It’s over so quickly. In just 2 more lessons, my summer schedule will be over. One week of vacation this week, followed by one more teaching week, and my studio closes for two weeks prior to the opening of school. I always take the last two weeks of summer break to recharge and gear down before the hustle and bustle of the new school year begins. This morning I pondered that two week break with one of my students.
I told him, “You know Bryan, I take the break and I think you should too.” Of course, if he wants to play, that’s fine but I told his parents I’m fine with the students taking the two weeks off so they too can feel recharged and more ready to dive into the fall curriculum. It’s worth deciding what your expectations are to that parents don’t feel upset if their children are not practicing well during the time. (Read last week’s post on parent’s and expectations!).
For the first time this year, I’m making a point of telling parents I applaud their children gearing back, relaxing the practicing, and picking it up the first week of lessons. I plan to introduce new repertoire for everyone anyway. With that in mind, I have been helping students to complete the summer pieces they are working on so that we can put them away and not carry them over to the opening of the studio at the end of August. If they truly take the break, then the pieces will be stale and insecure and I don’t want the first thing they do to be bringing back something they dropped two weeks earlier.
So enjoy the month of August! In some states, school doesn’t start until after Labor Day, but her in the south all school s are open by the last week of August. Clear your studio and have it ready to go then consider closing that door for whatever time you can take off. Breathe. Get Ready. Fall is Coming….