Band teacher – A Mindful Approach to Music Education

As If Our Jobs Weren’t Already Stressful Enough … How Will You Serve Your Students In This New Normal? And How Do You Do It Without Becoming Even More Emotionally Exhausted As You Help Kids Cope with Stress, Anxiety, and Uncertainty?

Maybe you’re so overwhelmed right now that you haven’t thought very far beyond how to survive and function as the whole world is transitioning from what we’ve always done and known into a completely different reality.

I’m 54 years old – I was set to retire this year, and for the final few months of this school year, it looks like I’ll have the opportunity to completely revamp everything I’ve ever done!

I understand your stress. And I also know what you can do right now to protect yourself from going to those dark places where you feel so overwhelmed that you just want to give up.

Filtering through all the information that is coming at us and changing by the minute can put us in survival mode, which makes it impossible to access the parts of our brain where creativity and planning and functioning are regulated. It feels chaotic as everything we’ve ever done has completely been upended. And on top of making sure we and our families are okay, we are now thrust into a world where we must figure out how to teach band, choir, orchestra, and other music classes online.

Online. Seriously.

When I was at Indiana University in the early 1980s, computers weren’t really a thing for most of us. For the first seven years of my teaching career, I didn’t even have a computer at school. Everything I taught was done with me in front of my class delivering instruction and interacting with my students in real time.

Teaching face-to-face was how we learned and how we learned to teach. But in light of COVID 19, everything I’ve been doing in person with my students for the past 32 years has come to a grinding halt and, like you, I must figure out how to connect with my students and their families and somehow deliver meaningful experiences for them in spite of not being able to be physically present with them.

Even though I am a pretty chill woman who has been there and done that, I, too, am experiencing anxiety about how I can serve my students in a situation and future that are unpredictable.

I figured that I’m probably not the only one who needs to have coping mechanisms in order to not just survive but actually thrive, so I wanted to be on the forefront in talking about how music teachers can minimize the stress and maximize the opportunities that are arising.

Dr. Matthew Arau and I teamed up on Monday to share what we’ve learned in our combined nearly six decades of music education experience to help you cope with the stress that comes in the moment as you are trying to figure out how to get through each day as well as what you can do to prepare for a smooth re-entry when you and your students return to school.

Things will be very different. We can help you prepare now so your new normal will be one where you and your students can thrive. I hope you’ll check out our webinar and tons of free resources we’ve put together for you.

You are not alone in this. Reach out to people like us rather than spinning your wheels and trying to figure it out on your own.

Music educators have always changed the world through the magic of music education – and we’re gonna keep doing it no matter what obstacles arise.

Together we rise.

With you on the journey –
Lesley

FREE Resources

WEBINAR with Lesley & Matthew 1-Click Replay

PS – Join me next Monday at 9:00 am pacific time to talk about what you can start doing NOW to make returning to your classroom as smooth as possible for you and your students.

Music Educator Mondays – Let’s Prepare for the Future of Music Education Together!

I am STOKED to have Dr. Matthew Arau of #upbeatglobal joining me on a webinar for Music Educator Monday this week at 9:00 AM pacific / noon eastern time, where we will talk about the realities of what our roles as music educators are during school closures and what we should be prepared for when we return to our classrooms, whenever that may be.

Matthew and I will be sharing our thoughts about the critical role music teachers play in helping our students and communities cope during this crisis.

We’ll also be sharing tools you can use to keep your own stress levels managed so you have the stamina to do this for the long haul.

If you can’t make it to the webinar, register anyway and I’ll send you the replay.

Together we rise!

Webinar Registration

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sX3udf6DSqW3EvW7kIlz_A

BANDing Together for Solutions

In the wake of the coronavirus, we music teachers have unique challenges we are facing. In addition to delivering content (i.e. teaching) in new and innovative ways, we likely are facing uncertainty with our upcoming spring performances, festivals, recruiting activities, and trips.

I teach north of Seattle. My school was one of the first in the US to close for a confirmed case of the virus last Monday, so the realities of what we need to think about and plan for have been at the forefront of my mind.

The long-term ramifications on our programs both financially and with future enrollment as this hits while kids are registering for next year’s classes could be devastating – unless we are proactive in how we are handle this with them.

Whether it’s the prospect of losing tens of thousands of dollars that have been invested in upcoming festivals and trips or spending hundreds of hours preparing for concerts and other performances that may or may not happen, it’s all up in the air right now.

Right now is the time we should be approaching the peak opportunities of our year, enjoying the activities we’ve planned where we take our music on the road, play for school concerts, graduations, trips, and other events.

Instead, we are in limbo.

We don’t know if events are going to be cancelled or if our schools will even allow us to take the trips. And we won’t know until we see how things develop over the next few weeks.

But we must be prepared, both musically and financially, in the event that we’ll still be able to do these activities.

You may be wondering – How am I supposed to teach my students when they can’t or don’t come to school. Am I equipped to teach ensembles remotely or do I have another plan? What about logistics for preparing our ensembles if school’s closed for a few weeks but we end up being able to go on a trip in a month or two?

There’s a lot of money at stake.

If you’re in a situation like I am, you’ve signed contracts with vendors that are not refundable and your community has rallied behind your kids and program to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars that may never get to be used as intended.

How will you handle this and how will you navigate the legal and personal challenges this will bring?

There’s a lot of momentum and energy at stake as you’ve been building up to these culminating experiences.

And what will happen as your students select courses for next year? Some of them may feel like the rug’s being pulled out from under them and be hesitant to sign up for your class (or at least future trips) again next year.

There’s a lot of fear around all the unknowns, for kids, for teachers, for parents, for administrators, for our communities, and beyond.

What are we supposed to do when the momentum that we’ve been building suddenly comes crashing to a confusing halt? Students and their families will be looking to us for answers. We may not have them all, but we need to be prepared to ask the questions and have the difficult conversations.

If you are planning a trip for future years, what are you learning from this situation that changes how you proceed? How does this situation inform you when it comes to trip insurance, contingency plans, and other preparatory activities? Will your community have enough faith to sign up for future trips if they end up losing a lot of money due to unavoidable cancellations this year?

What are you doing to ensure your students don’t make any rash decisions about enrolling next year based on what will likely be a couple of emotional months, no matter how things pan out? And why is it important that you have a vision for how you are going to lead the conversations and handle the questions from kids and parents? Are you aware of what you can and can’t decide vs what you need to run by an administrator?

If you don’t even know where to start or what questions to ask, you’re not alone. This is new territory for all of us.

I was supposed to adjudicate a festival next SATURDAY but due to cancellations, I’ll no longer be doing that, so I am going to host a FREE WEBINAR for music teachers who want a little help navigating the complexities of the fallout on our music programs as a result of the impact from coronavirus. I don’t have all the answers, but since I’ve been teaching and traveling with group for over 30 years, I do have a very good idea of where to start asking questions.

I hope you’ll join me in two ways:

1) Fill out this short survey to let me know how the coronavirus is impacting you and your program.

BANDing Together SURVEY

2) REGISTER for the webinar and join me LIVE on Saturday, March 14 at 9:00 am PST.

What is Band Director Boot Camp?

People keep asking me, “What is Band Director Boot Camp?”

Band Director Boot Camp is the program I designed for the band director who wants to:

Up-level your program now
Build a successful and sustainable music program that is respected in your school and community
Serve students by helping them become awesome human beings through the magic of music education
Make band a place where every student feels welcome and safe to be themselves
Spend more time teaching music and less time on all of the other stuff
Find a better balance between work and family life
Build a tribe with other like-minded band directors for support, encouragement, and masterminding
Cut through a lot of the pain and time that go with building a program with practical advice from someone with over 30 years of experience as a high school band director and mother of three

It’s true that between zero period jazz band, evening concerts, pep band events, trips, fundraising, and meetings, the life of a high school band director is never dull! There’s great joy to be had as you shape young musicians into awesome human beings, but there’s also a price to pay when you love doing it so much that your life’s work becomes all-consuming. How do you meet your students’ needs and still have a life of your own – without being so exhausted that you can’t enjoy it?

I found that when it came time for me to actually write the book I’d been thinking about for years, I was successful when I found someone to coach me through the process. It wasn’t about having someone else do the work – I did all the writing, but I did it with someone who has successfully published thousands of books, so I got it done in three months. Not only did I get it done in a much shorter time than if I’d tried doing it on my own, but my book reached Best Seller status and has launched me into coaching, teaching professional development, presenting at conferences, being a guest for webinars, podcasts and radio shows, and mentoring other music teachers. I was far more successful at writing a book and so much more because I worked with a mentor instead of trying to figure it out on my own.

Band Director Boot Camp is the same concept. I’ve taught over 30,000 classes in my teaching career, so I’ll teach you how to sidestep common pitfalls and energy-suckers and spend more time teaching music. I will be your resource and help you identify and reach your milestones, whether that involves starting a booster program or setting up your first big trip, while saving you hours and hours of time – and lots of headaches and stress!

After reading I Love My Job but It’s Killing Me, Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser said, “Most of us have learned many of these lessons [overworking and burning out] THE HARD WAY. We are convinced we can “push a bit harder” each time around…but – alas – we do burn up the engine in doing so. I want all the young teachers to read the book so they can avoid learning some of these lessons through self-abuse. This is a profound contribution to the entire educational profession.”

Band Director Boot Camp takes the principles of my first book and applies them to the life of a busy band director, giving you practical and proven strategies for being the badass band director you always dreamed of being!

If you’d like to learn more, check out this self-assessment to get a clearer picture of your goals and what is keeping you from reaching them.

Band Director Self-Assessment

I Used to be Really Good at Classroom Management, But Things Are Different Now

For most of my teaching career, I had been really good classroom management.

As soon as attendance was taken each day, I’d get the kids’ attention so we could get down to business. I had clear expectations and the kids were almost always really good about meeting them. I was quite effective at keeping kids engaged and classes ran smoothly. It took a lot of energy to do this hour after hour and day after day, but the consistent efforts gave me really good results, so I continued to work hard to maintain outstanding classroom control.

Sure, there were always a handful of kids in each class who were excessively chatty or who couldn’t seem to stop playing their horns when I cut the band off in rehearsals, but 97% of the time, I was in control and things ran smoothly. At the end of the day, I usually felt pretty darned good about how my classes operated.

But as the decades have passed, teaching has changed. Kids today are different than when we were kids, and if you’ve been teaching for more than ten years, you know that teaching effectively in this day and age requires a different set of skills than how we were taught in school.

Teenagers haven’t changed – they are simply reflecting what they see going on around them. Having been exposed (or dare I say OVER-exposed) to electronics and other stimuli since birth, their attention spans and ability to focus on anything for more than a few minutes is staggeringly low. It’s not their fault, but that is their reality.

Traditional forms of classroom management and discipline aren’t always effective in today’s classroom.

Like I said at the beginning of this, I used to be really good at classroom management.

But now things are different. Now the students in my classes manage their own behavior and I spend my time and energy teaching music instead of responding to student disruptions!

Several years ago I made a significant change in how I approached teaching, and the results have been off-the-charts amazing!

In the 30,000+ classes I have taught in my teaching career, it is how I structure the FIRST FOUR MINUTES that has fundamentally uprooted everything about how my classes run and how students are learning and retaining what I teach.

I asked my students to share how the First Four Minutes have impacted our class. Here are a few of their responses:

We play better in tune because we can feel pitch and not just hear pitch.
We are more musically sensitive and expressive.
Hardly anyone is tardy anymore. (They don’t want to miss our routine)
Everyone is more engaged.
Our performance skills are improved.
The stress level is much lower.
Non-instructional noise has been eliminated.
Benefits carry over from year to year as students.
It’s easier to learn and retain what we learn.
We have a communal energy.
Music feels much more intuitive and easier to learn.
Band is a lot of fun because we can work super efficiently and make great music together. In my old band (where we didn’t do this routine), so much time was wasted on discipline and constant disruptions that I stopped looking forward to that class. I almost quit, but now that I’m in a class where we actually get to spend time playing music, I’m staying!

As a teacher, I have reaped the benefits of having classes where I get to do the very thing I wanted to do all my life – teach music! I get to do it in a setting where classroom management has become effortless. I no longer expend energy on “being in control” because I’ve learned to teach students how to take control of their own energy. And they do it. Every day.

I love one of my recent client’s comments where she said,

“I’m in a coaching cycle with this outstanding author and Bad Ass Band Director and ideas are constantly leaping off the pages in the book and out of our Zoom calls. Even strategies I didn’t know I needed are coming to life and finding a home in my unique and non-traditional classroom.“

Chelsey has implemented my First Four Minute routine into her classroom and it has been a game-changer for her, too. The reason it’s working is because we took the concept and customized it into a routine that works in her classroom and in her situation.

That’s what I do now – I help teachers create and implement a successful First Four Minute routine that helps them take today’s students and get them ready to focus and learn so they can teach content and not spend their energy “controlling their classroom.”

If you are a music teacher who is already running a successful program but needs an easier, more effective, and reliable way to keep kids’ attention and focus without having to give constant reminders, (you know what I’m talking about…”put away your phone”, “trumpets – stop talking”, “percussionists, wake up and pay attention”, etc.) then I’d like to talk to you.

I am looking for a small group of dedicated music teachers who have a 2020 VISION of taking their already good program to the next level by learning and implementing a strategy that will fundamentally up-level their teaching.

Because we are kicking off a new decade, I am offering a 50% tuition discount to anyone who schedules a strategy session with me by January 5. I am interested in working with teachers who are highly motivated to get results and who are open to achieving them in unconventional ways.

If you know you have a lot to teach your students and want to spend more time teaching and less time re-teaching and managing your classroom, I can help you!

Click the link below and let’s talk about your situation. If I can help, I will offer to do so. If I can’t help, I will be honest with you so you don’t waste your time or money.

Are you going to up-level in 2020? I’m with you on the journey. Schedule a call and let’s get started!

Hugs – Lesley

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