Time to get organized! I spent New Year's weekend looking over what's coming next for my students. We have an exciting recital, "The Ribbon Festval," in March, in which students can play a solo of their choice, a duet, as well as enter art work and a TShirt contest! I selected duet partners and pieces based mainly on convenience this year and got them all started on thier piece to give us plenty of time to polish and practice together. They can select their solo over the next few weeks as they find a song that stands out to them.
The next "big" event is the OMTA syllabus examination the end of April. Students are quizzed over theory and must perform three memorized pieces for an adjudicator. This I'm a bit more nervous about. The repertoire must meet certain criteria and I hope my students will all be able to have them down over the next few months. This is my first time entering students, so I am trying to find a balance between preparedness and paranoia! I would rather have my five students prepared a bit early - we can always change something later - than to have them not prepared in time at all. So I am introducing all the pieces I suggest to them now, starting with the more difficult pieces, and will go from there.
Being a new year, the tradition is to set a new goal. With goals now set for the students, someone has asked what will you do - or quit doing - in your studio in the new year. This year I hope to quit doubting myself. As a new teacher, I wonder if I really have what it takes. I'm not sure what the criteria really is for "it"....! My students seem to like me, they keep progressing in their abilities, and the parents keep paying me. When I started homeschooling my children, I feared my abilities then too, and took it "one year at a time".... that was 13 years ago! So prayerfully I will look back one day too, and say, "Whew, I did it!" And when April is done and my students complete their exams, I can say, "Whew, you did it!" to them!
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