Anyone with palmar HH ever do a musical exam or performance?

[dpr]

dpr, the deydral cream definitely did turn my hands yellow as hell. but it's totally worth it for me...

Cool man thanks for all the info. Yeah I'm in Canada. I had my girlfriend look it up at the pharmacy she works at and she says there are no recorded side effects for it. And man, if it gets my hands dry and someone points out my yellow hands I will most likely be so happy that my hands are dry I will shake their hand and tell them about Dehydral lol

Weird thing though... I assumed it was called Dehydral because it "DEHYdrates" your skin, but my girl told me she read something about it in her pharmacy log about it containing formalDEHYde. Makes me a bit wary of putting it on my skin, but she called the company and said she is supposed to get the full info (pamphlet and everything) next week.

 

[dpr]

Hey, this isn't entirely relevant but you mentioned that you teach. I play piano, got my abrsm grade 8 (same as an rcm 10 i think?)
I'd love to teach but I've not done much about it cos I'd be so shy and awkward starting out. Dunno how I'd manage a kinda authorative role. Just wondering how you went about it really.. any tips?

Yeah I hear ya for sure. Well basically, I do what I've done for the whole time I've had my SA, I force myself to talk to people and I try my best to be "normal" without being "fake," if that makes sense. But in a world where everyone is trying to make you "normal," it sure does suck sometimes.

I don't know what abrsm is. Whereabouts do you live? Here in Canada it goes from Introductory Grade to Grade 10 and then goes to ARCT and then you're done. I hate the RCM anyway lol... so rigid and uncreative making you jump through all the required hoops and what not.

It's kind of weird being in an authoritative role, but it feels good in a way, because right off the bat, it's like you "deserve" respect, you know?

Talking to my students' parents is still kind of weird, keeping eye contact and what not. I've been doing it for four years now and the same thoughts still run through my mind at times, "They think I'm weird" and/or "They think I'm an incompetent teacher, they're going to take their kid out of lessons and tell my boss I'm a weirdo," but of course none of these things ever happen, it's just my own little realm of self-sabotage.

Talking to my co-workers was nerve-wracking at first, until I realized that most all musicians are weird in some way lol... seriously you should meet some of the people I work with. It puts me at ease, knowing I'm not the oddest one of the bunch.

But the students are great. The teenagers love you cuz you're the "cool, older teacher" and some of them are really smart with a lot to say. And the little kids, well to them you are a god! The conversations with the little kids are my favorite. So randomly disjointed. They tell you what they ate for breakfast or where they went on the weekend and then ask you what your favorite tv show is all in the same sentence. lol

I don't know, those aren't very good tips I guess. I actually got the job through a friend who I used to be in a band with. He worked there and recommended me, so I was pretty much just given the job. A good thing is that the boss isn't really watching over you. It's just you and a student in a room, so you don't have to worry too much about "performing well" in front of the boss, if you know what I mean. You eventually just develop a routine. Especially for beginners. When I have a pure beginner now, it's just total routine (i.e. "Hi Billy, first I'm going to go over the different parts of the guitar... now we're going to learn our first chord... now let's talk about the treble clef...etc.)

And when the students work pays off and they finally perfect something they've worked long and hard at, it's such a great feeling.

I am actually quitting this job soon (no money in it and I need to move out of my parents' house or I'll kill myself) and I am truly going to miss my students. I'm really sad about it. It's a great job, though. Really rewarding. If it paid better and offered benefits, I'd do it forever. I am still thinking of opening my own studio once I save up some money.

You should try it if you already have the qualifications. You would love it!

 

[moodygoo]

thanks for the replying
I guess I knew it'd just be a case of being brave and gradually getting used to it, just sometimes can't help thinking it's entirely out of the question for me. Was the first ever lesson really weird? I'm 19 and don't feel at all adult enough to teach but i know people younger than me have.
So you're employed by an agency or something? I never thought about that I thought most piano teachers had to advertise themselves, guess I could look into it.
Abrsm is a British thing, theres grades 1 to 8 then some diplomas. pretty much the same i think.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[dpr]

thanks for the replying
I guess I knew it'd just be a case of being brave and gradually getting used to it, just sometimes can't help thinking it's entirely out of the question for me. Was the first ever lesson really weird? I'm 19 and don't feel at all adult enough to teach but i know people younger than me have.
So you're employed by an agency or something? I never thought about that I thought most piano teachers had to advertise themselves, guess I could look into it.
Abrsm is a British thing, theres grades 1 to 8 then some diplomas. pretty much the same i think.
Thanks for the advice.

Well yeah, it's a studio, its called Walters Music Studio, and they employ a bunch of teachers for different instruments. So there's piano teachers, voice teachers, sax, flute, clarinet, etc.

I think the people who put ads in the paper are the people who teach from home. My teacher teaches from home but he's somewhat famous in classical guitar circles so he doesn't even need to post ads in papers really.

Well my very first lesson, honestly I can't remember it. I think my first day I had to do five or six half-hour lessons with different aged kids and I think there was one adult. I always like kids better than teaching adults because I feel more "in control" like they are less likely to question my teaching methods and stuff.

But yeah I didn't know what I was doing at first.

It's really easy though... so if it's a pure beginner, like say the student has never even sat down at the piano before... you might want to go over the parts of the piano, explain how the strings and hammers work and all that... then teach them some notes on the staff and then the right hand (it's right hand first, correct? i dunno)... and then send them home with a little song to do from a method book. Like Hal Leonard or Alfred's or whatever book you started with.

If the student has played before (like taken lessons at another school or is self-taught), then that's even easier. Just tell the student to play you his/her best piece. Then assess their skill level, maybe give them advice on their technique or whatever, and assign them some homework from there.

I always give each student a dictation book, so every class I can write down the date and what I assigned them to practice. That way, they come back next week and I just look in the book so I know what to tell them to play for me. It works much better for me being organized like that.

And if the student practices, the lessons really do fly by. The students who don't... it's kind of a slow crawl through hell, but it's still challenging because you're just trying to find out how to motivate them, you know?

 

[moodygoo]

Thanks a lot I want to teach even more now I don't know of anywhere that'd hire me like that so I'll probably just put some ads around and teach from my house.
I remember my teacher giving me a book like that to write stuff in when I started. I hated it though cos I just wanted to play the pieces I knew over and over and forget about scales. >_< lol

 

[dpr]

Just give some resumes to some studios, there must be some music stores in your area. A lot of stores that sell musical instruments also give music lessons, so they would most likely be looking for teachers.

Teaching at home is cool and something I really want to do (mainly because I would be able to pick and choose my students, get rid of the ones who don't practice, etc.), but I have to move out of my parents' house first.

You may find it better working for a studio, just based on the fact that if a student or parent of a student fails to make their monthly payments and "skips out" on the bill, you will still get paid (by the studio, who will send the student's bill to a collection agency). I'd imagine teaching from home, it may be hard to enforce stuff like this. Of course, the studio takes money from you for each lesson, that's why I want to teach from home eventually. Right now my studio charges $23 per half hour and I only get $10 of it! Plus I am contract (like most music teachers) and get no benefits.

If I taught on my own I could charge say $15 per half hour and it would be all mine!

Hope this helps, good luck!