Spring Teaching Hacks: Tips for the Weary Teacher with Busy Students

Here we are. Spring has sprung. We're in the final months of the school year.

Perhaps your spring recital is a few weeks or months away and you're struggling to get busy and unfocused students to master their recital pieces.

Or maybe you find that the arrival of spring sports (and their ridiculously demanding schedules) are making it impossible to get students to prepare for - or even come to - weekly lessons.

Spring always brings with it unique teaching challenges for music teachers. Students become restless and tired. Teachers have difficulty finding the patience and fortitude necessary for the final push.

Over the years, I've found that careful planning and a few tried-and-true strategies makes these challenges more manageable. Here are some common challenges along with some ideas that might help you manage these months better, too.

Getting students to maintain music practice during sports season

It happens every year when spring sports season arrives: many students "fall off the practice wagon" and fail to practice consistently - or even attend regular lessons. If you're preparing them for an upcoming recital this is especially frustrating.

To address this problem, I created a guide called Balancing Music & Sports to provide my students and parents with creative ways to maintain consistent music practice and lesson attendance when life gets busy. For a limited time, you can download this guide for FREE in my Music Shop.

Mentally preparing students for the spring recital

In addition to helping students navigate the many distractions and demands on their time, we also want our students to feel prepared and confident for the big performance day. Maybe you're looking for ways to help certain students overcome debilitating nerves. Or maybe you just want to make sure each of your students is adequately prepared to take the stage after their months of hard work mastering their pieces.

For tips to help students overcome the jitters and play with poise and confidence, check out this blog. In it I discuss 5 strategies I've successfully used in the lessons leading up to the recital to prepare my students for performance day.

For a more general guide on preparing for a performance, download my Performance Preparation Tips from the Music Shop. Feel free to print as many copies as you need to hand out to students, or use it as an in-class guide to discuss good performance-ready strategies.

Inspiring students to maximize effort (while shaking things up!)

I find that in the spring we all get a little restless with our routines. Teachers get tired of nagging students to practice and fixing the same mistakes over and over again. Students get tired of the predictable lesson routine of play their piece/receive teacher feedback/try again.

To shake things up and inspire students in a different way, consider doing guided listening exercises in lessons. This is an excellent way to get students thinking more carefully about how each musical element contributes to the impact of each piece of music.

I designed a Listening Guide for my students that you can access here. This guide can be used with any style of music, and works whether you perform the piece yourself or play a professional recording.

Listening exercises provide students with an opportunity to recognize how musical elements and character relate to one another, and a chance to hear high quality musical performances.  Plus, they give everyone an opportunity to step out of the usual lesson routine and experience music learning differently.

Helping students master their music more quickly (and with fewer headaches)

This time of year especially, every practice minute counts. Busy students need help structuring their practice time effectively so they can master their music in less time. This means helping them understand what needs work and providing guidelines for how to fix it.

The most effective teaching tools I've developed to date are my Piano and Woodwind Rubrics. The rubrics break each piece down into separate musical elements that students can evaluate and improve individually for a more polished and satisfying performance.

Give these a try if you're interested in a thoughtfully designed guide to help your students identify and master specific musical elements that they're struggling with. You can get the rubrics here.

Hang in there, teacher friend, you've almost reached the finish line!

In the meantime, give some of the ideas spring teaching hacks a try. I hope they'll help you make the most of the last few months of the school year so you and your students can go out with a bang.

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