Growing through trying something new.
It's August....feelings of new beginnings, a fresh start and for my northern friends, you're on the cusp of cooler weather to match the wonderful change into fall. (I am so jealous of that, by the way!) I love August. I love sitting down and planning through the entire year for each of my students. What they'll play, my goals for them, their goals for themselves, new processes and fun new office supplies.
What are you doing this year to grow yourself forward? This year i've changed up a bunch of things at CMM (www.CentreforMusicalMinds.org) and one of those things is i'm leaving my comfort zone of the notorious binder with assignment sheets for a fancy new AI app, Tonara (www.Tonara.com) I'm excited about the possibilities! We'll be able to have a school-wide practice challenge without having to tally up minutes of practice, collecting practice cards, etc...we'll be able to have our assignments in ONE spot, and no more forgetting to write down practice time or "forgetting" to read their assignment. I'm also really excited about having recordings and/or files INSIDE of the student's account so that they aren't searching for them.
Another new 'thing' i'm working on is exploring new music. As you know, it's easy to get into a rut teaching the same thing year after year. As i've begun to write my own music for my students (and people actually seem to like it!) I feel like it's opening my ears up and I have a better appreciation for the work our fantastic composers do. For this first go-round, for our fall recitals at CMM, we will be featuring music by some of my friends and local Dallas-based composers: Mona Rejino, Mike Springer and David Karp. I've built a whole fall semester around what they have created and I couldn't be more excited.
The last 'thing' for 2019 that's new is I've changed our theory curriculum to Primo Theory, (www.PrimoPublishing.com) which I think is absolutely gorgeous. I'm really looking forward to diving in and seeing how it works with my students.
Nothing earth-shattering, but new moves forward. Cheers to another wonderful year of music-making!