5 Things I’m Loving This Week–March 4, 2016

This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher Blog on March 4, 2016 so links and resources may not be current.

Remember last week, when I said the boys were sick?  Well, now I’m sick.  Super stuffy nose.  I’m a mess, but I really don’t want to cancel students.  I always feel like they get so derailed if we skip a week of lessons!  What do you do when you have a cold?  Skype lessons?  I’d love to know, please share in the comments.

But don’t worry, I wasn’t going to skip my round-up of violin teaching tips, tricks, and resources from the around the web!  It’s one of the highlights of my week.

1.  I really enjoyed the resources shared by Paula Bird in her recent blog post.  I especially recommend listening to her blogcast, “Let’s Get Ready to Play.”  I love to hear/see how teachers interact with their students.  It’s invaluable information!
2. Alan Duncan’s blog posts on The Suzuki Experience are always so great.  I especially appreciated this one, here’s my favorite quote, “It’s hard to be greedy and grateful at the same time.”  Since my one-word-theme for 2016 is gratitude, this really spoke to me.  I realized that sometimes I need to step back and take the 30,000 foot view with my students and just appreciate how far they’ve come, and maybe not push SO hard all the time.
3. This video short on “From the Top” made me laugh out loud.  So funny, have you seen it?  Do you have students who make weird faces while they play?
4. I don’t know what it is, but I think I have a student with a broken arm almost 75% of the year, so I really loved this post on Claire Allen’s blog about what to do with violin students when they have a broken arm.  What are your strategies for these times?
5. I haven’t printed mine yet, but I am so excited to use these Composer Trading Cards with my students.  I think they will work best for the 7-11 crowd.

Do you have a music teaching blog?  I would love to read it, I just can’t get enough!  Share your blog in the comments so I can check it out!