Mentoring has always been a word that I’ve used to describe my heart for music lessons at our studio, as well as my personal life mission. I often come back to this word to really check in and ask myself what it means. Also, to ask myself if I am really applying the passion I have for mentoring into my daily tasks and lessons with my students. I know that if you were sitting down with me face to face sipping on coffee and asked me, “Hey, what is this goal of mentoring all about – are you actually doing it?” my answer would be – “Absolutely”. However, that is just my feelings, and putting this into words is different. So, the words below are an attempt to prove to myself that I am living up to my goal of making mentoring a priority. And beyond myself, helping the people I lead to make mentoring a priority in their music lessons as well.
A good place for me to start is by giving you my personal definition of what mentoring means to me. I would summarize mentoring as “making time to connect on a personal or deep level with the intent of future growth.” Sometimes this looks like really focusing on a vocal song during a students music lessons. Sometimes this looks like working towards a student’s dream of getting a part in a musical. However, my long term goal is that these opportunities lead us to discussions about the deeper fears and truths that would give a student confidence during these events.
One current example of this definition is a vocal student I have been working with that performed at Loveland Stars of Tomorrow. She had a goal of performing without accompanying herself on piano – which meant she needed to think through how to express herself with her arms and her body movement. This goal brought us to the deeper question during her music lessons of “what kind of performer do you want to be?” We also talked about what she wanted to communicate about who she was as a singer and performer.
Another deep conversation came about as a younger student was preparing to perform for the same show during her music lessons. We talked about her fear of making a mistake with the words or choreography. To help her overcome this fear, we drew amateur stick figure drawings to represent positive images she could picture while performing. By the end of the lesson she was giggling and performing her song better than she had done any previous lesson! Then, at the Loveland Stars of Tomorrow I brought positive quotes and reminders for her to think about while she was waiting back stage. I was so proud of her determination to overcome her fears! I love this process of helping students answer the real life questions and discover who they are through these performing opportunities.
Another good way for me to grade myself on how I’m doing with mentoring is how I respond to the question “How did your music lessons go today?” This is a question I usually get asked by family and friends. I’ve been challenging myself to think through each lesson that day and grade it based on how connected the student felt to me and how well I connected them to their goals. Some days I have to answer with truth that a student may have left discouraged or frustrated. However, I can usually look at my lessons with my students and say that we ended feeling motivated and connected. I’ve also learned to watch them as they are walking away from the studio. Maybe they are feeling discouraged about something they were not able to explain to me and I can connect with them, or a parent, later in the week to follow up. In short, I’m trying to be a student of my music students and study them to see what they need – not what I think they need. Then, when I’m asked how my music lessons went that day, I can say with honesty that I’m doing all I can to truly connect with each student.
So, that is my thoughts on mentoring. However, I really wanted this post to show that we have a team of music teachers at our Loveland studio that also love mentoring. When I talked with our voice teacher Abbie about her definition of mentoring she described it as: “being on your student’s side and helping them grow in their strengths and weaknesses.” One of her examples of working on this with her students was making time in each lesson for mini pep talks. She uses Pinterest boards or a quote of the week to reinforce a positive concept that they are discussing. In general, she knows how much confidence affects how a student performs and auditions and she is committed to helping them build a sense of worth into how they perform their music. This heart is why I love having Abbie teach voice lessons at the studio! She resonates with our big picture goal.
When I talked with our guitar and piano teacher Nathaniel his definition of mentoring is “letting someone discover something unique about themselves”. He believes he can help students do this by knowing how to practice correctly with motivational direction during their music lessons. For example, he is having his piano student Natalie work on a Mozart Sonata that requires a great amount of conscientiousness to bring out the details. With Natalie’s previous practice methods, the piece was overwhelming and boring. So he went over principles of good practice mindsets and tempo discipline over a period of two lessons. On the third lesson she came back excited saying that she was having so much fun with her Sonata. Having understood a new way of approaching practice, Natalie discovered that challenging pieces can be enjoyable to learn.
As a director, it is so meaningful for me to see each music student get one on one attention and a lesson that is specifically catered to their goals. It is these connections that make my job less of a job and more of a life passion.