Oclef Blog

September 24, 2016

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

I recently ran an audition for students looking to join our studio. It reminded me of my last audition – the day I was accepted into the Royal College of Music in London. But this time I was the one doing the decision making. It’s really tough. You see the students come in and they’re all dressed well and nervous. But it’s the one’s who do the right things: look you in the eye and say hello, place the music on the table, and even say thank you when they’re done; those are ones I’m likely to s...

piano teaching music education student motivation parent involvement in music music pedagogy student auditions music student attitude growth mindset in music music teacher tips student selection criteria piano studio management music student development parental support in education music teacher insights music learning journey

September 12, 2016

Avoiding errors vs. achieving excellence – Part I

One of my first blogs on Oclef was a message that I sent to my students before a competition. You can read it here – The Perfection of Pursuit What I work to make clear to my students in every opportunity is that mistakes and errors are not the problem. The problem is almost always maintaining the correct focus or mindset. Do your students fear making mistakes? Or are they more focused on creating excellence in their music? Perspective is everything. I think this is the one big differences be...

Popular Tags