Edmund Sprunger of St. Louis has studied both violin pedagogy and psychology. In addition to leading a studio of fantastic students in Missouri he has his own private practice. His knowledge of the inner workings of the human brain greatly influences the way he teaches. In our Book 3 Suzuki Teacher Training Mr. Sprunger referenced the work of Selma Frieburg that has guided the systems I set for my students.

Students need to be invited and contained in order to feel comfortable.

• INVVITE. In the lesson you need to invite your students to express who they are. You acknowledge their worthiness, get excited about their vulnerability and hard work, and keep asking for more. Invite students to talk about experiences, seek to understand what they express, and begin the cycle again by asking, “What are you thinking?”
• CONTAIN. On the flip side, students also crave parameters. Essential for the creativity you invite is a safe barrier between themselves and catastrophe. Your students should sense a protective perimeter which provides as much freedom as possible without running the risk of harm. Establish predictable, structured routines so your student trusts your protective boundaries.

For me, the insight into the invite and contain distinction unlocked opportunities in my teaching. I began to understand why certain students were hesitant to take risks (not invited to) and others were constantly defying rules (groping for boundaries). I learned that cultivating a practice of invitation and setting up a tangible container for student work is necessary for a healthy studio.

These are the systems I’ve put in place to invite and contain my students.

1. Establish a beginning and end. The most important container for your student is the lesson time itself. They need to know exactly when lesson time starts and finishes. I do this with a traditional Japanese bow typical of Suzuki lessons. The bow bookends the lesson with an aural, physical, and emotional cue. Before and after the bow I joke, chat, ask questions, and make silly connections. But once inside the parameters of the lesson I am hyper focused. And my students are trained to do the same.
2. Establish a work station. Much like the bow sets the temporal parameters of the lesson I use foot charts, walls and chairs to build a physical parameter. My periwinkle students do all of their violin work on the foot chart. We will spin, sit, stand, and even jump on the foot chart, but we never leave it. Beyond the practicality of keeping students within an arms width distances and keeping them from running around the room, students also develop a comfort in their own spot in the lesson. It is a space away from their parent but also one I can’t encroach on without permission. I find the foot chart parameters age with students. They enjoy the routine of fending and claiming their spot on the floor. Even with older students I try to make it obvious exactly where their spot in the lesson to claim and create in is.
3. Establish choices. The ultimate way to invite and contain your students is offering them choices. If I told instead of asked I would ignore the efficacy of my students. On the other hand, if I let students self direct the entire lesson without any guidance they will be overwhelmed by the abundance os choice. I instead set up a decision for my student with either two or three choices, all of which I would want them to choose. I had to work hard to move away from, “Would you like to make a bow hold?” questions in which students could opt out. I also never ask, “How many times would you like to do Mississippi Stop Stop?” when students can opt for an option that is less beneficial to their development. I usually frame questions as, “We can do [option 1], [option 2] or [option 3]. Which would you like to do?” or, “In order to repeat this passage would you prefer to play the dinosaur game or roll the dice?” Another way I like to invite student ownership in lessons is by asking them to choose the order of events from a list of activities I’ve already developed. I never instruct my students on which option to select, I’ve already done that work by framing the questions mindfully. When you let them answer freely you signal you believe in their decision making ability, while also assuming them that they can’t make a catastrophic decision on your watch.

Beyond establishing a beginning and end, spacial parameters, and choice in the lesson, there are a few other routines to make decisions about. Write out a step by step instruction guide for each of the following in order to clearly communicate to your students a proper lesson procedure. The clearer the instructions, the more consistent the routine, the more comfortable the student.

• How to prepare the bow (rosin, tighten, etc.)
• How to prepare the violin
• How to enter the lesson room
• How to tune
• What to do when you are speaking
• How to ask a question appropriately
• How to perform
• How to have a rehearsal with a pianist
• What to do first in home practice
• How to let you know if they did or didn’t practice well at home

Spend time deciding how these systems will be set in your studio to invite and contain your student so they feel comfortable. Tomorrow I will discuss the lingering discomfort you might have about teaching, and what to do about it.

Being a teacher can be a lot of work. At times you need to push yourself to the edge of your capabilities and be keenly aware of your strengths and weaknesses. What you don’t want to do is spend unnecessary time sending emails, taking notes, or scheduling.

Take advantage of the clean slate you have as a beginning teacher to set up some systems that will make you most effective and efficient.

Your circumstances and tools will inevitably change, but start with a handful of processes that save you from drowning in a sea of administrative decision fatigue.

These are the systems I rarely think about, but are also most valuable to me.

1. CALENDAR. The worst feeling as a teacher is missing a lesson. I work against this by putting every commitment on the same calendar (Apple Calendar which syncs my laptop and phone). If scheduling is up in the air, yet to be nailed down or confirmed, I’ll still schedule it but put a question mark in the heading. This way, when I schedule an appointment I am aware of every potential conflict and am able to schedule odd lessons weeks in advance. Every Sunday I do a weekly review of my calendar and upcoming projects so I’m aware of all that I need to do. On the day before a lesson scheduled at an irregular time or after a long break I do a text message confirmation.
2. STUDENT LESSON NOTES. With 20 students, several of whom are working on the exact same piece, keeping track of the details from week to the next is difficult. I’ve written before about my method of taking student notes at the end of each day of teaching, but I can’t emphasize enough the value of noting what transpired in lessons week to week. In a short hand, bulleted form I list the activities, teaching points, and quality of performance in the lesson. I also use the opportunity to note any special events (upcoming birthdays, auditions, etc.) or unique parts of the lesson (Mom came instead of Dad, shoulder rest was missing, etc). All of the information specific to one student is captured on their own note in Evernote. On one note I can scroll backward and see a historical log of every lesson we had together. Though having a log of the details is helpful in a bind, the most useful function of taking these notes is tasking my brain with recalling the salient points of each lesson (even ones that happened hours before) and priming my brain to brainstorm what would be best for my student in our lesson next week.
3. LESSON PLANNING. When are you going to think about your students’ progress? As we already discussed, a teacher has a teaching mindset. It is best in your first year to schedule your deep thinking time, because one of the worst places to do that thinking is while teaching the lesson. For me that thinking happens in these forms…
   • Micro – Lesson planning. I do this planning every week, often for half an hour on the day of my lessons. I jot down what the lesson points need to be including in previews or technical exercises I should start with particular students.
   • Macro – Goal setting and parent conferences. At the beginning of the year I set semester goals for each of my students and record them on their evernote note. With some students (generally older ones) I share my goals and we discuss them, but with other students I keep the goals to myself. During mid semester parent conferences I name these goals and we reflect on the best way to chart a course to reach them before the end of the semester.
   • Macro macro – Personal teaching audits. These usually happen just a handful of times per year. I take a deep dive into analyzing my four pillars of teaching: personal violin skill, teaching sequence, and communication with parents and students. I spend this time re-organizing the way I think, looking for inconsistencies, or wondering if I’m really serving my students at every step along the way. Never doing these deep dives will render your teaching unorganized and stagnant, however I recommend leaving plenty of time between each large scale audit to really grow and experiment with your process.
4. STUDIO POLICIES. How do you feel right now about communication, cancellation, billing, and punctuality. Your policies, the skeleton of your studio, need to be written and communicated to your parents and students immediately. Make sure to have these typed, formatted, and sent before you first lesson. You can find mine here.

These are just four of many systems I use, but they are my most productive systems and ultimately reduce friction during lesson time. Prepare these systems for yourself before your first lesson. The foundation and structure you construct in this week can last for decades.

Tomorrow I will discuss the systems for your students you can put in place.

You reached out to teachers on Day 1 requesting an observation. What did they say? If they are anything like the teachers in the Austin area, you probably had no trouble setting up a few observations.

By setting up observations with local teachers you set yourself up for success in three ways.

1. Research. You are doing field work here. Discover what is successful and what isn’t. Ask how the teacher organizes him or herself. What tone of voice are they using? How is the studio set up?

2. Environment. Your teacher tells you to listen to (several) recordings AND do research on relevant music history in order to immerse yourself in the world of a new piece. Observing quality teaching is the first step in inserting your mind into a robust, vibrant environment of music education.

3. Network. Meet the teachers in your area and automatically improve your reputation with them by demonstrating your desire to learn through observation.

Once you set up observations make sure to get the most out of your time by following these simple procedures.

— Know what you are getting yourself into.
The worst possible scenario is showing up late to a lesson that is already occurring. Ask the teacher in advance specific instructions for entry (parking, gate cods, knock vs. walk in). Know who you will be observing (age, developmental level, school, any potential learning challenges).

— Have an organized way to store your notes.
I know many still put pen to paper, but I have moved to electronic note taking purely for the ease of storage and organization. A notebook in Evernote is set aside just for observations.

     

I label each note with descriptive information that will remind me of the original observation and tag it for easy search ability.

Half of the power of observation is in immersion and networking, but having searchable notes and documenting what you do will inevitably come in handy.

You have decided to start teaching, students are on their way to you, so now it is time to align your mindset with your goals.

It is all about the mindset. If you want to be a professional teacher you need to think like a professional teacher. Here are three ways in which you need to level up your mindset.

1. Wrap your mind around masterful teaching
During our Book 3 training last summer Ed Kreitman exploded my previous concept of masterful teaching. I went from claiming, “I know it when I se it,” to having a detailed organized vision of mastery. He argued there are four pillars that must be mastered to be a masterful teacher.

– proficiency on your instrument
– knowledge of your sequence from start to finish
– communication with children
– communication with adults

Instead of trying to focus on the nebulous, complex skill of teaching, set your mind on improving one of these pillars at a time.

2. Think about teaching. A lot.
CEOs think about their businesses. Archaeologist think about their excavations. Video game players think about their video games. And you probably think about performing violin.

Bot now, as a teacher, you need to start thinking about teaching. Your day to day routine might not change. Still spend time in the practice room, still go to class, still watch netflix with your laptop on your stomach, but overlaying all of the action is the lens of your teaching mindset.

Ask yourself, “How is this related to my sequence?”
“Could this act as a metaphor for my students?”
“What can I improve in my playing that will inspire my students?”

3. 10X your goals, 10X your action
You only have one life, so set bigger goals. Grant Cardone, author of the 10x Rule, communicates in his book the power of exponentially increasing what you think is possible in order to do extraordinary things.

Consider how this has occurred in your performance career. In moments along your developmental path you listened to a record, or talked with a mentor, or witnessed a performance that blew your perception of impossible out of the water.

All of the sudden a whole new world of violin playing or music making was yours to enter. You didn’t improve your playing immediately but expanding your mindset was crucial to eventually improve your playing. Consider the way transferring studios or schools or orchestras change your playing. You were not just working with different faculty or conductors, but you held yourself to a new set of expectations when surrounded by greatness.

It is statistically proven that your income is an approximate average of the five people you spend the most time with. Your inner circle determines your self esteem, your attitude, your mindset, and ultimately your actions. This means your environment is going to influence your output, but if you calibrate your environment properly you will automatically upgrade your output.

So start spending time with people whose dreams are ten times yours. Seek out information and mentorship from leaders who are doing what you want to do. Allow yourself to envision what being an expert and leader in teaching would look and feel like. And then, align your actions with those expanded goals. Increase your goals by ten times, then go attack those goals with ten times your effort.

To be a teacher, upgrade your mindset in these three ways. Consider the four pillars of teaching, continually mine for teaching gems, and explode what you think possible by 10x your goals and environment.

Tomorrow I will discuss the way you use your new mindset to pick up value lessons from any observation.

You know teaching is going to be a part of your life, but you don’t know how to find the student to start your practice process. There is no need to be aggressive in your search for students, as the demand for teachers in most regions far exceeds the availability. Distilled below are the four things you must do TODAY to connect with your first student.

1. Register for the SAA, set up a profile

A resource often not taken advantage of by new and old teachers alike, the Suzuki Association of the Americas website is a gold mine of information. The first step is to sign up for a membership which allows you to register for training courses, receive a monthly journal publication, but most importantly to set up a profile as a teacher on their database. Even without any teaching experience or training, you can list yourself as available to the area and post your contact information and biography. To add credibility to your profile link to a personal website or videos of prior performances.

2. Email a Suzuki teacher to observe

This is the beginning of your network building. The Suzuki community in your city is tight knit, which can make it hard to break into but an exceedingly strong resource once you are involved. Thankfully due to Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy on sharing, Suzuki teachers are committed to sharing their ideas with others and being open to observation. Select one teacher from the SAA member directory to contact and request an observation within the next week.

3. Contact local middle school and elementary orchestra teachers

Who are the elementary and middle school orchestra directors in your area? Send an email to every single one of them saying you are available to teach lessons. You aren’t the only person to do this, but it only takes one student to start your teaching career.

4. Tell your peers who teach that you are taking students

Because the demand for violin teachers is high, many of your teaching friends turn away students due to a full load. Just as you share gigs, teachers share students. Make sure that your friends know today that you are available to teach so they will refer families to your care. Text, call, pull them aside in the hallway, and knock on their practice rooms because today is the day you are going to connect with your first student.

Think of these as the first steps in your outward facing commitment to teaching. Once people know you are available, someone will approach you for your services. I recommend two more steps TODAY so that you are prepared to speak intelligently about what you are able to offer as a new teacher.

5. Order Nurtured by Love and Teaching From the Balance Point

These books are the foundation for how I operate as a Suzuki teacher. Dr. Suzuki’s philosophy speaks through the pages of Nurtured by Love. Though it can be mystical and ideal, the language points our efforts as teachers far beyond the professional push to survive. Teaching from the Balance Point is Ed Kreitman’s foundational book capturing twenty years of experience. He covers everything from philosophy on music to details of posture to his theory on note learning.

6. Do your first observation

Chances are while you read this, hundreds of observable lessons and group classes are occurring in your region. Did any of the teachers you contacted have lessons to observe? Go observe them today! And if not, seek out resources online of quality violin teaching. Just as your playing is guided by the reference recordings you use, your teaching instincts will be guided by the teaching you observe.

Ed Kreitman has a series of observation videos you can subscribe to.
I have my own collection of Real Violin Lessons for you to watch as well.

Tomorrow I will discuss the mindset of teaching.

You don’t think you are ready to start teaching. You have learned about the revered Suzuki method, you see students playing at levels at certain ages that you didn’t know was possible, you are part of a rich Suzuki community with older teachers, younger teachers and anywhere in between. You know that your professional career will require you to teach, but you have not taken a step towards this very big, complicated, and elusive target.

You probably have been avoiding teaching because you don’t think you have the expertise to start. Not only are you a student of violin still, but you have never taken a class on pedagogy, you don’t have a curriculum sequence in your head, you have never communicated with a parent by email, and don’t have the years and years of experience that guides the great teachers in your area.

That doesn’t matter.

Today is the day you must take you first step towards teaching, because the fact is that you will never feel like an expert. Teachers always have more to learn. You don’t teach because you are a teacher, you are a teacher because you teach (bold). You only become an excellent teacher by teaching a lot, auditing yourself, and improving your skills lesson by lesson.

Think of it this way: Would you not pick up new instrument because you don’t have experience with it? No, because picking it up as an amateur is the first step to excellence.

The fact that you aren’t a beginner on your instrument anymore qualifies you to start the work of teaching. You have already carved yourself a path from beginner to proficient, and now it’s time to turn around and become the guide for a young student to follow your path. The words, systems, and planning it takes to guide that student will develop as you teach more and more. But the tragedy is in waiting. If you wait, you will never become a teacher, because in order to become an excellent teacher you must practice daily.

So start. Invest in this moment, take the leap to make yourself available to students, because today is the first day of many enriching learning experiences for you, but more importantly for your new students.

The beginning of the summer marked two years in my teaching career. In the summer of 2014 I began teaching with Monarch Suzuki Academy, received Suzuki Book 1 training with Dr. Laurie Scott and Book 2 training with Dr. Sue Baer, and also took on new students with UT String Project.

What is the saying? Zero to sixty in 3.5?

I wasn’t overwhelmed, but my brain, body and senses went into overdrive. I was aware that the first few lessons of my first summer of my first year of teaching were crucial to my professional teaching for a few reasons…

– I STARTED teaching (the hardest step of them all)
– My habits, formed on a clean slate, were much easier to direct than to change after years of experience
– My reputation, and therefore referrals, often come from the first impression I formed two years ago

The success I have experienced in two years of teaching can be traced back to the mindfulness I used to guide my first year of work.

In the following days I will provide you with a step by step guide to move from zero to studio. I’ll identify the insights, actions, tools, and references in an organized sequence that will lead you to success. I tackle difficult questions such as why we teach in the first place, is it okay to feel nervous before your first lesson, and what it means to teach when your ultimate goal is performance.

Day 1 – Start Teaching Violin: You Aren’t Going to Think You Are Ready
Day 2 – Do These TODAY to Start Teaching Violin
Day 3 – The Violin Teacher’s Mindset
Day 4 – Research, Network, and Immerse Yourself Through Observation
Day 5 – Set Systems for Yourself, the Professional
Day 6 – Set Systems for Your Violin Students
Day 7 – Conquer Fear Before Your First Violin Lesson
Day 8 – Where Are You Going? Working at the Frontier of Teaching Violin

This seven day guide is designed for violinists who want to start teaching but haven’t, teachers who started teaching but don’t feel they set a reliable foundation for themselves, and for the performing artist who doesn’t think teaching will be a part of their lives (spoiler alert: it will).

Each day is a capsule of crucial, relevant information from someone who is just around the bend. I invite you to join me in the journey from student to teacher today.