A Timeline Of My Experience
In late January, I was officially announced as the first ever student teacher for Em is for Music Studios after we had discussed me becoming a student teacher for a few months. My mentor and head teacher, Emiline Ellis, made a post on her Instagram containing some basic information about me and a short bio for interested parents. Within a few days, I had three interested families and we began to discuss scheduling interviews for them to meet me. By the end of the week I had six students lined up to create a 3 hour work day each Saturday, which was the most time I was able to commit with all of my course work during the week. During the interview process, I met all of my students and their parents and they all decided to let me teach their children piano. Emiline had decided in advance to market me as a teacher specializing in young beginner students so now with my schedule of students aged 3-8, I started getting trained on their curriculum.
In February, I began sitting in on Emiline's lessons with her younger students to shadow her and learn how to lead lessons. After a couple weeks of this, we started lessons with my own students where Emiline was leading them, but I took charge for a few activities each lesson as a part of my training. After gaining some confidence with this set-up, I began to lead lessons with my students while Emiline was in another room so that she was available if I needed her, but I could be mostly independent. During this time I had to learn the curriculum each week ahead of my students, and prepare lessons with games, flash cards, practice pieces, and interactive activities which were personalized for each student. I learned two separate lesson structures because my 3 year old student was starting in the preschool primer series where they focus on learning things like counting sounds, playing clapping games, and instead of finger numbers, they have characters assigned to each finger. My older students in the young beginners series learned finger numbers, rhythms, note names, and note recognition on a grand staff as well as the keyboard in their first book.
By March, I had a solid rapport going with each of my students, and each week they were learning more and more about piano while having a ton of fun along the way. Unfortunately, right when I was getting settled in, the Coronavirus pandemic began spreading throughout the United States. When the schools were shut down, so were piano lessons. The final Saturday we met in person, we tried to make sure the kids were washing their hands before playing, and we wiped down all of the surfaces after they left, but we could tell it required too much contact to be safe any longer, so all of the studio's lessons were cancelled while Emiline and I tried to make a new plan. Luckily, just like most schools, we discovered Zoom. While I had just finished learning how to teach lessons in person, I suddenly had to convert all of that training into an online format.
April required a lot of flexibility while working through lessons where audio was questionable at best, and parents were struggling to figure out the technology required for us to meet. I had to do double the amount of lesson prep each week trying to convert games into a format that worked on an online video format. However, there were some things that improved with online lessons that are going to continue being an option even after the pandemic is managed. For one thing, parents no longer had to arrange drop-offs and pick-ups, they just had to get their child to the piano bench. This allowed a lot of flexibility with our schedules so that I was even able to lead a make-up lesson while camping using a hotspot!
Throughout the rest of the summer, I have been teaching all of my students online, and I even organized a virtual recital for them to show off what they've learned. Currently, my fastest students have completed two full books, and are moving steadily through the third. I have formed bonds with all of my students and their parents who I often have text correspondence with to discuss their child's progress. I have gained confidence in my skills as a pianist, and deepened my understanding of the instrument through teaching it to others. I have learned how to independently lead lessons and instill my love of piano in my young students, many of which are starting at the same age I did. I am going to continue in this endeavor until I move away to college next fall, and I'm sure I will continue to learn things along the way. I will continue teaching online lessons until I have been vaccinated for COVID-19, due to the fact that I am a high-risk individual, but I don't feel as though this online format is hindering me anymore since I have found virtual alternatives to almost every single lesson activity we would have done in the studio.
My Experience In Pictures
(All children pictured have the consent of their parents)