Partner lessons.Morgan Morgan, American family of financiers and philanthropists. Junius Spencer Morgan, 1813–90, b. West Springfield, Mass., prospered at investment banking. hardly even touched the piano at home. You know, too busy with soccer, homework and tutors. Karen Karen Any member of a variety of tribal peoples of southern Myanmar (Burma). Constituting the second largest minority in Myanmar, the Karen are not a unitary group in any ethnic sense, as they differ among themselves linguistically, religiously, and economically. had an attitude that would make any teacher cringe cringe intr.v. cringed, cring·ing, cring·es 1. To shrink back, as in fear; cower. 2. To behave in a servile way; fawn. n. An act or instance of cringing. . I was ready to reassign them to different teachers. Instead, I paired them up as piano partners. Goodbye attitude; hello happiness? It takes me a long time to make a change in my studio. Sometimes I think about it for years. I collect ideas from colleagues, conferences and articles. I consider how I will explain the change to my students, when to prepare them for the change, whether to increase tuition For tuition fees in the United Kingdom, see . Tuition means instruction, teaching or a fee charged for educational instruction especially at a formal institution of learning or by a private tutor usually in the form of one-to-one tuition. and, if so, how to justify it. I went through this when adding technology in 1999, as well as last year when I replaced some regular "private lesson" weeks with group piano weeks. This year, I added a "partner" program. I'm I'm Contraction of I am. Our Living Language Speakers of some scattered varieties of American English sometimes use I'm instead of I've or I have in present perfect constructions, as in telling you, the changes keep getting better! We know it's it's 1. Contraction of it is. 2. Contraction of it has. See Usage Note at its. it's it is or it has it's be ~have more fun to do anything if you have a partner. We know making music is more fun with an ensemble The word ensemble can refer to
Contraction of are not. See Usage Note at ain't. aren't are not aren't be more of us teaching partner lessons? I started promoting partner lessons last spring. My newsletter stated that when fall came, each student would be paired with another student. Each would receive a private lesson plus a 30-minute overlap o·ver·lap n. 1. A part or portion of a structure that extends or projects over another. 2. The suturing of one layer of tissue above or under another layer to provide additional strength, often used in dental surgery. v. with another student to work on ensemble music. Immediately, the calls and e-mails started coming in. "My children get group learning in school. We come to you for private learning, and that's all we want." "I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. about this. I don't think my children will like it." My plan involved a number of changes: * Move everybody to, and charge them for, 45-minute weekly lessons. * Pair students of similar ages and abilities back-to-back. * Turn the "45-minute lesson" into 30-minute private lesson, followed by 30-minute lesson with a partner, followed by 30-minute private lesson for the partner. Students pay for the private lesson and half of the partner lesson, getting an hour for the price of 45 minutes. Each student also spends 15 minutes on computer theory, giving them 75 minutes in the studio per week. If the partnership "fails" for any reason, we revert re·vert v. 1. To return to a former condition, practice, subject, or belief. 2. To undergo genetic reversion. to individual 45-minute lessons. Tuition remains the same. Also, partner lessons are not offered to early elementary students. There are other considerations, too, including: * a tuition increase for families used to 30-minute lessons * students wanting more than a 30-minute private lesson in addition to the partner lesson (Worked it out!) * sports schedules changing every season, breaking up partnerships * clearing time to expand to 45-minute lessons (This meant reducing my studio size a bit; thank goodness for graduating seniors!) Fall came and partner lessons started. I had one instant failure. Silly me paired a little boy with a little girl--who left the first lesson telling her mom (1) (Messaging-Oriented Middleware) See messaging middleware. (2) (Microsoft Operations Manager) Software that monitors and captures system and application events throughout the network. she was ready to quit then and there. One down. The other failure was with two non-intuitive adults. I thought they'd be good for each other. After three lessons, one decided it was too stressful; he thought he was holding the other student back (not so) and felt so much pressure to be prepared that his solo repertoire Repertoire may mean Repertory but may also refer to:
Now the successes: Partner lessons are fantastic! Students young and old are having more fun than ever. Partners have become each other's support team, helping each other with note reading, rhythmic rhyth·mic also rhyth·mi·cal adj. Of, relating to, or having rhythm; recurring with measured regularity. rhyth  mi·cal·ly adv. security and becoming more confident performers. It's the
highest level of enthusiasm and motivation I've seen!
But let's hear what the students say: Alexandra, age 13, grade 9--"It adds affair to playing the piano. It makes practicing very enjoyable." Erin, 14, grade 9--"It motivates me to practice." Erin's mother--"I've seen a huge difference in Erin's motivation.... She's practicing a lot more, and enjoying it a lot more. Erin looks forward to going to piano lessons. Sometimes she's busy and has a lot of homework, but she always comes home happy." Sara (adult student)--"For performances, it's comforting having your partner sitting next to you. It makes me practice more, when you know you have somebody counting on you." Karen (adult student)--"It's a great way to make yourself practice more, because you don't want to get to lessons and have your partner know her piece more than you. Partner lessons really help me in counting, listening and feeling the music. When I play by myself, I don't really listen to what I'm playing. I'm just trying to play the notes. In partner lessons you really have to listen to your partner so you both stay with the beat. Partner lessons are a great way to improve your piano skills and to have fun at the same time." Morgan, who barely touched the piano between lessons, is having fun. She loves playing with Karen, and both are learning from each other. She likes her new friend and, oh yeah, she's practicing more! Brother Luke loves watching the duets and can't wait to try it. As for Karen, what attitude? It's gone, and my heart swells when I see her and Morgan having so much fun and success! Partner lessons--it's worth the effort to see so many students having so much fun! It's truly magical. Are you ready to try? |
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