Finding Songs in Popular Styles for Students

Many of my students do sing popular style songs, especially during 4th quarter where the focus is on musical theatre and popular styles and comparing them to what we have learned about classical production.  But sadly, I will admit that I often just let students bring in what they want to sing.  Most of the time I ask them to choose 3-4 songs they would be interested in working on.  At a lesson, I have them sing along with YouTube, and I evaluate using very similar guidelines to the ones I use when I am choosing their classical songs. Then I choose the song that I think would work best.  These are a few of the things that I'm listening for:  

• Does the song fall not just within the student’s range, but also within a comfortable tessitura?  Have you tried multiple keys to find the best option for that student?  
• At musicnotes.com you can get most of the current hits transposed into the best key for that student.  
• At karaoke-version.com you can find backing tracks and then transpose them up or down by a half step or a whole step.  
• Does the song offer opportunities for growth AND does it also show the voice at its best?  Are the technical demands appropriate to where the student is today?
• Does the student like the song?
• Are the student’s musical skills advanced enough for the difficulties of the melodic line and rhythms?
• Is the text appropriate for a student this age?  Do they understand what they are singing about and can they communicate the meaning to an audience?

I reserve the right to veto, and often I do if it just doesn't fit their range and the key they need is not available, or if the text is not one that I am comfortable with them singing at our family friendly recital.  

If a student asks me for recommendations, that is where I have more difficulty.  Often, I offer the titles that other students have brought in the last few years that I think might fit their voices.  I don't spend a lot of my own personal time and energy listening to a lot of music and learning it myself like I do with classical, and therefore, the list of possibilities I can give them is much smaller.  

In the perfect world, I would know all the newest songs in every genre.  The reality though is that the popular music world is so huge in terms of styles, that there just plain isn't the time in my life for that and for learning new classical music and repertoire, which is the main focus of my teaching.  

Please share your favorite ways to find popular style music for your students.  

Contests, Festivals, and Other Learning Opportunities

My goal in this post is to explore a few of the performance and learning opportunities for students outside of regular lesson and practice time.  These are things I know about, not necessarily things I am offering to my students right now.  Please feel free to comment to add more information about specific events or programs.  Also add programs that I might not be aware of.

We'll start small with a couple of additions that can happen just with your studio.

Recitals

Most teachers offer recitals.  Where we differ is the number or structure of those recitals. How many recitals do you offer each year?  Are recitals open to anyone who wants to attend, or do you make them for just the students?  Do you charge for your recitals? Admission?  Accompanist fees?  How formal are your recitals?  In reality, a recital could be all your students in their nicest clothing, performing memorized in a rented concert hall, for anyone will to pay the admission price, with catered refreshments, of course.  Or, a recital could be a pajama party in your studio where only students attend and they munch on their favorite breakfast cereals as they sit on the floor and listen to each other sing.  

Studio Classes

I tend to think of recitals being performance oriented and studio classes being learning oriented.  Often my students perform at studio class, but we then give some feedback on what we saw and heard.  Sometimes it will be similar to a master class where I work with the students in front of the group.  Other times, I don't have enough students that want to sing or are sufficiently prepared to sing, so I present mini-workshops.  

Masterclasses

At our school, I prepare the students, but the planning and organization for the day, and any associated fees are taken care of my the choir department.  I also know many teachers that hire clinicians to do masterclasses for just their studio.  I've also seen teachers offer joint masterclasses for their students.  

Solo and Ensemble Contest

Contests are great ways to feedback from someone besides the student's regular teachers.  Many schools offer Solo and Ensemble Contest through their choir departments.  Ask your students if they plan to be involved.  Ask the local choir teachers if they offer this and if you can select the music and prepare your students for it.  

National Association of Teachers of Singing

MN-NATS sponsors students adjudications every fall.  Many other states have similar programs.  The MN program is for students 14 years old through adult avocational, and is strictly classical repertoire.  

Hal Leonard Vocal Competition

Click here for the rules for 2014.  One of the reasons I started offering this option to my students is that it has a 12 and under category, so my youngest students get opportunities.  Since the 2nd year, they have also offered a musical theatre category, which again interests more students than I might get for  NATS which is strictly classical.  

National Federation of Music Clubs

I grew up with NFMC and participated in many local festivals in the voice, organ, and piano categories. In the local association festivals, students can sing in either musical theatre or classical categories.  They do have options for young children, and I just found out that my local association also offers adults the opportunity to sing for festival.  I am not currently a member because I'm spread too thin right now, but I would love to get back to this at some point in the future.  

Music Teachers National Association

Our state division of MTNA, Minnesota Music Teachers Association, offers wonderful educational programs.  In my studio, I am currently offering MMTA Theory Exams, Voice Exams, Voice Contest, and Young Artist Contest.  I have not yet added the MTNA competitions, but I'm interested in learning more.  

Royal Conservatory Music Development Program

This is another program that I am very interested in, but simply don't have the time to commit to at this point.  Exams cover vocal skills, theory, and performance.  Another benefit of this, as pointed out by a parent who wants me to add this for her child, is that the standards and testing are global.  A student that could pass the test here, would also be able to pass the test in any part of the world where the program is offered.  

Music Camps

I have wonderful memories of the music camps I attended and the people I met there. Many colleges and universities offer camps for middle school and/or high school students. Check with local music and theatre organizations to see what they offer.  

What do you offer your students outside of regular lesson time?  How have you selected the options that work best for your studio?  

Workshops

I offer my students studio classes every quarter, plus a recital at the end of the year. They also have performance opportunities like MMTA Contest and Exams, NATS, the Masterclass Day sponsored by the school, and our district Solo and Ensemble Contest. This year, I'm throwing in some new learning experiences, some covered by their quarterly tuition, and some with a small fee.  It's a trial program.  I'll see what kind of response I get and then decide if I want to continue these, modify the offerings, or drop the idea completely.

One of the advantages of offering workshops is the opportunity for me as a teacher to give informations to many students at once, instead of taking a little bit of time from everyone's lessons.  Workshops also allow us to explore more depth of the topic than I would probably take in a single lesson.

This year I will be offering 5 workshops:

• MMTA Theory and Voice Exam Prep (Fall session)
• MMTA Theory and Voice Exam Prep (January session)
• Memorization Strategies
• Dealing with Performance Anxiety
• Tai Chi and Singing

MMTA Theory and Voice Exam Prep

Last year was my first year really preparing students for MMTA Theory Exams.  I had a student take the exam the year before, but he had had extensive piano training, so we hardly had to review at all.  Last year, 3 students chose to take the theory exams, and this year, I have a few more that are interested.  I've changed my approach to warm-ups and skills work in lessons for all students so that they are getting a little exposure, and I've asked students who want to take the exams to sign up for longer lessons or extra lessons to make sure we have time to work through everything.  

I'm adding two 90 minutes theory workshops to help students review the material in a group setting.  I'll have different activities and games to help reinforce concepts in a fun way.  Students will pay a small fee for this workshop.

I'm one of those people that is continually revising, but as it stand right now, this is what the structure of the workshop will look like:

• Part I:  Review and Instruction
• Prior to the first workshop, all of the students will have had at least a short introduction to each of these terms or concepts. Many of my students have already learned these things from choir class or other music lessons.  
• Rhythm tree (whole note=two half notes, half note=two quarters, etc.)
• time signature, bar lines, measure
• Sharp, flat, natural
• bass and treble clef
• repeat signs
• tempo, dynamics, articulation (Specific terms for this test)
• intervals--visual and aural identification--use interval songs.  (Only the intervals that the exams cover.)

• Part II:  Individual Work and Tutor Stations  
• Students work in their Theory workbooks.  Worksheets will be provided for students that are taking the voice exam instead of the theory exam.
• If needed, during this time students may move to a station where one of my  advanced students can answer questions.  I will also float during this time, checking student progress and answering questions.  
• Part III:  Reinforce With Games 
• Speed drills with flashcards, reviewing note names, terms, and intervals.  The team that gets the most correct in a certain amount of time wins.  
• Bingo
• Basketball.  Every correct answer earns one shot. 

Memorization Strategies

I've presented this full workshop 5 times now, and I've also incorporated chunks of it into studio classes when I didn't have a full session of singers.  Memorization skills are essential for singers. Until you can get out of the music and really focus on what you are communicating, you can't really make music.  I am a firm believer that everyone can memorize, we just need to find the right strategies and not wait until the last minute to start the memorization process.   

Most young singers still think that the best way to memorize is just to sing the song over and over with the music in front of you just in case you forget.  My workshop explores multiple methods of memorization, employing aural, visual, kinesthetic, and analytical approaches to make memorization faster and more secure.  Several of these options actually work well in a group.  We will also take a little time for individual work with a few of the strategies.  By the end of the session, students will be fairly secure on a song that most of them see for the first time at the beginning of the workshop.  (Yes, it is a very simple folk song, but still, learning and memorizing that quickly is an accomplishment to be proud of.)

Dealing With Performance Anxiety

Because anxiety has been an issue for me, I've done a lot of reading and exploration on this topic.  Pieces of this workshop have found their way into lessons, but I haven't presented the full workshop in a few years, so it's definitely time to do it again.  One of my favorite parts of this workshop it talking about how feeling fear/anxiety and feeling excited actually cause many of the same physiological responses in the body.  We can transform our fear into energy that helps us perform well. I also cover several techniques for calming the body and mind.  And of course, I emphasize that being well prepared goes a long way towards making a performance a more enjoyable experience.  

Tai Chi and Singing

This is my newest workshop.  Although I've been bringing tai chi and qigong into voice lessons for a couple years now, I've only given one workshop on incorporating the two, and that was for the last MMTA convention.  This will be a slight variation on that, teaching students more of the depth of the movements and body alignment.  Tai chi and qigong exercises will be done as we might do them in a tai chi class, and then repeated while singing to reinforce breath and phrase shaping.  

For this year, the memorization, anxiety, and tai chi workshops will be free to all of my students.  In future years, I will offer them for a small fee and I will invite other teachers and students to attend.  All 3 workshops have enough material and depth that students could attend multiple times and still be learning new things.  

If you are interested in having me present any of these workshops to your students or your teacher group, please contact me for more information about rates and scheduling.  

A Journey into the Past, a Glimpse of the Future

I was searching my numerous binders for a document I put together in the mid-90's about what I wanted to teach voice and what that meant to me.  I thought that sharing it and comparing it to some of my recent posts would be fun.  I moved it.  It's not it the binder where it should be and I can't find it any of the others.

But, I did find two other very interesting writings, especially when viewed in light of what I just wrote about Glenda and her book.  This is also a great example of why we need to write what we think and feel.  I had forgotten the passion with which I wrote the second entry.

These first excerpts are from a document I prepared for my own use (thanks EB for the idea and encouragement) titled "Celebration of Self".  This was written in March of 1999.  I was in grad school working on a DMA in vocal performance that I didn't end up finishing.

I AM A SINGER
Sing--vi.  1a.  To produce musical tones by means of the voice  b.  to utter words in musical tones and with musical inflections and modulations
3a.  to relate or celebrate something in verse
5.  to produce musical or harmonious sounds
7.  to give information or evidence
vt. chant, intone 

When I looked up sing and singer in the dictionary and thesaurus, I was struck by how limited these definitions are.  What I do and who I am is so much more than this.   

I AM A TEACHER
Teacher--awakener, guide, one who imparts knowledge, communicator.
teacher--1.  instructor, trainer, coach, educator, pedagogue, master, tutor, professor, lector, lecturer, academian
2.  mentor, counselor, advisor, guide, explainer, expounder, interpreter, annotator
3.  informer, demonstrator, exponent, propagator
4.  exemplar, example, pattern, model, ideal, idol 

I am a teacher.  It's not just what I do, it is central to what I am.  It is my purpose.  I've always know I was a teacher, but only within the last eight years or so have I known that I need to teach singing.  My need to teach is hard to explain to most people.  I need it a much as I need food or air.  I need it as much as most of my friends need to perform.  I love singing and enjoy performing, but the real highs in my life come through teaching. Though at times it can be frustrating, it can also be energizing, invigoration, and stimulating.  Sometime teaching literally keeps me alive.  I will get out of bed to teach when I don't care enough to do anything else.  The sharing of knowledge is so exciting to me.  Sometimes, the most exciting things are the things I learn from my students.  

My last semester of grad school was fall of 1999.  I left mid-year so I could deal with some serious health issues.  I continued study with Glenda off an on for the next few years.  On October 19, 2001, I started writing again with the idea that I would do another full Celebration of Self document to see how I had grown and changed since the first.  I didn't finish it, but I did include this.

I AM A SINGER 

Last time I did a celebration of self project, I found definitions and synonyms for singing, and comment that they really didn't define every things I am and do.  But, I didn't go any further in describing who and what I really am as a singer.  As I singer, I AM A GIVER OF LIFE AND LIGHT.  I PROTECT AND NOURISH BEAUTY.  In the last couple of years, I've found that my purpose in singing.  It's not that teaching is not longer my purpose--it is a purpose--but singing is what I really need to do right now.  It is through singing that I feel completely alive.  When I looked up the word origin for perform, it said to thoroughly complete.  I think that that is what singing does for me.  It makes me feel complete and whole.  It takes me to physical, emotional, and spiritual levels that nothing else can.  It's hard working with Glenda, because I think that she still sees my desires as first a teacher and then a singer.  That's what it used to be, but not I really want to sing.  She helped awaken that in me, and I must admit sometimes I really hate her for it.  (Hate is too strong of a word, but sometimes when you're not sure you're up to fulfilling your potential, you wish that the person who helped you see it hadn't.)

Obviously, I've cycled back since then towards teacher as primary purpose and identity. My favorite phrase is that whole last paragraph is "but singing is what I really need to do right now."  I'm learning to trust my path and honor the things that are there for me as lessons I need at that moment.  I don't think I was wrong in 1999 and I don't think I was wrong in 2001.  It was right for that point in my life.  (And poor Glenda had to deal with all of it, probably never really sure where I stood.)

I'm not going to do another full Celebration of Self right now (lucky you!), but I do want to wrap this post up with where I feel like I am and where I am heading.  Way before college, I knew I wanted to be a teacher or a healer.  I just didn't know what specific thing to teach or what healing professional to pursue.  I've explored a lot of paths and none of the time there was wasted.  All of that fed into who I am right now.  And right now, I still feel like my call is that of teacher and healer.  Although the Western world often separates those 2 professions, I believe they are one and the same.  And right now, singing and tai chi are the vehicles through which I teach and heal.  Other doors are opening.  Other pathways are presenting themselves.  The goal I'm pursuing right now is that of  creating some kind of fusion of the things that mean the most to me--teaching, healing, singing, tai chi, and beauty.  They are one.  I can see it.  I'm close.  Very close.

The Queen of Lists and Organization

Lest you think that this last crazy rush of blog posts is some new desire in me to organize and structure my life, I must tell you that I've been this way for a long time.  I'll spare you the details of my childhood and jump right to college.

The Book about Books

As an undergrad, I began a project reviewing any and every book I could find about the voice and singing.  It looks like about half the titles have my reviews of the books and half are just standard bibliography entries.  It might have started as part of a voice pedagogy or literature class.  I can't really remember.  It was saved on one of those huge floppy disks.  The printed copy I just found was done on a dot matrix printer and still has the edges attached to the paper.  For those of you too young to remember, it looks like this.

Anyway, this project is at least 25 pages long and divided into categories:

• translations
• diction
• song lists
• textbooks and pedagogy sources
• voice training in schools and choral singing
• opera and music history

Pencilled notes in the columns show that I clearly had plans to sort and add more subcategories:

• Maybe class voice section
• maybe separate phonetics and diction
• acoustics
• Russian 
• Bel Canto
• musical theatre

Totally nerdy, but what a great resource!  Maybe someday I'll get back to it and finish Jeannine's Annotate Bibliography of Everything She Could Get Her Hands On.  (That wasn't the title then, but if I do finish it, that will be the new title.)

Other Nerdy Organizational Stuff

The Catalog

About the same time I was working on the bibliography, I also started a special card catalog of the music I own.  Each 3 X 5 card was a song title and listed important information like the show it was from and the composer.  Then it listed which books I had that song in.  I still have those cards.  I can't throw anything away.  Plus, I want to check them against the new and improved (but still in process because I can't stop buying music) catalog in an Excel spread sheet.  

The spread sheet version has columns for title, composer, show, book title, key, if I own the book or my school does, and if either the school or I have an accompaniment CD for that title.  On another page, I also have a list of all the songs I own that have ranges of one octave or less, with a column for what the range is for that particular song.  Because I spend so much time with repertoire, much of that information is also in my head, but it is helpful for songs in books that I don't use as frequently.  For example, a few weeks ago, someone needed to borrow a copy of a song.  I knew that it was in one book for sure, but I use that frequently and didn't want to loan it out.  I was then able to search my spread sheet and find what the person needed in another book.  

Also, having the information organized like this has been extremely helpful in finding the right key for a student.  If a student is singing a song that they love from a collection that they own and it should be working well for them, but it's not quite locking in,  I will see what other keys I have that song in.  Sometimes keys make a difference, changing an OK song for that voice to a WOW song.  

The Books of Pictures

I also have a couple of binders that I created during grad school.  They are full of pictures that I ripped out of magazines.  I am a very visual person and wanted ideas, real things that I could look at to help me build the situation of the songs I was singing.  There are pictures of people, places, things.  Basically, I added any picture that spoke to me on some level.  If it spoke to me, then I would be more likely to use it.  As I write fiction, this also gives me some great inspiration for describing people, places, and things.  

Pack Rat Stuff

I keep everything, and sometimes I'm better at organizing it than at other times.  

I keep:

• programs
• letters, even ones I didn't send
• old business records including schedules and student lists
• papers I wrote for school  (I still have some from elementary school.)
• handouts from classes, conferences, workshops
• magazine articles from a variety of sources

So, if all the stuff I'm posting here gets to be too much for you, that's OK.  Read what interests you, and rest well knowing that at least my thoughts are somewhat organized here and not scribbled on some scrap of paper and stuffed in a box under the bed.  

Fees for Things Besides Actual Lesson Time

Someone asked a question about fees, so here I am to talk about them.  Please, please, please respond either here or on FB so we can have a discussion about this.  This is definitely one of those areas where I don't think there are black and white answers.  I think each of us as teachers needs to evaluate what will work best for our students and our studios.  Different circumstances need different solutions.

I'll start out with what I do in my studio currently and the justifications for those choices. Then I'll explore some other possibilities for fees including why I like those ideas and why they might not work for my studio.

Starting with Fall 2013, these are the costs to my students:

• Quarterly tuition covers 7 lessons and a studio class or recital (All students whether they attend EVHS or not will be on this program if they want a regular lesson time.)  
• In addition they get for free:
• Access to a whole book worth of handouts (by me) when they log in to my website.  
• 3 workshops (Watch for a post later about why I am doing these and why they are free this year.)
• My accompanist skills at lessons, studio classes, and recitals.  
• My attendance (for support, warm-ups, etc.) at NATS and MMTA sponsored events.  
• Students are expected to purchase their own music.  
• All other fees are related to optional events
• Entrance fees for exams or contests (MMTA, NATS, EVHS Masterclass Day, Solo and Ensemble Contest, etc.)
• Accompanist fees for exams, contests, auditions, recordings, etc. 

It's simple.  It's clean.  I would like to charge more for the basic tuition package, but I'll have to wait and see what is decided by the department.  By the way, students in my studio do get a lot for free.  The way it is set up, teachers and students at our school contract for 8 contacts per quarter.  Teachers can do those all as lessons.  I choose to do studio classes, recitals, and all the other stuff because I think it is helpful for my students, and I feel that all the free stuff more than equals the cost of one more lesson.  Should the school ever determine that I must use all 8 contacts for lessons, you can bet that every single one of the "freebies" will have a fee attached. 

Package Options 

One of the things you need to determine when deciding tuition rates and additional fees is whether you are going to offer a full package deal, a package plus extras deal (like mine), or a strictly per item rate with payments for individual lessons and events.

Full Package Deal
If I wasn't teaching at a school where I had to work with their rules, and if I knew all my students were super rich, I would totally go with the full package deal.  And this is what it would look like:

• A certain number of lesson within a particular amount of time.  
• Any studio classes, recitals, or workshops that are scheduled during that time are free.  
• All books are covered and I purchase them.  (Which means I will figure in more money for books than most people will spend.)
• Recordings are free. (Base tuition price assumes everyone will have 1 one hour recording session. They pay whether or not they use it.)
• Entrance fees and accompanist fees are covered for all events even if they choose not to participate.  (Again, that means every student is charged.)

Very simple.  They pay one price and get everything and it simplifies my book-keeping.  It also encourages students to participate since they are paying for it either way.  

Package Plus Extras

My plan above is one way to do this, but the options are endless as you will see when we start talking about all the other possible fees you could charge.  

Per Lesson Rates With or Without Other Fees

I don't know a lot of people charging strictly per lesson fees anymore.  Most people have at least gone to monthly packages.  The teachers I see most often offering per lesson fees tend to be teachers of more advanced students or teachers with studios where students do not have a regular lesson day and time.  If you are teaching using a strictly per lesson rate, please comment and share with us why this has worked for you.  

Miscellaneous Fees

As you will see, the boundaries of what is covered by each of these types of fees are kind of blurry.  You would certainly not want to do all of these, but you could choose the ones that best serve you.  

• Registration Fee
• Some teachers have a one time fee when a student begins lessons.  I assume this is to cover the work involved in the book work (setting up accounts, etc.)
• I could see the value in this.  Now that I'm with MTH, if I have a student register on my website, all that information is automatically put into my records so all I have to do is send a welcome email and add their lesson times to the website calendar.  Previously, it took me much more time to get organized for each new student that started, and a registration fee would have been helpful and appreciated.  
• Studio Fee
• A yearly fee that just reserves your lesson space.  
• Teachers can use this to cover professional development costs.  
• Facilities Fee
• Pays for any costs the teacher may incur for the studio space.  
• rent and utilities
• piano tuning
• Materials Fee
• Pays for basic office supplies like staff paper, paper for handouts, pencils, etc.  
• Music Fee
• I've seen this work in a couple of ways.  One way to do this is to charge everyone an average price, but some students end up with more expensive books and some with less expensive books based on the needs of the individual students.  The teacher pockets any extra cash left over.  I would have trouble deciding what that average price would be.  
• The other option I've seen is teachers charge an average price to each student at the beginning of the year.  They then keep detailed accounts for each individual as they purchase music.  At the end of the year, students with money left in the account get refunds and students with negative balances get bills.  
• I'm going to be honest here.  Both of these options seem like more work than they are worth.  The only way I'm going back to buying books for students is if I ever decide to do the full package deal.  
• Library Fee
• I know some individuals and schools that charge a once a year fee that covers all the photocopies of music that the students will receive.  You know that is not going to fly in my studio.  I will not photocopy unless I have permission from the publisher.  I do not believe that copying songs for voice lessons falls under the educational clause of Fair Use.  But you can do what you want with your studio.  
• Option 2 for a library fee is that the fee goes towards books that go in the Lending Library.  Students can then borrow books for those songs that are the only song in the whole book that they will use.  I'm totally on board for this kind of a fee, but I don't think our school would be, so my Lending Library continues to be free and funded out of my own pocket.  
• Option 3, the library fee goes to build the school's vocal library which may or may not circulate depending on the needs of the school.  
• Option 4, the library fee functions as a deposit on a book allowing you to replace things that don't come back or that come back totally trashed.  
• Event Entrance Fees
• I'm of the opinion that event entrance fees should be for the exact amount required by the sponsoring organization and paid directly to that organization when possible.  This keeps it out of your books. You don't have to claim it as income and then record it again as an expense.  However, I know that many groups like MMTA and NATS will not accept checks from students and want one big check from the teacher.  
• Accompanist Fees
• Pretty much the same thing as entrance fees.  
• My students get me for free for studio classes and recitals, but that's because I play well enough that I can do it and I don't want to have to schedule extra rehearsals with another accompanist.  Teachers that can play actually have a big advantage here.  Just because I do it for free doesn't mean you need to.  
• I charge my students when I accompany them for extra events.  
• Students also have the option to hire an accompanist, but the accompanist sets the fees.  I do not negotiate those for students.  
• Our school sets fees for school sponsored events.  
• Also, accompanist fees teach students to respect the work that accompanists do.  Students who are going to pursue music as a profession need to know learn early that it is not a cheap life. 
• Late fees
• If students don't pay on time, you should not feel guilty about asking for a late fee.  
• Actually collecting on it is sometimes harder.  
• This year I eliminated late fees.  Instead, tuition is due prior to the first lesson of the quarter.  If I don't have it after lesson 2, they don't get lesson 3 until they have paid in full.  They are still expected to pay for the full quarter and can sign up for make ups (which are hard to get at the times most students want) for any lessons they miss.  I'll let you know how it works.  At the worst, I've taught a couple lessons I never get paid for and there is an open spot in my schedule.  That's still better than kids that run up a huge bill and then disappear.  
• Fees for studio sponsored events like masterclasses and recitals.  
• You should not be paying for masterclass clinicians out of your own pocket, unless you have a really awesome package deal for your students and you already figured in the price of this.  
• And as nice as it is, clinicians shouldn't be giving classes for peanuts just because that is what the teacher can afford.  Pay the clinician what they are worth and spread out the expense over all participants.  
• You may also need/want to charge a fee to help cover the cost of the space you use for the event.  
• If you're going to do fancy refreshments, don't forget that those cost money too.  
• You Didn't Practice Fee
• Just kidding.  You probably shouldn't charge this fee, although sometimes I have really wanted to.  
• On the other hand, I did hear of a teacher who taught, but didn't need the income from lessons (not sure how that happened).  Anyway, he charged sliding fee tuition with the students who had practiced well and often paying much less or even nothing, and the others  paying his standard fee.  When I win Powerball, I'll definitely go with that plan.  

I'm out of ideas.  What fees do you charge?  What is covered in your basic tuition rate? How do you feel about the kinds of fees I've listed here?  Talk to me.  

Book Review: Finding Vocal Artistry

If you've read any of my book reviews at Jeannine's Bookshelf, you'll know that my book reviews aren't standard book reviews.  My book reviews are more like brain dumps inspired by the books I read.  Since no one is grading it, and I'm not publishing it in any magazine or paper that has guidelines for what a book review should be, I can basically do what I want.  And I do.

So... this book review is going to start off with a little personal history.  I spent many, many hours learning from Glenda Maurice.  I may have told one or both of these stories before, but they fit this situation, so I'm going to tell them again here.

Story #1 When I was trying to decide where to go to grad school, I was literally just pulling cards off the posters that were up in our music department.  I sent away for information on a few schools.  I can't remember the exact situation now, but somehow one of the voice teachers (not my teacher) found out that the University of Minnesota was one of the schools I was looking at.  She took me to her office and said something to the effect of, "I heard this woman give a masterclass at a NATS Convention.  You should listen to this."  And then she handed me the recording.  I listened once, and knew that Glenda was the teacher that I was supposed to study with.  I only applied to two schools and only auditioned at one.  I started lessons with Glenda the next fall.

Sometimes there are people that you meet and you feel like you've known them forever. Some relationships you grow into. And then there are those rare ones when it just hits you.  This is a person to watch.  She is going to change your life.  I don't think it is coincidence that the two people with whom I've had the most profound experiences of that were two voice teachers and mentors.

Story #2  I flew from the big city of Salt Lake City, Utah to Minneapolis, MN all by myself to audition.  Because we had been in opera rehearsals during the regular audition dates, the U of MN faculty had agreed to meet me at a different time.  Larry Weller greeted me and made me feel as comfortable and at ease as it is possible to be when you are waiting for a big audition.  When they were ready for me, I sang my songs and then had about 30 seconds (OK maybe that's a slight exaggeration) to speak with Glenda Maurice before she had to rush off to something else.  I don't remember if it was during that conversation or when we first got together in the fall, but when she learned that my primary interest was in teaching, she suggested I might be better off studying with Clif Ware.  (Later I got to work with him when I taught class voice and private lessons as a TA.) I explained that I really wanted to work with her and she said OK.  After my audition Jean del Santo took me back to her wonderfully comfortable studio for tea and a friendly conversation.  I remember on the plane ride home wondering what I had gotten myself into.  All those other really good options and I had chosen Glenda.  Had I made the right choice?

I think both of us were wondering that for most of the fall quarter as I got off to a rough start in grad school with lingering bronchitis, ear infections, and sinus infections.  Getting healthy enough to go to a lesson was hard, and even then, I knew I wasn't showing her my best because I was still not fully recovered.

The good news is that I got better and lessons got better.  But still, I think it is important to say that Glenda and I had a complicated relationship.  She knew I was talented and smart, but I don't think she really understood that I didn't know as much as she thought I did.  There were huge, gaping holes in my education and I didn't know enough about what I didn't know to clearly articulate what I needed help with.  We're also both quite opinionated and strong-willed, but I didn't know how to express what I was thinking and feeling.  And after all, she was the teacher, so for the most part, I just tried to do what I was told.  There were times she thought I was far too passive and wasn't taking enough initiative.  And a couple of time, I did speak out (or sent emails) and that caused even more problems.  I love her.  I respect her.  And I learned so much from her.  But sometimes I'm still stuck in the complications.

Although we are very much alike in some ways, Glenda and I have very different perspectives.  Glenda wanted to work with the best and the brightest, those students who had the most potential to reach the highest degree of artistry in vocal music.  That was her desire, her call, her gift.  The world and the art form need that.  I think that most of our conflicts grew out of the fact that she saw that it me. She wanted that for me.  And for awhile, because she wanted it, I wanted it too.  But the stage is not my home.  The spotlight is not calling to me.  I am not a singer who teaches.  I am a teacher who sings.

If you stripped everything else away, I am first and foremost a teacher.  And I am teacher that needs to help students reach their full potential even if it is not of the level (basic talent, skill, or artistry) that Glenda expected of her students. I love opening doors for students and giving them a glimpse of that artistry and beauty even if they can't live there yet and might never be able to. The world very much needs what I have to offer too.

At the time I was studying with her, both of us struggled with how to help me find artistry AND be the best teacher that I could be.  I wanted the artistry side.  That is why I chose to study with her.  Because even with my baby beginners or even when I'm singing for a church congregation that will love me no matter what, I want communicating what the composer intended and the experiencing the beauty of the music to be the first and most important thing.

All of that lays the foundation for you to better understand the things that I will say about Glenda's book, Finding Vocal Artistry.  It is a must read.  She says things that you will disagree with.  She says things that might make you mad.  You may feel defensive.  But she speaks her truth and is not ashamed to share it.

I've always been a quote nerd, even before I met Glenda, so please forgive me if rather than writing about what she says, I just give you her words.  She was so much more articulate than I am anyway.

One of the fun things about reading this book was that I kept reading things and saying, "I said that in a lesson this week!"  The book really is a wonderful review of the things I learned in her studio.  It's also a humbling reminder that the brilliant things I say and do didn't all come from my brain.  I've had some wonderful guidance.

I love Glenda's emphasis on listening.  How will students know what we are aiming for if they have never listened to great examples of artistry?  I have a baritone that is now hooked on Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and I can't tell you happy that makes me.

Glenda begins Chapter 3 "There are no short-cuts to the truth" with this:

Learning is an active pursuit of the mind. It entails digesting data, satisfying curiosity, enriching perceptions, and honing skills. Knowing is something else. It is visceral, spiritual and inexplicable. It comes from deep inside you. It is more valuable and more powerful than learning. It is a gift given in the quiet of non-conscious acceptance.
Glenda Maurice (2013-05-31). Finding Vocal Artistry (Kindle Locations 340-342). Xlibris. Kindle Edition. 

I have nothing brilliant to say about it because it pretty much says it all.   Wow.

My passion for finding repertoire appropriate for each individual student comes from Glenda, and there is a wonderful chapter here on choosing repertoire.  If you read nothing else, read Chapter 9.  In addition to some guidelines for choosing repertoire, she shares her frustration with people that include "Morgen" by Richard Strauss in beginner collections, and I couldn't agree more.  I first sang this song in college.  I think it might have been on my senior recital.  I thought I did a pretty good job.  I later pulled it out and worked it with Glenda and the life experiences since the first performance made it a completely different song.  Now, at 43, I'm starting to really understand it.

Tangential personal rant:  Please, please, please DO NOT assign "Gretchen am Spinnrade" to a young student!  Yes the character is young.  Yes the melody is easy in the low key.  But the breath and the shape of the line and the emotions are far beyond those of high school students.  Even with advanced adults, it takes a certain kind of voice to sing this well and do it as the composer intended.  End rant.

In Chapter 10, Glenda plays the dictionary definition chain game.  (This is so me, and I think I was like this before I met Glenda.)  The chain game brings her to this conclusion:

If we consider these definitions, diction is far more than technical formation of shapes. It is pronunciation and enunciation; it is presentation of words in such a way that the ideas they represent can be readily grasped by the listener. It is grand, and definite, and it leaves no room in the listener’s mind for doubt. It is a far more fundamental art and skill for the singer than is generally thought. And like any art, it must move far beyond skill to become truth.
Glenda Maurice (2013-05-31). Finding Vocal Artistry (Kindle Locations 922-925). Xlibris. Kindle Edition.   

Then she moves into what became one of our battle grounds.  It's taken me years to figure out how to articulate my response in any way other than "Yes, but..." and then a few incomprehensible mumbles.   And since I didn't have the chance to tell her, I will tell you.  Glenda hates IPA and actually presents a very good case here for why she hates it. She also feels that diction classes are failing us as singers.  Now, years later, with much more teaching and life experience and much more self-reflection, I can say with certainty that she is correct.  IPA and diction classes do not take us far enough.

But...(you knew it was coming), I think that she failed to recognize how necessary a step they are for some of us.  Glenda was easily one of the most intelligent people I have ever met.  And some things, including languages came easier for her than they do for most of us.  I have a unique challenge (which I didn't totally understand when I was studying with her).  Without some kind of visual representation, I have difficulty processing sound. (I know, weird for a musician, but I've got it figured out now.) When I hear people speak, I see words.  If I hear a word I have not seen before, I often can't say it back to you immediately.  If I have to learn it by sound alone, it takes me many times of hearing it before I can come up with a spelling, symbol, or visual shape that allows me to anchor that sound.  Because foreign languages and diction classes were part of that huge gap in my education, I needed something to help me anchor all the sounds I was trying to process.  No, I was not the student that blacked out the words and wrote in IPA instead, but I did use IPA to help me remember what those spellings sounded like.  The IPA symbols were my anchors.  I'm now really comfortable with the fact that ie in German is [i] and I don't need that help any more, but at that point I very much did.

I don't think my special learning needs are the only cases where IPA and diction classes are helpful.  I'm always telling my students that vowels are sounds, not shapes.  But I also know that you can get that sound into a student's ear by having them make the shape. It's a tool, not the final product.  Once they know the sound, they can sing the vowel sound and let go of the "chicken butt lips".  (Very disappointed, by the way, that that lovely description didn't make it into the book.  She certainly shared it enough times during my lessons.)

Even though we fought some battles as I tried to figure out the whole languages thing, I am carrying the torch of the vowel police.  How you say the word creates the placement and tone color, and even affects how you use the breath. If the vowels can't be beautiful, specific, and full of the idea you are trying to communicate, you might as well go home. How you say the word creates the placement and tone color, and even affects how you use the breath.  Pretty sound is nothing if it doesn't say something.

Tone is totally meaningless until it fulfills and expresses an idea.
Glenda Maurice (2013-05-31). Finding Vocal Artistry (Kindle Location 1044). Xlibris. Kindle Edition. 

I was surprised and excited to see Glenda's discussion on the difference between hold and sustain.  I use that all the time, but I guess I had forgotten who I stole it from.

In the last Chapter, Glenda takes a stand against staged art song.  Read the book for her thoughts.  Here are mine.  If it gets people into the audience and exposes them to the music, is it all bad?  On the other hand, nothing is more moving than being pulled into the beauty by the sound and face alone.  If you doubt it, watch this YouTube video.  (I'm purposely not embedding because I want this to be all Glenda focused.)

Finally, treat yourself to these wonderful examples of everything Glenda wrote about in the book.

Setting Tuition Rates to Reflect All the Time I Invest in Teaching

Money:  This is the part I hate about teaching lessons.  To be honest, I just want to go and teach, and have money magically appear in my bank account. That magic money would be just enough to cover everything I need, plus money for the professional development activities I would like to do.  I don't want to figure out how much I need or how much what I do is worth.  And I certainly don't want to spend my time and energy trying to get people to pay me.  Unfortunately, until I will Powerball, I still have to do deal with the financial side of being a teacher.  This blog post is me trying to deal with it.  

I make fairly decent money if you look at my lesson rates as an hourly wage for student contact time only.  However, when I figure in all the other time that I spend on lesson related things, that hourly wage doesn't look quite as good anymore.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not living in poverty.  But it is good to take a step back and evaluate every once in a while.  

In the fall of 2009, I did a post titled "Teaching is More Than Just Student Contact Time", referring to and answering several questions that Monica K. Allen had given us at a seminar I attended.  I'll be reflecting on those 2009 answers, and answering those questions again today taking into account my own goals for this year.  This is also for the school year only.  I teach fewer lessons (and therefore have less student contact time) during the summer, and I spend much more time with the other areas.  

1. How many hours do you spend with students per week?

I'm still searching for that perfect number where I feel like I can pay my bills, but I'm not so drained that I can't do the other things related to my business or have a life outside of lessons.  My plan for this year is this: 

• Lessons start at 8:25 (the time that the first choir class of the day begins.)  No more 7am or 1st hour study hall lessons.  
• Lessons end at 5PM.  I'm involved in more things in the evenings now.  Plus, it's just nice to have some free time and not work constantly.  
• Maximum of 5 lessons in a row.  I have to schedule breaks to get up and move. I also need time to rest my brain.  I'm not opposed to using these breaks for administrative tasks, but I can't keep going with more and more lessons.  Since most of my lessons are half an hour, the 5 lesson maximum means I will get a break every 2.5 to 3.5 hours.  
• I need at least 60 half hour lessons per week to pay the bills.  Maximum I will accept for fall is 70.  Weekly time with students will be between 30 and 35 hours

Running total= 30-35 hours per week.  

2. How many hours do you spend on prep time per week?

• During the summer, I'm spending 2-4 hours a day on prep and administrative duties.  (I'm also only teaching 20-25 lessons per week.) I'm hoping that all of this time will make my prep time shorter for the school year.  
• Ideally, I'd like prep time to be able 30 minutes per day (2.5 hours total per week) that I use for warming up and review the lesson notes for the past week. There may also be a little more time involved if I need to find repertoire options for students.  Although I like to have students choose their music (it helps them to own it and take more responsibility), I usually have a few books and specific titles in mind that I want to give them as options. 

Running total= 32.5-37.5 hours per week.  

3. How many hours do you spend on administrative duties per week?

• For my purposes, administrative duties include:
• Reconciling lessons in MTH including copy/paste of student lesson notes.
• Keeping the Lending Library and Repertoire Tracker functions on MTH up to date.  
• Recording payments.  
• Creating and sending invoices to families that owe me money.  
• Keeping the website calendar up to date.  
• Sending announcements by email, and posting them on the website.
• Replying to emails and phone messages.  
• Contest/Festival/Exams:  Registrations, hiring accompanists, certificates and ribbons.    
• Sometimes this takes as much as an hour a day.  I'm hoping that with online lesson sign-ups and payments that this will be shortened.  My goal is 30 minutes or less per day, putting my weekly total at 2.5 hours.

Running total= 35 to 40 hours per week.

4. How many hours do you spend on marketing per week?

• Because I only do the New Student Orientation and Parent Open House at school, plus I counted responding to emails under administrative time, I really only do about 6 hours per year.  Averaging that time over the whole school year is about 10 minutes per week.  

Running total:  35 hours 10 minutes to 40 hours 10 minutes per week.  

5. How many hours do you spend on professional development per week?

• A big chunk of my professional development comes in the form of conferences and conventions that happen in big blocks of time, rather than spread out into each week.  Even if I counted 0 hours for professional development for the other weeks, I still need to consider the costs of conferences and conventions which can be into the thousands of dollars when you figure in registration, transportation, lodging, and the money that you won't earn while you are at the convention.
• With conference time averaged over the whole school year, plus time that I spend in my own reading and research, I'm going to say 1 hour per week (and I think that is a pretty low estimate.)  
• I am going to count my tai chi and qigong classes (but not personal practice) as professional development time too since I'm using that a lot in my teaching now.  Averaged over the school year, it's probably 4 hours per week, bringing my total for this section to 5 hours a week.  

Running total:  40 hours 10 minutes to 45 hours 10 minutes per week.  

I'm adding a question here.  Because it was not one of the original questions, I'm not including the time in my running total, even though this does require a lot of time,  It is however, something that definitely needs to be considered when setting my rates.  

5a.  How much time per week (on average) do you spend in volunteer and/or required duties so that your students have more education and performance opportunities?  

• This year, in addition to the regular studio classes and recitals that are covered in their quarterly tuition, I am offering 3 free workshops, plus the opportunity to participate in NATS Student Adjudications, MMTA Theory Exams, MMTA Voice Exams, and MMTA Voice Contest (Preliminaries and Finals).  Enrolling students in NATS and MMTA events means that I need to volunteer to help with those events.  At the very least, I am there as a teaching supporting my students.  

6. How many hours do you spend practicing each week?

• I'm going to answer with a realistic goal of how many hours I'd like to practice each week and put it at 2.5 hours.  It's not as much as I would do if I had more time and energy, but it's better than nothing.  

Running total:  42 hours 40 minutes to 47 hours 40 minutes per week.

7. How many total hours are you working each week?

• 42 hours 40 minutes to 47 hours 40 minutes per week (If I don't sit at home and do projects to make my studio run better.)

8. Do your tuition rates reflect this?

• As I said in the other post, I wish that what I make per hour of student contact time was what I made per hour of work time. This many hours at my rates would be awesome. I would feel comfortable charging more, but we try to keep the rates reasonable so that we can have more kids involved. We also try to stay pretty close to what the other schools in the district are charging. I think that how much you charge should reflect the things listed above, plus your education and experience, plus take into account the local economy.
• Since the other high schools in our area raised rates last year, I'm hoping that we will be making some adjustments (even if the adjustments are small) for this year.  
• Math time:
• Yay!  I'm doing much better than minimum wage earners.  
• You don't need to know the rest of the math, but I do think that with my education and experience, I could bump the rates up a little and still be safely within what others in the cities are charging.  
• I've always kept my non-school students at about the same price as my school students.  (Tuition is set by the choir department, not me.)  I could change what I am charging my non-school students, but it makes things a little more complicated in other areas.  It's something to think about.  I guess now I'll just wait and see what the school decides to charge for this year.  

To wrap things up, go read "What I Do Has Value", a post I wrote in response to an article I read about how healers need to value themselves and their work and let their fees reflect that.  Then leave some comments (here, there, or on the FB page) and tell me about what things you consider when setting your rates.  

Music Lists and Easy Rebates on Sheet Music Plus

For years I have been getting mailings from Sheet Music Plus telling me about their Easy Rebates Program. And I would keep them in my "think about it" pile and then eventually they would end up in recycle.  For one thing, Easy Rebates gives you 8% back (plus there are still shipping costs) and the place where I do my local shopping gives me 10% off.  Amazon also seemed to have better deals, especially when they qualified for Free Shipping.  I wanted my students to be able to get the best possible price, so I often just gave them a link to Amazon.

That is changing.  I finally just decided to sign up for Easy Rebates.  I might not make any money, but a little bit is better than nothing.  I added a banner on my blog.  When people click that link to get to Sheet Music Plus and then they buy something, I qualify for the rebate.  I changed things on my Resources page of my MTH site so that Sheet Music Plus (with my special "make me money" link) is the easiest of the places to find for ordering music.

All that was good.  I was opening things up for potential income, but I wasn't expecting anything.  Then I discovered that even if I don't make any money at this, I'm still going to keep using their system for making music lists.  I love it!  I can make a list very quickly and easily that contains just the books that I want a particular student to purchase.  It doesn't take me any longer to do than it did to search amazon and then cut and paste the link into a student's lesson notes.  Sheet Music Plus gives me a special link just to that particular music list and I include in with lesson notes.  I tell students that they are welcome to look other places, but all the info they need about the books (title, cost, publisher, etc.) is easily accessed when they click on the link.  Why should I feel bad if they choose to go this easy route rather than doing some searching on their own to find the best deal available?   It's not my job to do their shopping.

I'm very excited about this feature of their program.  I've used it a couple of times already and hope that it will make everything easier this fall.  I'll let you know in a few months how things are going with this.

Revising My Studio Guide

Warning:  This post might seem a little rambling and/or disjointed, but I'm finding that the process of writing this post is very helpful for me in refining my studio guide.

I used to have a studio policy, but since I've started posting it on my Music Teacher's Helper website and their tab says "Studio Guide", I've started leaning towards that name instead.  For one thing, a policy is a list of rules and penalties or an explanation of procedures.  I want the main document about my studio to be more than that.  By calling it a guide, it makes it feel more user friendly (yes, I do love that term.)  It's more like saying, "Here are the ways to succeed in my studio," rather than the "Do this or else" feeling of a policy.  Hopefully, it's not so user friendly that students see it as suggestions rather than the way things work in my studio.

Another reason I am leaning towards a Studio Guide is the length of my current document (9 pages of 12pt).  It really is a small book and the word "guide" just seems more appropriate for that.  (Yes, I know some government policies and legal documents can be BIG books, but stay with me here.)  My studio guide is much longer than the guides/policies of many of my colleagues, but I want my students and their parents to be able to find complete answers quickly and easily.  I've also been teaching in a high school setting for many years and I've seen a lot of problems when things were not spelled out in detail.

My studio guide is divided into sections with headings in bold and then short paragraphs or bullet points explaining the things I want them to know.  For example, under the Tuition heading, you will find all the information about the quarterly cost of lessons for each length of lessons.  You will also see the due dates, information on how to pay online, how to address checks, my mailing address, and penalties for not paying in a timely fashion.

As it stands right now, my studio guide includes these sections:

• Concurrent study with another teacher (I don't allow it.)
• Communication (Please tell me if you have problems or if something we are trying doesn't work. This also includes all the ways to contact me and how they will receive communications from me.  
• Website (How to use it.)
• Tuitions Payments and Lesson Scheduling
• Your Lessons Will Include...
• Practicing
• Attendance Policy
• Health
• Supplies Needed
• Use of the Lending Library
• Repertoire and Technique (What kinds of songs you'll be singing and why.)
• Studio Classes, Recitals, and Workshops (Extra learning opportunities covered by your tuition and no you don't get a refund if you don't come.)
• Solo/Ensemble Contest and Other Performance Opportunities
• Accompanist Fees

As you can see, just the bullet points of the sections is a lot of information, but I think it is essential information that is important for students and parents to know from the very beginning.  

Every year I revise my policy/guide and I will be revising all the way until the school starts this year.  If you are interested in seeing last year's documents, you can click on the Studio Guide tab at www.jeanninerobinett.com.  Check back in mid-September to see the full new and improved version.  The past couple of years, I have deleted whole sections, replacing them with a note about which document in the File Area to view for more information.

• My section on practicing is much shorter than it used to be, but students and parents are referred to the document in the File Area to get more information on practicing effectively.  
• I used to include a section about my expectations of where students should be before a performance (when they should be memorized, polished, etc.).  This year, I decided that all the other documents I have in the file area should give them the info they need.  I deleted this section from the guide and just included this statement, "I reserve the right to cancel the performance of any student who is not adequately prepared. The student will still be responsible for any non-refundable fees associated with that performance."
  
  
  

Every year, I also add or tweak a few items to make them clearer.  Additions and changes for this year include:

• A very clear statement that outside of lessons I will communicate with them mostly through email and that students and parents need to check email frequently and will be responsible for any information that is sent.  
• Clearer language regarding quarter payments since somehow 3 different families thought that the payment they made at the beginning of the year covered all year.   
• I've also made a change this year to quarterly payments for all students that want a regular lesson time.  Other students can sign up when I have openings and pay a per lesson fee.  There is a big section explaining how this will work.  I'm hoping to cut it down a little bit before I publish.  
• Information about accompanist fees.  I want students to know up front that extra performances and recordings will require not only an investment of their time, but an investment of their money as well.  
• Tips for using my website more effectively, including how to get new user names and passwords and a video to walk them through the website.  
• This year I also added a few bullet points before the main body of the guide.  These give short answers to the most frequently asked questions and refer people to full guide for more details. These are this year's bullet points (and yes, I do know people for whom this would stand alone as a policy, but if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm much more wordy than most people.)
• Contact me through the website at www.jeanninerobinett.com
• All parents and students must have email accounts and check them frequently for messages from me. 
• All parents and students should have usernames and passwords for the website. 
• Quarterly tuition is due prior to the first date of each new quarter (with the exception of 1st quarter.) Read below for other pricing and details on how to pay. 
• When it is necessary to cancel lessons, student must do so on the website 48 hours in advance or they still have to pay for that time. 
• Students will be asked to purchase music. Be sure and check the box on your Policy Signature form that lets me know how much money you can spend. 
• The cost of studio classes, recitals, and some workshops are included in your tuition, but will not be refunded if you choose not to attend. All other events will have additional entrance and/or accompanist fees. 

Because the document changes every year, each fall when school starts, I require every student to fill out a new policy signature form basically saying that they have read, understood, and agree to abide by everything in the studio guide.  That signature form also gets revisions each year.  This year, I am stealing an idea from the choir department. On their handbook signature forms, they ask students to list all the concert dates.  So this year, on my policy signature form I am asking students write in all the tuition due dates.

Lastly, I want to let you know about a feature that I just figured out last year.  When you set up your website pages in MTH, you can set up parent pages and create drop down lists.  So if you click on Studio Guide, you will get my last year's studio policy for non-EVHS students.  But if you hover over Studio Guide, you will see a drop down list that includes the summer addendum, last year's EVHS policy,  and the policy signature form, plus a file about lesson formats that incorporate more theory or tai chi.  This year, because of the changes to lesson scheduling and tuition, I will just do one studio guide which will make things even clearer for students and parents.

I used this same feature to create a drop-down list under registration.  If a student has already had lessons with me, my MTH registration form reminds them not to fill it out again.  In early August, a form will be added to the drop down list for students who are planning to return in the fall.  The other document in the drop down list is a form required by the school for EVHS students.

Tell me about your studio policies/guides.  You're also welcome to tell me that mine is so long and busy that no one will actually read it.  That's fine.  I don't really care if they read it or not, but I will hold them accountable for everything in it, and I will not accept, "but you didn't tell me," as an excuse.

Handouts Are Now Downloads

When I first started using Music Teacher's Helper, one of the features that I was most interested in was the ability to post files for students to view.  I was tired of making copies and having students lose them and ask for more.  Plus I wanted to save a few trees.  By using the File Area feature with MTH, students can have access to all my handouts whenever they want to use them.  I have a classroom set printed up that we use for studio classes and as reference in lessons, but if students want to have their own copy, they go to the website and print it themselves.

The way the program is set up, when I upload a file, I get to choose whether I want it to appear on the Resources page of my website where it is available to the whole world, or if I only want it available to students and parents after they log in.  If you only want it available after you log in, you can also choose if you want all users to be able to see it or you can choose specific people to view that file.  For example, my handout on practicing is available to all my students after they log in (and I really hope they use it).  I could also scan a student's Solo and Ensemble critique form and select only that student and his or her parents as viewers.    So far I haven't done that much.  (Mostly because I need to fix my printer/copier/scanner that has been broken for far too long, but that's another story.)

When I first started using the File Area, I posted all of my regular handouts, plus a few things compiled for specific studio classes.  This summer, I decided that I need to find quicker ways of doing lesson notes, so I created a whole bunch of new files describing specific concepts or exercises.  Now I can just put the key words into students' lesson notes and they can go find the file if they need more specific reminders.

This morning, I created these new files, each covering a specific topic that I will cover in lessons.  Some like straws and body mapping are spread out over multiple weeks.

• Breathing, Resonance, Vowels (Basics)
• Straws
• Body Mapping
• Chocolate Cake Principle
• Personal Positive Pep Talks
• Trains and Train X3
• Spray Paint and Laser Beams

I'm also in the process of revising my Listening List and Recommended Reading files. Comment if you have any recommendations for singers for my students to listen to or books/articles for them to read.

The big bonus of all of this work with the files of handouts and writing these blogs is that if I ever actually get around to writing my book, most of the information will already be there, just waiting for my to revise and organize.  

Finding the right music at a lower price

If you've read through all the posts about books thinking, "That's great, but my kids can't spend that much money on music," then this is the post for you. We'll start off with some options for purchasing music books at a reduced rate.  I'll also list some unison octavos that are usually less than $2 per song. We'll talk about sheet music, where to buy it, and a few of my favorites.  Then we'll wrap things up with places to find things for free.  

Buy More Books, Spend Less Money

• See if your local music store offers teacher discounts.  At Groth Music, I get 10% off every purchase.  
• Watch for sales.  Groth Music usually has a sale in August and September where everything is 20% off for teachers.  
• Check the music section in used book stores.  Much of my lending library has come from used book stores.  
• Half.com, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com often offer used copies for a fraction of the regular price.  Older editions of books are often cheaper than the newest edition too.  
• Sheet Music Plus offers an 8% rebate when teachers are enrolled in their Easy Rebates Program.  You can also get 8% back when students use your link to purchase their music.  

Ready to Sing...

We'll start off with a reminder of Alfred's Ready to Sing series.  These books were designed with the idea that teacher could copy songs sheets for their students.  Advanced singers will get bored pretty fast, but this is a great way to start off young singers and get to know their voices well before sending them to purchase music.  There are 4 books, one each for folksongs, spirituals, Christmas, and Broadway.  

Octavos

Most if not all of Copland's Old American Songs are available as unison octavos.  The ones listed below are the ones I use the most.  You can find others here.  

• Ching-a-ring Chaw by Aaron Copland, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-46609-2
• I Bought Me a Cat from Old American Songs, Set I by Aaron Copland, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-47258-1
• Simple Gifts from Old American Songs, Set I by Aaron Copland, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-57257-4
• Long Time Ago from Old American Songs, Set I by Aaron Copland, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-47256-7
• The Little Horses from Old American Songs, Set II by Aaron Copland, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-47259-8

Other titles from Boosey and Hawkes:

• The Sally Gardens by Benjamin Britten, unison, Boosey and Hawkes, M-051-45448-8
• Path to the Moon by Eric Thiman, Boosey and Hawkes, OCTB6114

I use octavos from BriLee as first songs for students.  The student can then pay me if they want to keep the music, or they can give it back to me when we finish the song.  This is a list of the songs I used most often.

• Two Unison Songs for Male Chorus (contains “Come Sail Away with Me” and “The British Grenadiers”) by Mark Patterson, unison, BriLee, BL472
• The Song that Nature Sings by Ruth Elaine Schram, unison, BriLee, BL109
• Give Me Wings by Mark Patterson, unison, BriLee, BL391
• Kum By Yah by Ruth Elaine Schram, unison, BriLee, BL452
• Peace Like A River by Ruth Elaine Schram, unison, BriLee, BL175
• The Water is Wide by Ruth Elaine Schram, unison, BriLee, BL506
• Song of the River by Mark Patterson, BriLee, BL485
• May the Road Rise to Meet You by Ruth Elaine Schram, BriLee, BL185
• The Silence and the Song by Mark Patterson, BriLee, BL528

Sheet Music

In sheet music, Give a Man a Horse he can ride comes in 3 different keys, so those students whose voices don't fit the keys published in The First Book of Baritone Solos Part II or Classical Contest Solos Baritone can still sing this song.  As far as I know, the Green-Eyed Dragon and Clorinda are only available as sheet music.  Green-Eyed Dragon is a great song for your actors.  Clorinda is a fairly easy introduction to melismas.  

• Give A Man a Horse He Can Ride by Geofffrey O’Hara , available in 3 keys, Willis Music Company
• The Green-Eyed Dragon by Woolseley Charles, available in 2 keys, Boosey and Hawkes
• Clorinda by R. Orlando Morgan, available in 2 keys, Boosey and Hawkes

Order single songs online or buy online and print at home

Each of these sites functions a little differently than the rest and they also vary in pricing. There isn't one site that carries everything I want, so I try to find the best options and then send the students the links.  

• Sheetmusicplus.com
• See above for info on their rebates program.  
• You can order books online.  
• Some sheet music is also available for purchase and home printing.  
• Sheet Music Plus often has single downloadable copies of songs from collections published by Hal Leonard.  
• jwpepper.com
• Some listings have recordings that you can listen to.  
• This site also does a fairly good job at listing contents of books.  
• You can order books online or download single copies of some songs.  
• JW Pepper also has a feature where teachers can make lists of frequently assigned books so students can check the list and get exactly what they want.  
• musicnotes.com
• You can change keys, choosing the one that best fits a student's voice.  I use this site a lot for popular music.  For example, most of my sopranos will not sing Adele songs in her key.  
• sheetmusicdirect.us
• This prices on this site tend to be a little lower, but they also have less of the classical music I am looking for.  

Online resources for public domain music

Public domain means great music for free.  BUT...the legalities can be a little tricky.  Most sites that post public domain music also have a disclaimer that says the user is responsible for making sure that they are not violating any copyright laws in their country. FINDING THE COMPLETE SONG ONLINE DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS LEGAL FOR YOU TO PRINT IT AND GIVE TO A STUDENT.  There are many illegal online music sharing sites.  (Read this awesome post from Jason Robert Brown.) Educate yourself about copyright law and then have some fun with the legal sites.  

• imslp.org
• artsongcentral.org
• Many libraries also have older parts of their collections online.  Just do a google search using the title of your song followed by "free sheet music" and you should be able to find some of these.  

I have one more post for the book/sheet music part of this series.  That post on Christmas music will go up in early October.  I'm also hoping that a friend will be able to do a guest post about duet repertoire.  

I have a couple of other projects I need to do, but I hope to be able to continue this series by examining specific songs and sharing a little about why I use them with my students.  

Lastly, I'm still interested in hearing from you.  Let me know if you would like to do a guest post introducing us to your studio and then sharing 1-6 of your favorite songs to teach.