It's January. The students are back to lessons. We're off and the race is on. With AIM looming on the horizon, we help our students set goals, encourage them to pace themselves, and push them to complete their commitments. AIM is such a strong, steady program. It is a way for our students to achieve tangible success. Completing an AIM level guarantees that the student we teach next year will be more capable, confident and knowledgeable.
The most difficult thing is to cover everything in the time allotted for lessons. It's easier if the student actually practices and works at home, but we still feel like the road is all uphill.
Every idea and trick we can use to make it feel more like coasting to our students is worth the effort we put in. Recently I discovered BULLETPROOFMUSICIAN. It's a tremendous resource for us as teachers and musicians. Noa Kageyama is on the faculty of The Juilliard School in NYC and the New World Symphony in Miami, FL where he helps talented musicians prepare for orchestra job auditions. He conducts workshops and "webinars" on performance enhancement and overcoming performance anxiety. He's been a speaker at seminars such as Music Teachers' National Association and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. He has a blog you can follow.
Whether you participate in AIM with your students or not, check out the following website and get familiar with what he has to offer. Do it for your students. Do it for yourself.