why did I do this? I think it was the challenge! It wasn't easy! But the hardest part was probably just doing it and getting it done. There's never been a question of whether I have the education or the skills. But, knowing that I could be a nationally certified teacher just feels better. I like bettering myself with more continuing education, and I will have to in order to keep NCTM (Nationally Certified Teacher of Music) at the end of my name.
A few people I would like to thank:
My parents: Thank you for giving me an amazing education and always encouraging me to reach for the stars. You continue to be proud of me and be some of my biggest supporters. Thank you for teaching me how to work hard. Navir: Thank you to the sweetest boy who allowed me to video tape our lessons. It was totally weird at first, but then we got used to it! Your practice habits make me look like an amazing teacher! And our last videos were taken via Skype! Ha!! Thank you for going with the flow! Logan: Thank you for helping me with analyzing. Seriously, sometimes I felt like an idiot and you just laughed with me! Thank you for proofing! You are such a wonderful friend! Meredith: Thank you for proofing the final draft!! You are literally the best proofer ever! And, thank you for being patient with me and then for celebrating with me! My husband, Brian, and my kids: Thank you for giving me a little extra time on the weekends to work on this. I would often get up early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to sit with my coffee and my computer and work on my certification, which would then last for hours.  When it comes to ordering music, we only shop local, and by local, we buy all of our music at Nadine's Music Manor. Nadine's Music Manor has been around since 1972. I was first introduced to her in my first days at Dallas/Music. At one point, it was my job to order music and I would call her once or twice a week to order what we needed. Sometimes, I would go get it from her store, and other times, she had it delivered to us. I developed a personal relationship with her. In the very early days of Music SO Simple, we decided to continue that tradition and order our music from her. We think it's much easier to buy our student's music and give it to them, rather than tell parents what to get. As a busy parent myself, I definitely don't want something else added to my plate! Fast forward to today: Nadine's has been a life line for us! We have had to get extra music from her because we are teaching so many lessons virtually so that we can see what our students are practicing. She almost always has exactly what we need and we are so grateful.  When things clear up in our city, it would be fun for our parents to take our students on a field trip to a "real life" music store! Remember when we used to go and pick out records/cassettes/CDs? Do you remember that surge of excitement you would get just being there? Yeah, that's what it feels like! Something that Amazon simply cannot replicate! Needless to say, that even though this may not be the best time to browse, knowing that we support our local music store means so much to me, and to her. Knowing that I can pick up the phone and ask her if she has a certain edition in stock, or where can I find a specific piece....well, that's worth so much to me.
This weird time of COVID has made me think about supporting the small businesses, like us. Know that when you see a music charge on your bill, it is the cost we pay to Nadine's Music Manor. We take no profit; everything goes straight to her. So, you too, are supporting her.
 For those of you who know me well know I love my yoga! For the past 4 years, I have practiced a very regular schedule at Reef Point Yoga. They had a location at CityLine.. It was super convenient with my studio and teaching. I always joke, that if you need to find me, I either driving up and down Plano road going to Yoga or MSS! Ha! Before Reef Point Yoga, I did Bikram yoga, and well, as much as I loved the heat, I didn't like other aspects. The first time I went into Reef Point which was right when they opened, I was immediately hooked to their mirrorless studio, simple lines, and immediate calm. As of right now, I can see that I've attended over 520 classes with Reef Point. I became friends with the owner, Kathi. We had similar values in how we managed out businesses. We collaborated a few times with music classes and yoga classes. Anyways, flash forward to this past December. My husband, Brian, bought me the 200-hour yoga teacher certification with Kathi for Christmas. I was shocked and so excited! I remember at the first training session introducing myself and saying I had NO idea how I was going to do all of what I was doing, but it was going to work! A month into the training, the world shut down because of COVID-19. Our training paused for maybe a week or so, and then we started meeting via Zoom. We read a ton on our own, learned about the 7 Chakras, the Yoga Sutras, Swara Yoga, the 8 Limbs of Yoga, Sanskrit names of asanas, Mantras, Mudras, anatomy, and so much more. All via Zoom. We had to continue our own practices. Originally, we were supposed to take a certain number of classes per week. Some weeks during the pandemic, I did the minimum, and other weeks, I couldn't get enough. I NEVER had an at home practice before, but suddenly I was trying to figure out how to make my yoga practice at home work. I missed the "get away" to the yoga studio- it brought me calm, a release from the world as soon as I entered the studio, and just a general "safe" space to let all of the stress life go. That's really hard to recreate at home!  Before the pandemic, I had no desire to teach yoga. I went in thinking, cool, I'll just learn more about this thing that I love so much. But something changed. I don't remember when. I think once I "had" to start teaching a class or two, it just really made me happy- or happ-ier. I think the best part of this whole thing, is that YTT has complimented my piano teaching and made me an even better teacher! Who would've thought?? Fun fact: there are quite a few music teachers out there who discovered the amazingness of this combination already. :)  So, here I am. RYT200 certified...and now teaching a few classes each week! For now, classes will be donation-based. All proceeds from classes go to help many of our students stay in music lessons that were financially impacted from COVID-19. I know so many families, including my own, that have either lost part of their income or all of it. Any little bit helps! Plus, in taking a yoga class, you get a little self love back.
For more on our class schedule or how to donate, click here. I hope to see you in a class in the near future! Namaste |
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