Tuesday, May 8, 2012

I Know I'm Late...

Students and parents come up with some pretty interesting excuses for not being on time to their lessons. I'm sure we all have our share of stories! :) But what happened at one of my lessons last night was just too cute not to share.

A mother and daughter showed up about 10 minutes late for their lesson. Their excuse? The mom says:

"I couldn't get her to stop practicing!"

You can't be too upset with that kind of excuse, can you?! And especially since this was coming from a student who had been a real complainer about practicing until we tried something new this term. She's improved tremendously in both attitude and practice this term, and I'm so proud of her!
What interesting excuses have your students come up with recently to excuse late arrivals? ;)

6 comments:

  1. The most memorable was from a tween who walked to the studio I was teaching at. "I was in the shower & I didn't feel like getting out"

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  2. Do share... what is the new thing you tried this term that was successful in improving this student's attitude and practice?!?

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    1. Betsy, here's what I did. It probably won't work with every student, but for her it was just what she needed!

      1) I ended up scaling WAY back and re-teaching the basics. We started another method right at the beginning and we're re-learning all her notes along with flashcard drills, games, etc.

      2) The method we're using has LOTS of duets that her mom is playing along with her, and they're having a BLAST playing together. I also got them a duet book that they're working on together.

      3) In addition to that, we're working on some music that's a bit harder that she WANTS to play and is willing to put extra effort toward. Disney songs, popular music, etc.

      The combination of a return to the basics, plus a bit more attention to what she WANTS to play has been the perfect solution. Her reading skills are improving, and she's enjoying all her music!

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