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Many people who put their heart into music, put their business into music teaching. There are many fields of music education and if you are proficient in one or more you will surely find work. The first thing that a music teacher has to do is choose what he or she will focus on, be it an instrument, voice coaching, music theory or even music history. Next comes the time to assess your own knowledge on the topic. If you have a degree of Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Music Education or Master of Music, you are probably comfortable enough teaching at any level. However if your learning did no go that far, you should be teaching at a more basic level. In any case, be sure you are qualified and are honest about your qualifications with your clients.

Consider also who you want to teach. Maybe you would love to help young children take their first steps in music. Or maybe you want to work with older kids or adults on continuing or just starting their education. Be sure you adapt your teachings and, if you need to, talk to pedagogues so you know how to deal with a child. The planning of the classes can be tricky and do not think for a second that only adults can spot if you did not prepare the lesson. A kid will notice and can get bored and even give up if they feel you are not making an effort.

Scheduling can also be difficult. Whatever you do, do not book more than one student for a time slot and try not to extend the lesson pass its designated time. It just screams that you are unprofessional. Remember during which hours kids are in school and are not available. Moreover, keep in mind that a 6 year-old attention span is not the same as a 16 year-old’s so the time which lesson takes depends very much on the student. It also depends on you personally and on your teaching method.

On that topic, there are a lot of different music teaching methods out there. One of the most popular is the Suzuki Method, but others include the Dalcroze Method and the Yamaha Method. Even if you choose not to follow any of these, it is very interesting to learn a bit about each. It will open your eyes and you will see your work under a whole new prism. In the end, you probably will take some directions from these methods, even if subconsciously.

These are the basics you should take into account when setting up as a private music teacher. Others are simple, practical choices like the place you want to teach, the prices you will charge and how to keep your financial books. However, most of it comes from practice and time. You are a music teacher, so you know that everything does.

Why is Music Important for Kids?

This question has been debated for as long as time has existed. Even the great Greek and Roman philosophers approached the question: is music something that should be taught and does it help the development of children? Plato answered “I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for in the patterns of music and all arts are the keys to learning.” And again “what then is the education to be? Perhaps we could hardly find a better than that which the experience of the past has already discovered, which consists, I believe, in gymnastic, for the body, and music for the mind.”

In all cultures of the world music plays an important role. While these roles may change depending on the culture it is impossible to separate music from the life of an individual. While some may argue the role of music in our lives it is impossible to escape it. Even in the popular culture of Australia it is impossible to go shopping without hearing music. Music provides a means of communication and expression of culture and individual identity.

Children are immersed in music from birth and will be for their entire life. If this is the case why teach it? Is not the constant immersion in music enough? To this I say; is the fact that we witness the results of scientific principals on a day to day basis result in the understanding of those scientific principles? No it does not and likewise for music it does not either. The day to day encounters we have with music can move us but the understanding of this music can help us grow as individuals.

In many cultures the family plays the main role in music education. Families are most commonly the ones that teach children the music of their culture. As young children, we are commonly sung nursery rhymes. These provide entertainment for the child and often information in small repeated fashion. Children learn through the repetition and structure that the information was delivered in. many nursery rhymes teach fundamental life lesson and therefore sets music up as a means of educating. Children learn from music from a young age and will continue to for the rest of their lives. In a world where globalization and consumerism are dominating cultural identities are drifting into the background and children are more likely to be sung pop songs as lullaby’s than nursery rhymes. The benefit of nursery rhymes and progressive learning has become an issue. Children are missing out on fundamental learning opportunities.

The Mozart effect which gained a large following in the 1990’s claimed that listening to Mozart as a baby will make a child smarter. While this movement was short lived and there is little proof that it works there has been no denying that children who learn music will achieve higher in other aspects of their academic life. In earning music children learn to express their identities, gain confidence and develop sense of time and space. A research team at the university of Munster in Germany discovered that students who study music have more developed abstract reasoning skills which are closely linked to learning in the areas of science and maths.

I do not believe that there is any argument to this question…music is a vital part of a child’s education and should be taken seriously. Listening to music is not enough! A child must learn to think musically and that is what will help assist the development of the child and their academic development.

written by Gemma Lee from www.shinemusic.com.au teachers of piano, saxophone, violin, singing, drums, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, flute and clarinet

Who do you admire? Why does the world take notice of them and not us? Do they have a common way to become a winner in their field? If so then what is the secret formula?

Purpose

Winning celebrities all have a clear vision a guiding purpose a light at the end of their tunnel that keeps them going day after day on their path. These celebrities get what they want because they know exactly what they want. They can feel and sense it, they experience it in their minds and their hearts. They can see it in their minds eye and describe it as if it were there already there. Conversely most of us think that we will be laughed at, if we talk about what we want, we become afraid of looking foolish and stupid, instead we dare not to dream! Try to take a risk today and dream of your North Star, let it guide you on your path.

Core

Celebrity Winners have another big secret. They surround themselves with winners. They find people that want them to win. They know that if you surround yourself with a core of talent then that talent can be focused. Top Celebrities find and develop a team to help them, a human ship with the celebrity at the helm. Winning celebrities acknowledge that cannot do everything themselves so they find and complement their talents with a good team to help move them on. They find team members who are successful in their own fields. Such a team may consist of , accountants, lawyers, publicist, and managers, make up artists, writers, producers and fitness/life coaches.

Aims for Life

Just like a business has a business plan, winning celebrities have a clear plan that they follow. They know what to do and when to do it with uncanny timing. However, they do this because it is in their plan. They are implementing this plan day after day. It may not be as formulaic at a timeline or a map but their own life plans works just as well for them. It shows the steps they have to take on life’s journey to get them to their destination. Such a plan may be drawn up with the team supporting the celebrity. Each plan starts out small with baby steps. This ensures early success. As the celebrity becomes accustomed to their map and the steps, then more momentum is built up. This plan is nearly always written down. You often see these winners carrying a diary or a some sort or a flow chart that shows them were they are on their journey in life. I am not suggesting that you create a business plan for your life but rather create a written strategy that keeps you on your path and prevents you taking detours. With such a plan in place it is a case of following the plan and taking one planed step at a time.

Priorities and Goals

With a plan in place winning celebrities often organize themselves with hierarchical things to do. They are the type of people that get organized and have a sense of what has to be done first. They have a knack of knowing what is important and what is fluff. If a higher priority is being ignored they can drop everything a allocate their resources to priority one. Priority two, three and four are put to one side for later attention. If they find they are distracted with meaningless unimportant work they will stop what they are doing and get back to their top priority and get back to the plan and work on that priority and nothing else. Sometimes an even higher priority takes over e.g. your child gets sick at school, or you are suddenly involved in some sort of emergency on the highway. These things happen and winning celebrities deal with them quickly and efficiently. They then get back to their highest priority on their plan.

Reality

Winning Celebrities do not have room in their lives for denial, fitful fancies or fiction. They often deal with life like a child, in the moment, dealing with life as it comes day to day. Rather than setting themselves up for a fall by deluding themselves with impossible dreams they rely on what is do-able, and ignore what in not. When criticized as we all are they do not become defensible rather they absorb the input and feedback and treat it not as an attack on them but as away to improve. At the same time they are able to distinguish what feedback is useful and what is trash. Winning Celebrities know what they can do and what they cannot do because they remain truthful to themselves. No kidding and accepting impossible challenges. They just do their thing to the best of their ability. Their attitude is if I know the problems, then I can plan to deal with them.

Flexibility

Celebrities who consistently win sometimes take what I call missteps. Not mistakes but missteps. Just like a marathon runner who takes a wrong turn, winning celebrities acknowledge the error and self correct to get back on track. They do not waste time saying that they are a failure and get all upset about the misstep. Instead they get on with fixing the mistake, or misstep. These winning celebrities like the marathon runner who takes a misstep and goes the wrong way, they just let it go and carry on, getting back on track in the right direction. One step at a time. If they their path is blocked then like a marathathon runner who has come up against a hole in the ground, then they find a new path around the problem and carry on.

Zeal

Winning celebrities who play to win always have a deep passion about what they are doing. Once focused they become excited about what they are doing. They get energized and eager to get on with taking the steps of their chosen path. To them it is the pursuit of the chosen goal that excites them. It does not become a job or another day at work it becomes their very existence. They are having fun. They can’t wait to get to work the next day for this is who they are, this is what they are, and this is them. They love what they do and do what they love. They have a purpose, a passion a dream that they are living one step at a time day by day.

Chance

Celebrities are consistent winners who are willing to take risks. Do not misunderstand, this does not mean that they are foolhardy and reckless. This means that they take calculated risks. They go out of their comfort zone in order to succeed at new challenges. They take the plunge into the unknown. They leave behind the safe world of mundane existence and venture forth as pioneers in their field. They are they explores of life trying out new things. They find new ways to do what has been done before. They realize that people become legacy bound. “It’s they way we have always operated our business” someone might say. A winning celebrity will answer. Can we do this any other way? Can we do the opposite? Can we change? They go against the crowd mentality, for that is where no one has been before. Warren Buffet made his fortune by daring to invest his money when others were fleeing the markets, he bought when prices were low. He knew prices would come back someday and he was rewarded for the risk he took. Likewise J.K. Rowling dared to write seven books about a child wizard, not one book like others would have done but seven books. The result was that Book publishers fought over this unknown authoress who scribbled in a cafe. Who could have thought that a totally unknown stranger could write a play script for a violent film and then make and star in it himself. Sylvester Stalone did just that when he wrote the script for Rocky. All of these celebrities have dared to take risks others would shy away from, they stepped out of the comfort zone and became winners as a result.

Achievement

Winning Celebrities always take action. Because these people are not afraid of risk and because they have a do-able plan they are certain of their path. How many of us procrastinate and talk of what could be done. Winning celebrities get on because they do not procrastinate, they are just working their plan and prioritizing. Just like the Nike slogan, they “Just do it”. The action that they take is not one off. Instead it is consistent and relentless, day in day out. They remain focused even if their initial actions fail to get results. This is because they know that in society rewards are not given up lightly. The winning celebrities mantra is if one action does the job great, but if it takes ten actions then fair enough. How many of us believe in the once in a lifetime action to fix all our woes. The Beatles did not write hit song after hit song as many people believe, instead between the band members, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Star and George Harrison they wrote and recorded almost 365 songs. Not 20-30 top ten hits as most people believe. The Beatles new they would be successful if they just kept on schedule.

In fact Paul McCartney kept a daily journal; in which he would write down what he was going to do that day. This was on top of all the other stuff like concerts and sound recordings. The work ethic was relentless, the rest is history.

Self Ruling

Winning celebrities know that the most important resource they have is themselves. Winning celebrities actively manage their physical, emotional, and mental well-being as they know how important such things are. They keep their life in balance, not becoming workaholics. They keep themselves from burnout as much as they can. The ones who do not are the ones who fall by the wayside and become another has been. Although I’ve said they all have an important passion that drives them on they also know how to keep this life passion in check. Winning celebrities will not languish in a job that is dead end, or stay in a sick and draining relationship. They take care of number one first, because it is they who are the one who gets the results they desire. They only get such results if they are complete in health both mentally and physically, not high on drugs or alcohol because they worked themselves into the ground. How many sixty year olds can run around a stage like Mick Jagger if they are not fit?

Conclusions

All of these qualities sound too much to some then tough. If you are one of those people who just gives up then I’m sorry you just will not amount to much in life. You are driftwood a loss going with the flow. If this sounds uncomfortable then that is great because you have just taken the first step and acknowledged your anger and realized you can be better. The great thing is that we all can have these winning strategies if we take the time to understand hoe to apply them to our own life. We to can become winners within our own field of expertise. Celebrities are just like you and me they do not have a monopoly on life skills nor do you. The very same skills can be found all around us. Try looking at school teachers, doctors, community workers and the countless others that do their thing. Following their chosen paths. One day they to will be great! Maybe you already do some of the things outlined above, then great.