Ladybug Recital Reminder!

It’s that time of year when independent music teachers start to feel a bit crazy-yes, it’s SPRING RECITAL time!  No one knows why, but we all seem to have a Spring Recital and it’s really frustrating when a parent or student says “Wait, we have a recital this Saturday?”  I didn’t know!”  You should know that not everyone will read your newsletters, and if you’re not sending a newsletter, check out this guest blog post I did at the Plucky Pianistia’s blog a few years ago….https://thepluckypianista.blogspot.com/2015/08/guest-post-communicating-with.html

Now, this year I actually made a HUGE mistake and scheduled my spring recital for the day before Easter, so I had to change it to the next Saturday, which turns out to be a very busy weekend-my string quartet has a wedding to play the night before, I have a wichita symphony (www.wso.org) rehearsal the night before and a concert AFTER the recital (at least it’s pops music, John Williams, and not the Mahler 7 we performed last week!)

Way back in August I gave my students the yearly calendar of important events like recitals and group lessons (and vacation days) for the entire next school year, so no one really minded my mistake.  It is a daunting task to plan your whole year out this way but the benefits are countless.  I use Susan Paradise’s editable calendars you can find here http://www.susanparadis.com/editable-2016-17-calendar/and print one in black ink on colored paper and place it in the back of a white one inch binder that I buy in bulk from costco or order from Amazon.


This year I was so lucky and won one of the sought after ladybug squeezies from Carol at Masterpiece Music.  You can find her store here: https://masterpiece-music.com/ she has a lot in stock now so it’s a good time to order.  I also purchased some really fun dice from her and plans to the Harry Potter Type Music Camp this Summer!

I loved that ladybug squeezie so much and I wanted to get one for each student but there is no way i can afford that, so I found these cute ladybug squirters on Amazon.


My piano teacher friend Robin Cho ordered some and tested them out with her new preschool classes and they really loved them!  I have been showing each student my nice ladybug squeezie then they get to pick a ladybug squirter to take home and remind them to have a nice hand position for the recital!  While it isn’t the exact same shape it provides a great reminder.  Also, I tell them that people will judge their piano and violin playing by the way they look as well as by how they sound, so it’s good to have curved fingers as well as know all the notes!  I’m planning on doing a live facebook video Tomorrow (Tuesday April 11th at 10 a.m. to demonstrate this!  If  you’re reading this blog post later, be sure to look for the video, i’ll keep it up on the facebook page until the end of April.  You can find me on facebook at www.facebook.com/violinjudystudio
It took a while, but I wrote the recital date, time and location on each ladybug! My students are excited to take home a ladybug to sit on their piano and it’s a great visual reminder of the upcoming recital! I hope you can use this idea to make your studio a fun place to learn!

Thanks for reading my blog.  I love to inspire and work with teachers to help them be creative and successful!  If you’re interested in more ideas, please check out my AWESOME AMAZING book 60 Day Makeover: Music Teacher Edition available on any device (computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, ipad, iphone) from Amazon.com.60 Day Makeover: Music Teacher Edition

If you need some serious help/motivation, I also offer low cost consulting on weekday mornings, and you can find out more info about that here: https://violinjudy.com/joyful-noise-consulting/

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