Avoiding Private Music Teacher Burnout



You don't need me to tell you that your job as a private music teacher is tiring.

As is well-documented, teaching has a high burnout rate because it requires a heavy cognitive and emotional lift that can leave teachers depleted and resentful.

"Can" is the operative word here. Teaching doesn't have to lead to burnout, and this article will help you avoid it.

Private teaching offers some unique benefits and joys, which is why there are so many of us doing it. But it is, in some key ways, particularly demanding.

First, limited student availability requires many of us to teach back-to-back lessons in a concentrated amount of time. This concentrated output is often at the end of the day when we’re more tired, requiring more effort to push through.

Second, the individualized instruction we provide requires quickly shifting from the needs of one student to the needs of another multiple times in one day.

Third, we teach alone, without immediate access to the emotional or instructional support of other teachers.

These circumstances can easily lead to private music teacher burnout if we don’t take steps to address it.

And address it we must if we want long and fulfilling private teaching careers. 

“When you overextend yourself, you may feel drained, uninspired, or disconnected from the dreams that once fueled your career…When you neglect your own needs, your ability to inspire and connect with your students diminishes.” - NAfME

Some of the general advice for avoiding teacher burnout is definitely useful for private instructors as well.

For example, it’s important to monitor your moods and be aware if you’re showing signs of burnout (exhaustion, detachment, and reduced performance). 

It’s also important to have a daily self-care plan in place that you actually follow.

But we also need strategies to address the unique circumstances of our profession as the advice for classroom teachers doesn't always address the private teacher situation.

What do you do, for example, when you feel your energy and patience waning and you're only a few lessons into a packed schedule - with no free periods or faculty lounge conversations to look forward to?

Here are 5 STRATEGIES private music teachers can use to manage energy and emotions throughout the teaching day.

1. Take mid-lesson breaks. Give a student a computer exercise or written work and step out to go to the rest room for a few minutes. Do some stretches, relax your shoulders and gently wash your hands in warm water. The student will benefit from the opportunity to learn in an alternative way for a few moments, and you’ll get a break.

   
   

2. Use cognitive offloading. Create a routine where all students get a few minutes at the beginning of the lesson to warm-up (present it as an opportunity for the student to focus and run-through difficult sections). Use that time to jot some notes about the previous lesson and mentally let go of any stress from that lesson. Use a mantra if it helps, such as “I release what I cannot control” or “Inhale calm, exhale stress”.

   
   

3. Systematize your lesson structure. It’s especially exhausting to switch students every 30 minutes or so if you don’t have a basic lesson structure you can rely on. Winging it when each new kid walks in is bound to tap out your resources pretty quickly. Establish a simple lesson routine that provides structure you don't have to think about much but that also enables flexibility.

   
   

4. Let students play the whole piece (yes, even with lots of mistakes). This is a big one for me, because I know much of my cognitive lift during lessons is being vigilant for mistakes that I need to jump in and fix. (And we wonder why students play the beginning of a piece over and over and never work on the end…teacher, heal thyself!) I’ve learned to let students simply play through a piece much more often - even when it sounds terrible. The student gets to practice the skill of continuing to play no matter what, and hey - they get to hear what the end of the piece sounds like! (And I get a break from fixing.)

   
   

5. Leverage technology. We teach technologically-savvy kids, so letting technology do some of the heavy lifting in lessons is not only acceptable, it’s expected. It’s also a great way to give you a brief mental break. Listening exercises, instructional music games, and online music history lessons are just a few of the ways you can truly enhance your students’ learning and give yourself a chance to step back and take a few breaths.

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