May 19, 2025 • 23 mins
Summer brings a welcome change of pace for most piano teachers, but those of us teaching neurodivergent students face unique considerations that deserve thoughtful attention. While neurotypical students typically thrive with relaxed summer schedules, our students with disabilities often find comfort in routine and structure - making the summer transition more complex than simply switching to "fun mode."
The podcast explores this delicate balance, acknowledging that the mental preparation for teaching students with special needs remains significant even during summer months. This episode shares creative approaches to summer teaching, including composer studies focusing on movie scores (John Williams is a particular favorite!), activities that build on students' strengths, and techniques for giving students agency through carefully structured choices. We also explore alternative recital formats that accommodate diverse learners, like this year's successful "My Favorite Things" themed event that combined in-person and virtual performances with relaxed outdoor activities.
Click here to check out the fun and interactive games from Carnegie Hall Elizabeth shared about in this episode! (Animal or Instrument is a huge favorite!)
Have a question about a particular teaching scenario for the new podcast series? Send it to creativepianopedagogy@gmail.com - your query might be featured in an upcoming episode!
Find the full transcript, show notes or links mentioned in the episode here!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Elizabeth Davis-Everhar (00:00):
Hey friends, and welcome to episode
5 of the Creative PianoPedagogy podcast.
Goodness, I have missed sharingwith you all the last few weeks
.
What an unexpected and lengthyhiatus it's been.
I don't know about you, butthis time of year- this season
of the year, as we're leading upto the summer here in the
(00:21):
United States, it just feelslike everything is accelerating
at such a rapid pace of busynessthat my energy and time is very
disproportionate to the amountof things I need to accomplish.
So, my apologies for this longbreak we've had throughout April
and the beginning of May, butwe are back!
(00:43):
We have some exciting things totalk about today and an exciting
announcement.
So, as we're approaching summer, we are going to have a new
series on the podcast, startingMay 26th- two weeks from today
when this is airing and thisseries is called, "So So I have
(01:05):
this Student.
This is inspired by so manywonderfully thoughtful questions
from teachers.
They have sent in things liketechnique and hypermobility and
finger strength and studentswith vision or hearing
impairments, kiddos who havetrouble sitting still at the
(01:26):
piano bench and a huge myriad ofother questions as well, all
relating to teaching studentswith special needs, students who
learn differently.
A lot of these questions aregoing to be from a wonderful
group of students and teachersfrom an MTNA group in Greenville
, south Carolina in the UnitedStates, and a lot of the other
(01:49):
questions I've come to me fromInstagram friends, facebook
friends and emails I've gottenwith just teaching queries.
So if you have a question aboutmaybe a student you currently
have, especially referencingdisabilities, kids who learn
differently, anything like that,would you please send it to me
(02:12):
Because I would love to featureyour question or your scenario.
I will keep everythingcompletely anonymous unless you
give me permission to share yourname, and you can send your
questions to my email atcreativepianopedagogy, at
gmailcom, and you're alsowelcome to send me a message on
(02:33):
Instagram atcreativepianopedagogy.
I will be checking those oftenand I am so excited to see what
all you send.
We all have such differentstudents and such different
students, and I I think we haveso much to learn from each other
.
There's also a lot of overlap,things that maybe your students
are struggling and anotherAnother teacher will say, yes-,
(02:56):
that's my student, student too".
So there will be a lot ofoverlap for all of us and we're
just going to learn from eachother and get some creative
ideas that will hopefullyinspire our weary selves over
the summer, because I think weall need a little bit of
inspiration and a little bit oflevity in this very busy time of
(03:17):
the year.
So,coming into this episode today,
I was thinking about the timeof year that we are in right now
and that is summer.
Here in the United States,schools are winding down.
Some private schools arealready out for the summer,
others will continue into June,but it means a change in our
(03:39):
lessons and our studio dynamiclessons in our studio dynamic .
I have found it so fascinatingover the past week or so when I
have been on Facebook- Facebookand I haven't been on Facebook
very much, but if I see aquestion or something come up
from one of my piano teacherFacebook groups, it's really
interesting to hear people'sdifferent plans for the summer.
(04:02):
I would actually love to knowyour plans.
What do you do during thesummer in your studios?
I will have some polls on myInstagram next week where you
can share that with me and Iwould love to hear what you do,
because it's so fun to know whateveryone else is doing.
But it really does affect ourschedules and our preparation
time as piano teachers.
(04:24):
Many people do very differentthings.
Some teachers will take a totalbreak all summer.
Some people view it as a timeto really push our students,
since they do not have theconstraints of academics,
usually.
So lots of differentphilosophies and thoughts.
I have done a little bit ofeverything.
I have done summer camps- largeand small, like university
(04:48):
level; and very small, like fouror five, six students.
I've done camps with my ownstudents, I've done themed
lessons, lots of differentthings.
But if you have students whoare on the spectrum, students
with disabilities or studentswho learn differently, like I
(05:08):
do- and like most of the peoplewho listen to this podcast, your
studio may not look likeeveryone else's over the summer,
and that's actually what I wantto focus on today in this
episode" the kind of differenttake on summer lessons, what it
looks like for teachers who donot have studios with
(05:29):
neurotypical learners, and howwe kind of view that a little
differently, and some pros andcons and a few ideas for you to
take into your summer as youprepare to do that.
One of the things that wetypically see and hear about
this time of year is everyone'sstudio recitals, and these vary
(05:51):
so greatly that I really enjoyseeing the different ideas.
Some people get so incredibly,incredibly creative.
My friend, Sheila in NorthCarolina, has these amazing
patio recitals and she'll bringin a jazz band to play with her
students.
It's incredible the amount ofdetail and time and planning she
(06:13):
puts in these beautifulensemble recitals.
I love when Sheila shares abouther recitals- they are just
incredible.
I had a very interestingrecital this year which I'll
share about in a little bit.
But you may be seeing andhearing from friends who are
doing things and if you're likeme and you have students who
(06:34):
learn differently, that can feela little weird to hear about
all of these wonderfullycreative things everyone is
doing when those situations andthose circumstances may not work
for yours or my students.
A huge part of that is becauseevery studio is different, right
(06:56):
, but this is different for usbecause our students have
different comfort levels insocial situations, especially
our students with disabilities.
They may not feel comfortablesocializing in large groups with
people they don't know.
It might really make themnervous and very anxious to play
(07:17):
in front of others, to sharetheir music.
Even just to attend can cause alot of anxiety.
So if your studio is not ableor you do not feel like it's a
good fit to do one of those big,fancy recitals, I see you,
because it's not a good fit foreveryone.
And this is also a reminderthat what you're doing this year
(07:40):
for your recital, for your endof year anything- is not what
you have to do every year.
You can do something differentevery year in your studio at the
end of the year and that isperfectly fine.
I vary things quite often and Ilove it, and my studio families
love it.
So just because you're doingsomething big and fancy this
(08:01):
year with, you know, formalattire or whatever it might be,
next year you could be very laidback and have an outdoor ice
cream party and your studentswould absolutely love it.
So just remember, our studioschange from year to year.
And if this year you didn't getto do the recital that you
prefer, that is okay.
And it's okay to feel a littlebit sad or kind of disappointed
(08:26):
if you see pictures and videosof other teachers celebrating
their very large scale events.
Something else that's differentabout summer lessons for
neurotypical students- and theseare our kids without
disabilities- they are overjoyedand relieved for a summer
schedule to come.
It's a lot of fun.
(08:47):
A time to put away the schoolbooks, no more tests and just
kind of chill, be very relaxedand enjoy a very lackadaisical
approach to summer learning.
For our neurodivergent students, this is going to vary quite a
bit more.
Some of the students are goingto really look forward to that
(09:07):
break- a break from theirroutine.
Some of them will enjoy that,but some of them may not find
comfort in having such a drasticchange in their schedule.
As we've talked about before onprevious episodes, students with
disabilities thrive withstructured environments and with
(09:30):
routines; and of course thoseroutines can take a lot of
different avenues and look verydifferently, but routines are
really comforting for studentswith disabilities.
So having an entire summerwhere maybe they're going to a
different camp every single week, filled with new people they
don't know, or maybe theirparents are having them double
(09:53):
down on a lot of therapies overthe summer to really work on
things that they need to kind ofbrush up on-- all of this is a
lot of new, isn't it?
Even though they're havingdifferent schedules and it's
more relaxed in some ways, itmay not be very therapeutic for
them as it would be for others.
Something else that can impactour students over the summer is
(10:18):
difference in medications.
Some students may be onmedications during the school
year to help them focus on theiracademics or just to stay
focused during the school day,or whatever it might be- even
medications for anxiety orthings like that; and over the
summer they may not have thosesame medical routines as well,
(10:38):
which can impact their learningand how they experience things.
Something else that can be a bitdifferent for us is- when I am
teaching students who areneurotypical, this is your
typical student who doesn't havea disability- their lessons are
more relaxed.
(10:59):
We're in summer learning modeand we do lots of fun
supplemental music, so manyactivities.
It's really quite a jubilant,joyful, fun-filled time.
And that's not to say that mylessons with my neurodivergent
students are not jubilant,joy-filled and very fun.
But if you have students withdisabilities in your studio, you
(11:27):
know that the mental load andthe preparation and planning for
teaching neurodivergentstudents is very different than
teaching neurotypical kiddos.
We just have to be so much moreprepared mentally, emotionally
even just our teaching space hasto be so very precisely ready
for them that it can still feellike a heavier mental load as a
(11:50):
teacher, even over the summer,when our other duties might be a
bit lighter, so that'ssomething that can be a bit
different for us, as opposed tohaving a studio full of
neurotypical students.
I thought I might share what mystudio looks like this summer
and spring, because this hasbeen a very different year than
(12:13):
past years of teaching, andsometimes that just happens.
Life happens and things justsort of evolve into something
that you didn't think was goingto happen and it does.
I had my recital this year thelast Sunday in April, and we had
both an indoor and outdoorevent.
I turned my living room in ourhome, which is where my studio
(12:37):
is, into a little recital hall.
I rented a bunch of chairs andwe had close to 40 people in my
living room, and we had thepiano tuned and students were
there in person and on Zoom on abig screen my virtual students-
and it was so much fun.
(12:58):
We had a lot of variety ofperformances and our theme for
this recital was 'my favoritethings.
' Students were invited to wearclothes that were their favorite
color or their favorite outfit-anything that represented their
'favorite.
' One of my students wore ashirt with his favorite food on
(13:20):
it, which is eggs, and I lovethat he wore a shirt with eggs
at his recital.
It was intentionally veryinformal in that way just to
bring about a little differentvibe this year, and it was so
much fun.
We also had snacks afterwardsoutside in the front yard of
their favorite fruits.
(13:41):
I bought a lot of differentkinds of frozen popsicles and we
had my students' favoritefruits.
And that was so fun because itwas a very warm day here in
South Georgia in the US, and soeveryone drank cold lemonade and
kids played with yard gameslike cornhole and sidewalk chalk
(14:05):
all over my driveway.
They all put on brightlycolored sunglasses that I gave
out- it was really fun.
Parents and grandparents stayed.
It was very relaxing.
One thing I did that was really,really fun and kind of quirky-
at the end of the recital, Iwanted to do something a bit
different this year.
(14:25):
I typically will play somethingfor my students, but this year
I wanted to do something a bitmore collaborative that would
have some audience participation.
I will share a link to what Idid with you in the show notes
so that if you would like to useit in your recital or just with
your students, it is so muchfun.
(14:47):
I hope you try it, but theCarnegie Hall in New York City
has a wonderful website withlots of really cool games and
musical quizzes that teacherscan use with their students, and
these work great both in groupsand one-on-one.
So if you're in a musicclassroom, like you're teaching
(15:07):
elementary music, these arewonderful to do with your group
of students.
If you're teaching group pianoor if you're just one-on-one and
you want to do it with yourstudent, they're perfect for all
of those and obviously itworked for the end of recital as
well.
.
But we played a game together onthe big screen in my studio and
it's called Animal orInstrument, and these are
(15:28):
pre-recorded sounds of eitheranimals or instruments and we
all guessed together- we didabout eight of them.
The students on Zoom heard themand the students in person were
able to vote.
It was so very funny because weheard instrument sounds that
really were hilarious, and welearned that animals make really
funny sounds, too that cansound like instruments.
(15:50):
So it ended up in laughter andlots of joy all around with
parents, grandparents, aunts anduncles and students all
laughing and having fun together.
One downside of this event fora few of my neurodivergent
students was that having so manypeople in my living room was a
bit overwhelming, so I woulddefinitely I probably do it a
(16:15):
little differently next year ifit's in the same space, but
overall it was very successfuland kids of all ages and levels
felt comfortable sharing theirmusic.
Something else that's a littledifferent about my studio in the
summer is that I do not teachduring the month of July.
I count it as a huge privilegeto be able to take time off in
(16:38):
the summer because I remembermany, many, many years of
teaching all the way through thesummer.
So if you are in one of thosepositions where teaching is your
primary income and you have toteach all summer, I totally get
that and I remember how it feelsto teach through all the
holidays- Memorial Day, LaborDay, all the US big holidays and
(16:58):
small ones, and to be what onlyfelt like the only person in
the city teaching.
And I know I wasn't at all, butI remember how that felt, and
so I count it a huge privilegeto be able to take time off in
the summer to do things.
But there are ways you can makelessons really fun in the summer
for your neurodivergentstudents.
(17:21):
One thing you want to keep inmind is for our special kiddos,
since we know they appreciatestructure and routine, we We
don't want to suddenly changeeverything about their lessons
simply because it is summer.
That might make sense to us tochange everything, but that
might not make sense to them andit might kind of unsettle them.
(17:44):
So you want to avoid drasticchanges and give them more
choices for things.
Here's That's one really fun wayto kind of mix up your lessons-
Instead of choosing all thethings you're going to do in the
lesson, have your studentchoose each aspect, have two
choices for each.
Like each improvisation, eachnew ear training game, you want
(18:11):
to do this one or this one, andgive them choices throughout the
summer.
That's a great way to help yourstudent practice agency and
making their own decisions, butalso let them feel like they
have, you know, a little control.
It's very, very fun.
Something else that's reallyreally fun to do in the summer
is to do composer studies.
I don't know about you, but mystudents absolutely love the
music of Harry Potter, and JohnWilliams is a big, big, big
(18:35):
favorite of ours over here.
Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Jaws,all the beautiful movie scores,
and we love to do things aboutJohn Williams.
Even just listening to a bit ofthe music and making our own
drawing or coloring a picture,and then having a fun quiz at
the end of the summer on whichmovie the music is from, that
(19:00):
kind of thing.
Something else you can do isthink about is, "mm, what is my
student really good at?
And then do more of that in thesummer.
This is a great time to letthem build on what they love.
That's a great way to do thatwith your student, who might not
enjoy a completely differentlesson schedule.
(19:21):
For my students, those thingsare composing chords, chord
charts, improvisation, off-benchactivities and lots of choices.
Choices are some of my students'favorite ways to have fun in
lessons.
They love to choose things.
So this summer, give yourstudents the option: Should we
(19:42):
do this game or this game, andgive them lots of choices?
Maybe just two choices for eachthing you're going to do that
day, but allow them to choose alittle more than typical and
tell them that, since it'ssummer, would you like to help
me choose what we do today inour lesson" and kind of present
it like a fun invitation forthem to join you in choosing
(20:06):
things for their lesson.
They'll think it's really fun.
I want to leave you with thisparting thought.
We need to kind of keep ourexpectations in check about
summer lessons.
I think some of us might takethe approach of "oh this is a
great time to make sure mystudent learns the entire book,
one of Bach's Weltenberg Clavierand if that is your goal, my
(20:30):
hat is off to you.
I took a summer in high schooland learned all the inventions
and symphonias and that was agreat, great project, but it
might not be a good fit foreveryone.
Our goal in the summer is tokeep our students engaged, keep
them playing, keep them excitedabout music, and really use the
(20:51):
time to do things we don'tusually have time to do in
lessons.
That's my favorite thing to doin the summer- just include
things that I don't have time toinclude the rest of the year.
So whatever your summerteaching schedule looks like, I
do hope you plan a little timefor yourself to read a new
teaching book or a non-musicbook, whatever you find
(21:13):
interesting .
Go take a long walk, drink acold coffee- coffee something
that's very relaxing, becauseteaching is really hard.
And especially especially forthose of us with neurodivergent
students, that mental loaddoesn't always lessen over the
summer, so don't forget to taketime for yourself to relax and
(21:34):
sort of decompress during thistime.
That's all for today.
Thanks for in in and it's greatto be back on the podcast today
, and we'll look forward tostarting this new.
"So So I have this student injust a few weeks, so don't
forget to send in any questionsyou have and I'll look forward
(21:57):
to talking about them andsharing them with you.
Hey friends, and welcome to episode
5 of the Creative PianoPedagogy podcast.
Goodness, I have missed sharingwith you all the last few weeks
.
What an unexpected and lengthyhiatus it's been.
I don't know about you, butthis time of year- this season
of the year, as we're leading upto the summer here in the
(00:21):
United States, it just feelslike everything is accelerating
at such a rapid pace of busynessthat my energy and time is very
disproportionate to the amountof things I need to accomplish.
So, my apologies for this longbreak we've had throughout April
and the beginning of May, butwe are back!
(00:43):
We have some exciting things totalk about today and an exciting
announcement.
So, as we're approaching summer, we are going to have a new
series on the podcast, startingMay 26th- two weeks from today
when this is airing and thisseries is called, "So So I have
(01:05):
this Student.
This is inspired by so manywonderfully thoughtful questions
from teachers.
They have sent in things liketechnique and hypermobility and
finger strength and studentswith vision or hearing
impairments, kiddos who havetrouble sitting still at the
(01:26):
piano bench and a huge myriad ofother questions as well, all
relating to teaching studentswith special needs, students who
learn differently.
A lot of these questions aregoing to be from a wonderful
group of students and teachersfrom an MTNA group in Greenville
, south Carolina in the UnitedStates, and a lot of the other
(01:49):
questions I've come to me fromInstagram friends, facebook
friends and emails I've gottenwith just teaching queries.
So if you have a question aboutmaybe a student you currently
have, especially referencingdisabilities, kids who learn
differently, anything like that,would you please send it to me
(02:12):
Because I would love to featureyour question or your scenario.
I will keep everythingcompletely anonymous unless you
give me permission to share yourname, and you can send your
questions to my email atcreativepianopedagogy, at
gmailcom, and you're alsowelcome to send me a message on
(02:33):
Instagram atcreativepianopedagogy.
I will be checking those oftenand I am so excited to see what
all you send.
We all have such differentstudents and such different
students, and I I think we haveso much to learn from each other
.
There's also a lot of overlap,things that maybe your students
are struggling and anotherAnother teacher will say, yes-,
(02:56):
that's my student, student too".
So there will be a lot ofoverlap for all of us and we're
just going to learn from eachother and get some creative
ideas that will hopefullyinspire our weary selves over
the summer, because I think weall need a little bit of
inspiration and a little bit oflevity in this very busy time of
(03:17):
the year.
So,coming into this episode today,
I was thinking about the timeof year that we are in right now
and that is summer.
Here in the United States,schools are winding down.
Some private schools arealready out for the summer,
others will continue into June,but it means a change in our
(03:39):
lessons and our studio dynamiclessons in our studio dynamic .
I have found it so fascinatingover the past week or so when I
have been on Facebook- Facebookand I haven't been on Facebook
very much, but if I see aquestion or something come up
from one of my piano teacherFacebook groups, it's really
interesting to hear people'sdifferent plans for the summer.
(04:02):
I would actually love to knowyour plans.
What do you do during thesummer in your studios?
I will have some polls on myInstagram next week where you
can share that with me and Iwould love to hear what you do,
because it's so fun to know whateveryone else is doing.
But it really does affect ourschedules and our preparation
time as piano teachers.
(04:24):
Many people do very differentthings.
Some teachers will take a totalbreak all summer.
Some people view it as a timeto really push our students,
since they do not have theconstraints of academics,
usually.
So lots of differentphilosophies and thoughts.
I have done a little bit ofeverything.
I have done summer camps- largeand small, like university
(04:48):
level; and very small, like fouror five, six students.
I've done camps with my ownstudents, I've done themed
lessons, lots of differentthings.
But if you have students whoare on the spectrum, students
with disabilities or studentswho learn differently, like I
(05:08):
do- and like most of the peoplewho listen to this podcast, your
studio may not look likeeveryone else's over the summer,
and that's actually what I wantto focus on today in this
episode" the kind of differenttake on summer lessons, what it
looks like for teachers who donot have studios with
(05:29):
neurotypical learners, and howwe kind of view that a little
differently, and some pros andcons and a few ideas for you to
take into your summer as youprepare to do that.
One of the things that wetypically see and hear about
this time of year is everyone'sstudio recitals, and these vary
(05:51):
so greatly that I really enjoyseeing the different ideas.
Some people get so incredibly,incredibly creative.
My friend, Sheila in NorthCarolina, has these amazing
patio recitals and she'll bringin a jazz band to play with her
students.
It's incredible the amount ofdetail and time and planning she
(06:13):
puts in these beautifulensemble recitals.
I love when Sheila shares abouther recitals- they are just
incredible.
I had a very interestingrecital this year which I'll
share about in a little bit.
But you may be seeing andhearing from friends who are
doing things and if you're likeme and you have students who
(06:34):
learn differently, that can feela little weird to hear about
all of these wonderfullycreative things everyone is
doing when those situations andthose circumstances may not work
for yours or my students.
A huge part of that is becauseevery studio is different, right
(06:56):
, but this is different for usbecause our students have
different comfort levels insocial situations, especially
our students with disabilities.
They may not feel comfortablesocializing in large groups with
people they don't know.
It might really make themnervous and very anxious to play
(07:17):
in front of others, to sharetheir music.
Even just to attend can cause alot of anxiety.
So if your studio is not ableor you do not feel like it's a
good fit to do one of those big,fancy recitals, I see you,
because it's not a good fit foreveryone.
And this is also a reminderthat what you're doing this year
(07:40):
for your recital, for your endof year anything- is not what
you have to do every year.
You can do something differentevery year in your studio at the
end of the year and that isperfectly fine.
I vary things quite often and Ilove it, and my studio families
love it.
So just because you're doingsomething big and fancy this
(08:01):
year with, you know, formalattire or whatever it might be,
next year you could be very laidback and have an outdoor ice
cream party and your studentswould absolutely love it.
So just remember, our studioschange from year to year.
And if this year you didn't getto do the recital that you
prefer, that is okay.
And it's okay to feel a littlebit sad or kind of disappointed
(08:26):
if you see pictures and videosof other teachers celebrating
their very large scale events.
Something else that's differentabout summer lessons for
neurotypical students- and theseare our kids without
disabilities- they are overjoyedand relieved for a summer
schedule to come.
It's a lot of fun.
(08:47):
A time to put away the schoolbooks, no more tests and just
kind of chill, be very relaxedand enjoy a very lackadaisical
approach to summer learning.
For our neurodivergent students, this is going to vary quite a
bit more.
Some of the students are goingto really look forward to that
(09:07):
break- a break from theirroutine.
Some of them will enjoy that,but some of them may not find
comfort in having such a drasticchange in their schedule.
As we've talked about before onprevious episodes, students with
disabilities thrive withstructured environments and with
(09:30):
routines; and of course thoseroutines can take a lot of
different avenues and look verydifferently, but routines are
really comforting for studentswith disabilities.
So having an entire summerwhere maybe they're going to a
different camp every single week, filled with new people they
don't know, or maybe theirparents are having them double
(09:53):
down on a lot of therapies overthe summer to really work on
things that they need to kind ofbrush up on-- all of this is a
lot of new, isn't it?
Even though they're havingdifferent schedules and it's
more relaxed in some ways, itmay not be very therapeutic for
them as it would be for others.
Something else that can impactour students over the summer is
(10:18):
difference in medications.
Some students may be onmedications during the school
year to help them focus on theiracademics or just to stay
focused during the school day,or whatever it might be- even
medications for anxiety orthings like that; and over the
summer they may not have thosesame medical routines as well,
(10:38):
which can impact their learningand how they experience things.
Something else that can be a bitdifferent for us is- when I am
teaching students who areneurotypical, this is your
typical student who doesn't havea disability- their lessons are
more relaxed.
(10:59):
We're in summer learning modeand we do lots of fun
supplemental music, so manyactivities.
It's really quite a jubilant,joyful, fun-filled time.
And that's not to say that mylessons with my neurodivergent
students are not jubilant,joy-filled and very fun.
But if you have students withdisabilities in your studio, you
(11:27):
know that the mental load andthe preparation and planning for
teaching neurodivergentstudents is very different than
teaching neurotypical kiddos.
We just have to be so much moreprepared mentally, emotionally
even just our teaching space hasto be so very precisely ready
for them that it can still feellike a heavier mental load as a
(11:50):
teacher, even over the summer,when our other duties might be a
bit lighter, so that'ssomething that can be a bit
different for us, as opposed tohaving a studio full of
neurotypical students.
I thought I might share what mystudio looks like this summer
and spring, because this hasbeen a very different year than
(12:13):
past years of teaching, andsometimes that just happens.
Life happens and things justsort of evolve into something
that you didn't think was goingto happen and it does.
I had my recital this year thelast Sunday in April, and we had
both an indoor and outdoorevent.
I turned my living room in ourhome, which is where my studio
(12:37):
is, into a little recital hall.
I rented a bunch of chairs andwe had close to 40 people in my
living room, and we had thepiano tuned and students were
there in person and on Zoom on abig screen my virtual students-
and it was so much fun.
(12:58):
We had a lot of variety ofperformances and our theme for
this recital was 'my favoritethings.
' Students were invited to wearclothes that were their favorite
color or their favorite outfit-anything that represented their
'favorite.
' One of my students wore ashirt with his favorite food on
(13:20):
it, which is eggs, and I lovethat he wore a shirt with eggs
at his recital.
It was intentionally veryinformal in that way just to
bring about a little differentvibe this year, and it was so
much fun.
We also had snacks afterwardsoutside in the front yard of
their favorite fruits.
(13:41):
I bought a lot of differentkinds of frozen popsicles and we
had my students' favoritefruits.
And that was so fun because itwas a very warm day here in
South Georgia in the US, and soeveryone drank cold lemonade and
kids played with yard gameslike cornhole and sidewalk chalk
(14:05):
all over my driveway.
They all put on brightlycolored sunglasses that I gave
out- it was really fun.
Parents and grandparents stayed.
It was very relaxing.
One thing I did that was really,really fun and kind of quirky-
at the end of the recital, Iwanted to do something a bit
different this year.
(14:25):
I typically will play somethingfor my students, but this year
I wanted to do something a bitmore collaborative that would
have some audience participation.
I will share a link to what Idid with you in the show notes
so that if you would like to useit in your recital or just with
your students, it is so muchfun.
(14:47):
I hope you try it, but theCarnegie Hall in New York City
has a wonderful website withlots of really cool games and
musical quizzes that teacherscan use with their students, and
these work great both in groupsand one-on-one.
So if you're in a musicclassroom, like you're teaching
(15:07):
elementary music, these arewonderful to do with your group
of students.
If you're teaching group pianoor if you're just one-on-one and
you want to do it with yourstudent, they're perfect for all
of those and obviously itworked for the end of recital as
well.
.
But we played a game together onthe big screen in my studio and
it's called Animal orInstrument, and these are
(15:28):
pre-recorded sounds of eitheranimals or instruments and we
all guessed together- we didabout eight of them.
The students on Zoom heard themand the students in person were
able to vote.
It was so very funny because weheard instrument sounds that
really were hilarious, and welearned that animals make really
funny sounds, too that cansound like instruments.
(15:50):
So it ended up in laughter andlots of joy all around with
parents, grandparents, aunts anduncles and students all
laughing and having fun together.
One downside of this event fora few of my neurodivergent
students was that having so manypeople in my living room was a
bit overwhelming, so I woulddefinitely I probably do it a
(16:15):
little differently next year ifit's in the same space, but
overall it was very successfuland kids of all ages and levels
felt comfortable sharing theirmusic.
Something else that's a littledifferent about my studio in the
summer is that I do not teachduring the month of July.
I count it as a huge privilegeto be able to take time off in
(16:38):
the summer because I remembermany, many, many years of
teaching all the way through thesummer.
So if you are in one of thosepositions where teaching is your
primary income and you have toteach all summer, I totally get
that and I remember how it feelsto teach through all the
holidays- Memorial Day, LaborDay, all the US big holidays and
(16:58):
small ones, and to be what onlyfelt like the only person in
the city teaching.
And I know I wasn't at all, butI remember how that felt, and
so I count it a huge privilegeto be able to take time off in
the summer to do things.
But there are ways you can makelessons really fun in the summer
for your neurodivergentstudents.
(17:21):
One thing you want to keep inmind is for our special kiddos,
since we know they appreciatestructure and routine, we We
don't want to suddenly changeeverything about their lessons
simply because it is summer.
That might make sense to us tochange everything, but that
might not make sense to them andit might kind of unsettle them.
(17:44):
So you want to avoid drasticchanges and give them more
choices for things.
Here's That's one really fun wayto kind of mix up your lessons-
Instead of choosing all thethings you're going to do in the
lesson, have your studentchoose each aspect, have two
choices for each.
Like each improvisation, eachnew ear training game, you want
(18:11):
to do this one or this one, andgive them choices throughout the
summer.
That's a great way to help yourstudent practice agency and
making their own decisions, butalso let them feel like they
have, you know, a little control.
It's very, very fun.
Something else that's reallyreally fun to do in the summer
is to do composer studies.
I don't know about you, but mystudents absolutely love the
music of Harry Potter, and JohnWilliams is a big, big, big
(18:35):
favorite of ours over here.
Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Jaws,all the beautiful movie scores,
and we love to do things aboutJohn Williams.
Even just listening to a bit ofthe music and making our own
drawing or coloring a picture,and then having a fun quiz at
the end of the summer on whichmovie the music is from, that
(19:00):
kind of thing.
Something else you can do isthink about is, "mm, what is my
student really good at?
And then do more of that in thesummer.
This is a great time to letthem build on what they love.
That's a great way to do thatwith your student, who might not
enjoy a completely differentlesson schedule.
(19:21):
For my students, those thingsare composing chords, chord
charts, improvisation, off-benchactivities and lots of choices.
Choices are some of my students'favorite ways to have fun in
lessons.
They love to choose things.
So this summer, give yourstudents the option: Should we
(19:42):
do this game or this game, andgive them lots of choices?
Maybe just two choices for eachthing you're going to do that
day, but allow them to choose alittle more than typical and
tell them that, since it'ssummer, would you like to help
me choose what we do today inour lesson" and kind of present
it like a fun invitation forthem to join you in choosing
(20:06):
things for their lesson.
They'll think it's really fun.
I want to leave you with thisparting thought.
We need to kind of keep ourexpectations in check about
summer lessons.
I think some of us might takethe approach of "oh this is a
great time to make sure mystudent learns the entire book,
one of Bach's Weltenberg Clavierand if that is your goal, my
(20:30):
hat is off to you.
I took a summer in high schooland learned all the inventions
and symphonias and that was agreat, great project, but it
might not be a good fit foreveryone.
Our goal in the summer is tokeep our students engaged, keep
them playing, keep them excitedabout music, and really use the
(20:51):
time to do things we don'tusually have time to do in
lessons.
That's my favorite thing to doin the summer- just include
things that I don't have time toinclude the rest of the year.
So whatever your summerteaching schedule looks like, I
do hope you plan a little timefor yourself to read a new
teaching book or a non-musicbook, whatever you find
(21:13):
interesting .
Go take a long walk, drink acold coffee- coffee something
that's very relaxing, becauseteaching is really hard.
And especially especially forthose of us with neurodivergent
students, that mental loaddoesn't always lessen over the
summer, so don't forget to taketime for yourself to relax and
(21:34):
sort of decompress during thistime.
That's all for today.
Thanks for in in and it's greatto be back on the podcast today
, and we'll look forward tostarting this new.
"So So I have this student injust a few weeks, so don't
forget to send in any questionsyou have and I'll look forward
(21:57):
to talking about them andsharing them with you.
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