Get Started Right...The First 90 days

The first 90 days of beginning lessons at Music Pillars is a very special and important time for your student, you (the parents), and the two teachers that work with your son/daughter. There are many changes that happen with your child and also at your home as you help foster your budding musician. And as with all changes, there are adjustments and other adaptations to be made in order to be successful. Because of that, we have a process that we use over the first 90 days to help ensure that everything gets started off right!

#1 - A Parent Teacher Conference

Students and Parents come to Music Pillars with varying emotional, mental, and musical backgrounds and experiences. Those sundry backgrounds dramatically shape the expectation and commitment that a family has regarding the Music Education experience for their family. It is a wide range of ambition - everything from the serious musician who intends to study music for their degree and make a living to the family that wants to have a fun musical experience, but has no plans of Music Education beyond being able to play a pop song they heard on the radio. Either ambition is ok with us. We have the ability to help coach/grow each type of student. Our purpose at Music Pillars is To Inspire and Grow People through Music. And “growth” is a relative terms based upon where we meet the family along their journey with their child(ren), as well as their expectations/goals related to development of their child.

To help make sure that the Studio, the Parent, and the Student are all on the same page - we have a Parent Teacher Conference (during a lesson) after 90 days of lessons. This is a good opportunity for the parent, the student, and the teacher to discuss their progress, the assessment results from recent exams, the progress of their “love” pieces, and anything else that the parties feel is relevant. This can also be a great opportunity to discuss concerns that either the studio is having, or that the parent or student has.

#2 - Perform in a Friday Fest

Students that are practicing at home without having a performance coming up can easily become bored, frustrated, and apathetic about lessons. Unfortunately, parents can sometimes equate this to mean that “music isn’t fun.” Of course, we know that music is fun, try to not listen to music for 10 days and see how you feel (if its even possible!) So what is the actual issue? The issue is that their is no performance incentive!

Taking lessons for months on end without performing is kind of like this…Would you sign your child up for Basketball practice in August if there wasn’t a game until December? Of course not! Would you enroll your child in an Art Class that has children practicing brush strokes without painting or creating anything to show others until December? Of course not! Would you enroll your child in a school that had no reporting or grading system? Of course not! What are all of these things missing? The Public Presentation/Performance!

Every activity above has a performance/presentation/reporting element to it that becomes public. Take that away, and you take away enormous incentive to do something. We cover and discuss Friday Fests in more detail on other pages of our site - but in essence - in the first 90 days it is VITAL that your child perform at a Friday Fest

#3 - A Conversation with the Music Director

Lastly, it is important that you and the Music Director discuss (typically via phone, FaceTime, Skype, etc…) how things are going thus far. The Music Director’s at Pillars are a very special bunch of people. In order to be eligible for this position, they have to have a long-term commitment to Pillars, excellent communication skills, have many years of performance experience on stage, and also have a deep well of experience and knowledge as it relates to Music Education. They are a great resource of knowledge, perspective, and insight as your family attends Music Pillars.The Music Director can help provide insight into why something is done a certain way at the Studio. He/she can also help make sure that specific long-term goals or expectations that you have are being addressed. The Music Director is in charge of anything/everything that goes on at a studio location - from teacher decisions, studio cleanliness, community outreach, and even what temperature the studio is! Talking to him/her you can rest assured that you are talking to the decision maker who can help support/assist this progress for your family.