The Dynamic Studio

by Philip A. Johnston

How to keep students, dazzle parents, and build the music studio everyone wants to get into.

Practice Revolution author Philip Johnston looks at 93 different elements of traditional music teaching that are desperately in need of an update for today's students.

From motivation systems to resourcing, repertoire selection to to the practice treadmill, unconventional scheduling to simply how to make a studio more fun, The Dynamic Studio is another explosion of ideas from the world’s best known writer on music teaching.

Find out more at www.thedynamicstudio.com or see tours of all of Philip Johnston’s books at his main site at www.insidemusicteaching.com.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Business

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 27, 2012

Reviews

[Devin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notes:
The kids today are students for whom traditional music lessons are too structured, too gradual, too slow to be a long term option. We cannot continue to teach the same way were taught, because the student we're working with are not simply more contemporary versions of what we once were (9). The consequences of replication is to create a studio that is essentially static (10). Preserving what has gone before doesn't make sense when the old approach is not working with new students.
*It's YOUR studio. YOU decide what happens. You're not a slave to tradition, or a studio policy, or what others teach do or have been doing for the past decades (13).

Start assembling YouTube playlists of the best theory explanations you've found online, so students can effectively cover it themselves (16). Seamlessly integrate it with your student's instrumental studies.
-Have every month sponsored by a different theory topic (use with newsletter)ex: March is about Key Signatures, April is about Intervals, etc. (17).
-Make 10 minutes of theory an elective, for those who actively choose a theory supplement to their lesson

What drives practice sessions are the verbs. You're looking for words like "prepare" and "polish" "learn" and "speed up". These verbs inform what music students do. Send students home each week with a limited pool of verbs, and you're setting them up for repetitive grinding practice. (29)
-Have students "record" a note-perfect but half speed version of a section and then email it before the lesson Every fresh verb will prompt different behavior from the student (30). ***"Face-to-face teaching is mostly about the choice of adjectives and preparation about verbs." The static Studio is on the lookout for new pieces students could be learning. Dynamic Studio is on the lookout for new ways students could be working.

-Medley, which they create, built from excerpts of every piece they've done so far this year
-Piece which they need to practice with the specific aim of having the resultant performance take exactly 42 seconds
-piece where you've whited out every 4th measure or the ending (32).
Learn a carefully selected (not so hard) passage of an otherwise incredibly difficult piece that only the most advanced students can play

Studio that has every student making their own annual recording; another that posts videos of performances of each completed piece to the studio website; another that has students composing pieces for each other
-Play music from the movies (38)

I start the tune-you finish it game
-Their own variation on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star(62)

There can be much more to running a teaching studio than teaching people how to play their instrument. Offering beyond your own areas of expertise (81).
Bring in another expert so the student can learn from them.

*Make a scale competition; a sport students try to outdo each other in a series of technical work trials that go way beyond what students would be asked to do normally (85). The technical work can assessed for 1. reliability-the student's ability to produce it flawlessly on demand, or many times in a row, or in a high pressure situation; 2. Raw Tempo- with students rewarded for being able to beat personal bests or other students or bench-marked targets; 3. Versatility-students might need to delivery technical work using challenging rhythms, or confusing dynamic schemes, eyes closed, inconveniently placed accents (1st, 4th, etc.)

Zero-Help Workshops- students attending perform works that they've learned from scratch with no input from you whatsoever. The expectation is not that such performances would be just as good as if your help had been available (that would not be a good advertisement for continuing lessons), but to provide powerful evidence to students and parents alike that the lessons are heading in the right direction. 'Just listen to what your child is now able to produce all by themselves...' (88).

A student that's even moderately inconvenient is a student you're much more likely to lose (95).

Like any good host, you're anticipating the needs of your guest and making sure everything is to hand-make them feel welcome, and they'll want to stay (114). A good test (117)? If the parent parent is falling asleep during the lesson, it's not a sign that you're dull. It's a sign you've done a great job in making their little space homely. Unhappiness with any element of their lessons inevitably-and logically-manifests as unhappiness with you (120).
What in your studio, could you give students control over? How much more invested in their progress, and the studio itself,might they be if they had more input? (121) When giving the students options, ask yourself (123): Are some of them an until-it's-done kind of module? What does "done" look like? What will their practice look like? With this, you're getting insights into what sorts of lessons they enjoy most (124).

Present new pieces in the best light possible with recordings available for them to hear and a way for them to preview the score (125).

Create a scale of Workload Intensity. The idea is that any week that is rated as a "1" is very light, while a "10" is all stops out, cancel everything, no time-for-meals-or-sleep, this week is all about music. The existence of the scale doesn't change reality at all, it just gives teacher and student a common language to start accommodating it with (128).
You can have a similar scale for How Fired Up Are you Still About This Piece (130). When that sore hits 2 or 3, you have to know, and you might now if you don't actively fish for it.

Forget about dictating how much and what, and simply to give students a desired outcome:
Your Goal: to be able to start next lesson by playing F Major scale three times in a row, clean, correct fingering, eight notes at _tempo. And if you want Student of the Week points? 5 times in a row at _. 1 bonus point for every _ over that! (142-143)
Or: Next lesson starts with a test that you need to be ready for (144).

*The big enemy of student retention is universal solutions forced onto a studio of individual needs (145).


A lot of studios will have a Student of the Week type award, a comprehensive record of student achievement will allow you have Breakthroughs of the Week instead:
-10 Lessons in a row without forgetting any books
-Scales Challenge: Level 3 complete!
-1st Public Performance
-Tempo Breakthrough
-YouTube Performance
Focus is on the achievement themselves, rather than the names of the students who earned them (154).

Single document Written reports for students, compiling the triumphs, concerns, insights, and breakthroughs of the year for parents to read (162).


Increase the perceived cost of leaving your studio or activity to ensure that parents and students have a compelling picture of the future they would forgo were they to pull the plug. Leaving is not free. The cost is that their kids will miss out on this and that and those things (168).
You can do this by: getting students to listen to pieces that they haven't played yet, but will at some point in the future; you've got the student visualizing that future (169). Have a playlist that reflects both what they're doing now, and what's going to be possible for them in the future; name the playlist after the student. Set up competitions that are focused on rewarding students for identifying what they're hearing.


**Whether it seems like trivia or not, if it's important enough to the student for them to be telling you about it in the first place, it's important enough to make a note of (184). A Dynamic Studio will have space set aside for What This Student is Proud Of. It has significant effect because it's an adult in the student's life making them feel important (185).
The Static Studio will patiently listen when students talk about their other talents. The Dynamic Studio seeks out, files away and reuses the information (186).

Exaggerate dynamics ex: pppppppps (191)
Upload a video of a performance on your YouTube channel (192).
Students who think they're nothing special have no special reason to stay (193). The Dynamic Studio can't afford to relax on this critical issue until every student has a legitimate reason to be proud. Create an annual portrait of the Ideal Student; a montage assembled from the best of what each student offers. Ex: the posture of Alex, the patience of Simone; the scales and technical work mastery of Sachin, etc.
*The more links a student has to your studio, the more ties they actually have to cut to leave, and therefore the more painful leaving actually becomes (195). But not all praise is equal, nor so readily dismissible (198). If you've ever been in the the right place at the right time to accidentally overhear someone saying nice things about you- when it was clear that they didn't realize you were party to the conversation- you'll understand. There is no more credible, effective or adhesive praise than that which was never intended to be heard (199).

Your studio shouldn't just be a great place to have lessons, it should be a fun place to spend time (213). Pieces that gratuitously highlight an usual technique (glissandi, snap pizzicato, etc.) can be a lot of fun for both performer and audience, while also giving you something engaging to talk about in the introduction. (215).

Have a huge box of lego in your studio, which students use to add to a communally-built and increasingly epic model (217). How many pieces does a student get to add after their lesson? That depends...how much did they impress you?

Have your studio collectively create a story; each student must add one sentence at the end of their lesson (218). Read out the completed story for the first time at your studio recital, and note just how warm the entire room feels in response.

Practice challenges drawn from a hat or unwrapped, like presents, before each practice session (226).

The idea behind earnable awards is that eligibility is clearly defined, and then any student who ticks all the necessary boxes will become automatic recipient. You can dial up or down the perceived value not by limiting supply, but by controlling how demanding those qualifications are. Ex: an award that focuses on public performance-as soon as a student has participated in 10 recitals, they might receive a Recital Veteran award. Or there might be an award similarly focused on practice, available to anyone who turns up to 12 lessons in a row with everything asked for prepared. Or another for technical work that students can earn by being able to play a set list of scales at a set tempo (231). These awards are available to anyone who completes all the checkpoints in the race (232). In that way, your students aren't divided into winners and losers; they're split into "have earned the reward" and "haven't earned the reward yet." Offer a wide variety of awards that cater to a range of skills, and parents will know that your studio values accommodating and developing individual strengths; offer just a few, but in great depth, and parents will assume your studio is the place to go to master those particular elements (233). So defining Awards is as much a strategic decision dictating how your studio to be perceived as it is laying the foundations for studio retention; the two are, of course, closely linked.
Award criteria might be: Any student who turns up to an entire Semester of lessons without being late once. The reward might be: goes in the draw to receive a 25% fee discount next semester (234).

The awards need titles that in of themselves generate excitement and suggest progression; the criteria need to leave students clear on exactly what's required; the very first award needs a low and readily achievable qualification mark, so participants can taste early success; and thereafter, there needs to be a series of upgrades available that become exponentially more difficult (237).
It's important not to make the first award too hard to get. Challenging, but accessible, with not too much time between started playing and earned your very first reward.
Ex: Key Signature Award-to have 90%or more on the Official Studio Key signature Challenge Sheet Level 1 (Tests up to 3 sharps and flats); Correctly identify the key signatures of 15 randomly chosen works (again, up to three sharps and flats) (238).
Post the achievement somewhere prominent for all to see (239). And then immediately issue them with a chance to upgrade.
Upgrade paths: A Score 100% on a sheet that tests all key signature of 100 randomly chosen works in any key; and pass a timed key signature quiz (there are online versions of these quizzes for free at InsideMusicTeaching.com).

Encourage Performance experience by scoring one point for every person who hears them play their piece, so the biggest the audience, the more points they can rack up (241). A performance for their family might earn them 5 points. If they play it for their classes at school, they might earn 28 points. Mandate a minimum amount of points that they should earn before they even think about playing these pieces in that big competition or exam, or your showcase end of year recital, for that matter.

Make sure your studio logo or name is prominent enough to be read from a few feet away-remember, these Awards are likely to go on the student's fridge, or be taken in to school for show and tell, and you should not miss the opportunity for a little promotion (246). There are predesigned certificate templates freely available at InsideMusicTeaching.com or you can you a specialized design program like Adobe's Indesign and produce it yourself.
If you want your students to take the awards seriously, you need to be seen to be taking them seriously (249). Put it in your studio Newsletter, post it on your webpage (250) to make the accolade public, and hold an Awards Night.

Feature (very) selected performances of students in your studio on your own YouTube Video Channel. Perhaps the biggest impact the Channel will have is as a meaningful reward for deserving students. With you being picky about what makes the cut, and the Channel being viewable by anybody on the planet, having a performance listed on your Youtube channel is an accolade any student will be product of: you're not just telling them 'well done,' you're telling them that they're worthy of being an example (260).
You can also simply record your student playing, and then you can both sit back, listen, and come up with recommendations together (261).

You can create your own method books using a print-on-demand service like MagCloud or CreateSpace, "there's almost no cost in producing the book in the first place- the only cost would be to the students as they order their own copy " (270).

"Your studio will not be greater than the skills available to power it." (276)

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a different day! As we recognize the times they are a changin'... So is our fresh approach to piano teaching! The author captures the vision perfectly here! Get a breakthrough on the old, static way we do things to springing forward to having a dynamic studio. When this goal grabs ahold of you, engaging students will become the main focus here. My favorite line in the book, "It's your studio; you decide what happens." You'll come away with a feeling of being recharged as you change things around in your studio. Get the book. It doesn't disappoint! Your passion for teaching will continue to soar and your teacher-student relationships will grow successfully in helping them to enjoy all kinds of music their entire lives! I found The Dynamic Studio to be a positive, refreshing change for piano teachers!

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for any studio owner (music, dance, etc.)!