Anderson Violin Studio

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Hyrum, UT
Anderson Violin Studio

Suzuki violin teacher who loves mindset work, self awareness, and creating joyful musical experiences

01/19/2024

This year one of my goals is to get better at the piano so I can accompany my beginning students. It’s hard for me to find accompanists for recitals let alone group class. Part of it’s organizational on my part— contacting someone early enough, sending all the music to them etc. The other factor is being able to afford paying for each student, having them find their own accompanist, or charging them an accompanying fee.

My mom was a piano teacher growing up. My sister has her bachelors in piano performance. I took lessons with her at different times and took a group piano class in college. One of the things that has surprised me is that I actually am not as terrible as I remember. It’s fascinating to be both an amateur and have all this musical knowledge. I see theory principles when I practice. I can play 4 songs in Book 1 so far. I’m hoping by the end of the year I can play all the songs in Book 1.

10/20/2023

I’ve been claiming my teaching money on taxes for about 8 years now, but I didn’t think of myself as a business owner until this year! 🫣 I think many teachers end up feeling the same with their studios! Changing how I think about managing my studio has almost doubled my income the last few months, so I needed a better strategy for handling my business income. I have always liked personal finance and finally decided to put to use some of the knowledge I have to my business.

10/18/2023

Have you ever thought about how much you talk in your lessons? Having simple phrases in your back pocket is so important! I’ve always had a tendency to get a little wordy. I have to consistently remind myself that less is more! I learned this phrase from SAA teacher trainer Susan McDonald. I can’t tell you how much I use this with students of every age! As an added bonus, having the student learn to observe themselves leads to greater independence.

10/05/2023

Hello again! At the beginning of the year I went all in on content creating. It was much more time consuming than I imagined and I needed a season of rest. I’m ready to be back and interact with all the lovely humans in this space. 💛

One of the things I love about the changing seasons is the reminder that we can’t hold on to continual growth. There are always going to be seasons where we have time to rest.

Recently I had a student who I thought was doing well. Her mom called and we talked about how this student was doing. She was experiencing a lot of anxiety and not good enough when practicing. They were considering taking a break from lessons. We talked through how to best support the student together. We decided on a course correction to include more fun. Just this week they requested that we focus more on review and add less new things. I was so grateful that this mom and I have a good enough relationship to help meet this student where she will thrive.

06/20/2023

I had a hard time managing my contact point until my college teacher helped me refine my tactile knowledge of the bow highway. Reflecting on that, I know my most effective tool for improvement was my eyes.

From the first time the bow touches their instrument, I try to direct my student’s eyes towards their bow. I learned “eyes on bow, ears on fingers” from SAA teacher trainer Susan McDonald. It was so easy to integrate into my own teaching and is always a direct and neutral instruction to students.

05/01/2023

A sweet, surprise gift from one of my students today.

I’m being reminded lately that it’s okay to be who you are. Who you are is exactly who your student might need. It also goes the other way. When a student is a good fit for how I teach, there is a tangible difference in the quality of our lessons. I leave those lessons feeling refreshed and joyful about teaching. So be who you are and work with people who bring you joy. The people who are meant for you will find you if you put yourself out there. 🥰

04/20/2023

You’ve gone to your lesson, get home and have no idea what your teacher expects you to do. Now what??

Hopefully that won’t happen, but if it does, this post is for you!

04/18/2023

My childhood teacher had an award for those who practiced a year or more without missing a day. My plaque says 7 years. It was a commitment. Christmas, birthdays, vacations, we did it every day. I remember when I just needed to be done. With that tiny break in mental commitment, I had a harder time ever since then practicing consistently! I don’t think it’s necessarily healthy to practice every day forever. I think it’s okay to take breaks, but defining the break is also important.

What do you think? Is daily practice a must?

04/17/2023

Choosing to practice should be easy, right? It’s what you signed up for with music lessons.

If that were true, we would all eat healthy, exercise multiple times a week, and get everything on our to do list done. No forgotten laundry piles, doom scrolling, or late night snacks.

I have struggled with practicing for a long time. Even as a college student. Even as a professional. It’s still a form of work! And no one is perfect at getting work done all the time, even if it’s something you’re passionate about. I think empathizing with the struggle can be the first step to helping with parent/child conflict. What helps you or your child practice?

Watch for more on this practicing series this week!

04/13/2023

If you’ve been around for the last few months, you might remember I’m currently training for a relay race. I have to run 16.6 miles over 36 hours. There’s some breaks, but that’s a pretty daunting task for me. I was talking to my aunt who is an experienced runner and was telling her I was worried about being ready. She looked over my training plan— which I got from the race website— and told me it was a terrible plan. It wasn’t going to work. I was immediately panicking. I only have four weeks left. So, I’ve found a new training plan recommended by several runner friends.

I think this can also relate to choosing a teacher. Some inexperienced teachers will teach with no long term plan beyond “the student gets better by playing harder pieces.” There’s no real plan though to get them from twinkle to Book 2, for example. I used to be there. You may trust someone because they have a degree or x number of years of experience. Those things don’t always make someone as an expert.

If you aren’t sure what the plan is for your student, it never hurts to get curious. Need help defining what the plan should be and you’re a teacher? I would invest in teacher training. Are you a parent? I would suggest asking the teacher what their vision is for your child while also thinking about what you want from your child’s musical education.

03/30/2023

When I was preparing for my senior recital, I came to a point where I knew all the notes to my concerto and it was in good technical shape. But my teacher told me it didn’t sound like it had direction or that I had a clear idea of what I wanted to say. I had worked hard to get my piece there and was a little exasperated with this feedback. I decided to listen to lots of different recordings as a form of study. I came back a week or two later (I don’t remember the exact timeframe) and my teacher said that I now had a vision for the piece. He asked me what I had done differently. The only thing was listening.

It’s easy to underestimate the power of listening. Especially when you’re tired of listening to the same things over and over. You can always try something new while listening. Here are a few ideas:
- a new performer
- new instrument
- follow along with the music
- dance in the character of the piece
- pretend you’re conducting

03/18/2023

I grew up not thinking much of myself or my ability. There were lots of kids who were better than me. I desperately wanted to believe in myself, but didn’t really feel like I had a reason to. I still remember the lesson where my college teacher told me he believed I could be a professional musician. Not only that, but exactly the kind of musician I wanted to be. It changed everything for me. I worked harder than I ever had before in my life. No one had ever expressed that kind of belief in my ability before.

It’s great to believe in yourself, but sometimes you need other people to believe in you too. Revisiting Suzuki philosophy as an adult helped me to look back on my experiences as a child and pick through what was helpful and unhelpful for mindset. I take that into each of my lessons so that I can give the best to my students. I study pedagogy so that my students can do whatever they want to do.

What do you hope your student takes from studying music? Or studying with you as a teacher?

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Hyrum, UT

Website

https://andersonviolinstudioutah.duetpartner.com/home

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