The Make-Ahead Private Lesson

One dilemma private music teachers face is how to handle make-up lessons. Should you charge for missed lessons? How much advance notice should be required for a lesson cancellation? I don’t have any brilliant new ideas with those issues, but here’s one idea which has worked well for me: The Make-Ahead Lesson.

The make-ahead lesson is basically using any available time slots in your teaching schedule to give students an opportunity to take one or two additional lessons prior to their need for a make-up lesson. Think of it as a make-up lesson in advance.

Currently I have an open hour right in the middle of one of my lesson days. Sometimes the break is nice; I’ve already taught a full day at school, and still have a few more private students yet to go. But honestly, if I’m going to be away from home and sitting in a studio, I’d rather be teaching.

So from time to time, for my faithful students, I invite them to come for an additional lesson during that time gap. Some students are more prone to needing make-up lessons, and I like getting those lessons done in advance. Sometimes it can be difficult to schedule a make-up lesson, so if you know of an opportunity ahead of time, why not take advantage of it?

Always Use a Metronome… Really?

Music teachers often admonish their students to “always practice with a metronome.” I can recall one master class in which the professor tried to drive the point home by stressing “Always! Always! Always!” Me, being the good little boy scout that I am, have tried to live up to that standard.

A stable sense of rhythm and tempo is undoubtedly one mark of an excellent musician. One of my favorite jazz albums is Michael Brecker’s “Time is of the Essence,” which of course has a dual meaning for musicians. However, it has occurred to me that while practicing, it may often be necessary to temporarily eliminate the element of tempo in order to focus on other elements.

Yesterday while teaching a private lesson, I stumbled on the phrase, “Try that again at your own pace.” I turned off the metronome and allowed the student to work out the technical difficulties of the notes without worrying about tempo. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not that I think I invented a revolutionary new system for practicing or anything. But it was one of those moments when you come across a teaching technique or phrase that has application elsewhere.

Playing long tones is another example of a time when turning off the metronome can be beneficial. Sure, you could keep it clicking to keep track of the beat, but wouldn’t turning it off help you focus on your sound? Isn’t the point of long tones to improve tone? Does it really matter if you cut off the long note precisely on the beat?

Many modern method books come with play along CDs. Isn’t practicing along with these CDs comparable to playing with a metronome?

So I challenge the idea that you should “always” practice with a metronome. What do you think? If you teach private music lessons, how much do you have your students play with a metronome? Do you even use one at all? In your own practice time, how much do you use it?

Practice: Dealing with Students Who Don’t

[This is part 3 in a series of conversations about issues related to practice. Previous posts are here and here.]

We’ve all seen students walk into music class or private lessons with that sheepish look. They signal to us that they’re unprepared because they haven’t practiced. Then we as teachers are faced with the question of what to do about it. Do we reprimand the student? Do we pretend like they did practice?

Getting more assertive with students who don’t practice is effective with some students, but might backfire with others. I have had good music students quit because they didn’t feel like they were meeting my expectations. This is where the whole art of motivation comes into play; being encouraging without exacerbating.

Here are a few thoughts about what to do with chronic non-practicers:

1. Prioritize teaching about practicing. Make the word “practice” part of the vocabulary of music lessons. Teach students how to practice and what to practice. (More about this in a future post!)

2. Talk about what you’ve assigned for next week’s lesson. I don’t just mean tell them to practice the next page in the book; talk with them about specific measures to focus on. “In your next piece, there are some tricky leaps here, and a lot of accidentals there. Let’s see how you’ll do!”

3. Talk to parents about the lack of practice. I think there’s a way to do this without sounding like you’re tattling on the student. “Michael has so much natural talent. I get the feeling, though, that he has been coming to lessons unprepared. He could really be an amazing musician if he spent a little more time on our lesson material at home.”

4. In some cases, I’ve found that some students just won’t practice, but they’re sincere about their desire to keep music in their lives. With these students, I’ve usually found it best to just make the lessons enjoyable and not sweat it. When there has been an understanding among me, the student, and the parent that the student is not destined for a career in music, then I’ve taken a more relaxed approach. To get more assertive would just burn everyone out, including me.

What do you think? Have any suggestions to share?

Curriculum for Jazz Saxophone

After a number of years of experimentation and revision, this is the sequence of books and materials I use with my jazz saxophone students.

Essential Elements for Jazz by Mike Steinel*. This book provides an excellent transition from traditional music into jazz. It’s presented in typical method book format, with lots of short exercises and clear definitions of new concepts. Emphasis is on jazz articulation and swing style. It has some brief improvisation excercises, but not so much as to intimidate young players. There are brief biographies of important jazz players like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Charlie Parker, and some discussion of different forms of jazz (swing, bebop, fusion, etc.).

Jazz Conception for Saxophone by Lennie Niehaus. This series of books is a great next step. The first section of each book is made up one-page exercises which help the student master jazz articulation, rhythm and phrasing. The second section of each book has 10 etudes which resemble bebop solo transcriptions. There is no explanatory material other than a brief preface, so a student would need a good jazz playing teacher to model the style.

How to Play Jazz and Improvise: Vol. 1 in Jamey Aebersold’s Play Along series. This is great entry level material with simple chord progressions and moderate tempos. Some improvisation teachers feel this material caters only to left brain thinkers and is overly academic in its approach. However, I’ve felt that a good teacher can balance that by keeping the lessons fun, with plenty of positive reinforcement.

Maiden Voyage: Vol. 54 in Jamey Aebersold’s Play Along series. A good next step for young improvisation students. I like that it uses real tunes, not artificial exercises. I’ve been playing the original recordings for my students to introduce them to the important jazz artists.

Charlie Parker Omnibook. Call me crazy, but it’s taken me a while to accept the fact that it’s pretty futile to attempt these solo transcriptions until until a sax student has had plenty of experience with easier material like the Niehaus books. Just be sure to buy only the Eb edition. The Bb edition might be okay for trumpet players, but it would be totally unrealistic to have a saxophonist play from the Bb edition.

*Mike Steinel was one of my professors at the University of North Texas, where he continues to teach. He has also written Building a Jazz Vocabulary which I would definitely recommend for experienced improvisation students who are capable of dealing with more advanced music theory concepts.

Private Lesson Cancellation and Make-Up Policy

One of the most uncomfortable issues a private music teacher faces is what to do about students who cancel a lesson at the last minute or don’t show up. A few strategies have helped me deal with this issue:

1. I charge for the month up front. If a student misses a lesson, they’ve already paid for it, so there’s no uncomfortable conversation the next week like “By the way, you still owe me for last week.”

2. I teach in a rented room in a music store. Doing this has helped keep my business more professional. I make it clear to parents that I have to pay to use the room, and other teachers use it the other days of the week. I remind parents that I only have access to the room for a limited amount of time and can’t just do a make-up any time.

In the past, I had taught lessons out of my home. This this kind of situation may give some parents a misconception that they’re really not inconveniencing me if they cancel at the last minute or don’t show. It can also make parents think they can schedule a make up lesson anytime because they think you’re always available anytime.

3. When a student cancels in advance, I try to call other students to offer that time slot, even if I don’t owe them a make up lesson. I think parents appreciate that offer even if their schedule doesn’t allow it. I’ll even admit that I know in advance that some families can’t make it at that time, but I call them anyway just as a goodwill gesture.

Also, I try to remember that a majority of lessons are missed because of the parent, and through no fault of the student. So I try to avoid reprimanding the student if the parent brought them late.

Teaching private lessons definitely has a business component to it. I think the more we do to demonstrate professionalism and treat our students and their parents as business clients, the more likely we are to make wise decisions about how we handle issues like cancellation, no shows, make-ups and billing.

In the Music Teacher’s Helper blog, Sarah Luebke wrote a post dealing with the issue of cancellation and make-up policies for private lessons. Some great thoughts and good discussion there.

Your thoughts?