Ep. 9 - Supercharge Your Program With Private Lessons

Want to free up your time and focus on the things only you can do, all while having your students continue to improve? Tune in to hear the Team discuss how to hire, retain, evaluate, and (if necessary), fire, private lesson teachers. Doug, Patricia, and Zach draw on their experiences and share practical tips about how to successfully implement and run a private lesson program. Whether you've got an army of teachers or are starting from scratch, this episode will help you attain, and maintain the next level for you and your students!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Greetings and salutations, friends, and welcome back to the Team East Loscast, episode nine. My name is Doug Bush, and today I'm joined by Patricia Eastloss and Zach Scheer. And this podcast is for anyone looking to better themselves in percussion education. Private lessons. I would go as far as to say private lessons are an invaluable part of not only a successful percussion program, but they're also an invaluable tool in making your life as a percussion director or band director easier. Amen. You have some thoughts on private lessons you'd like to share?

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Yes, I do. Talk about doing what you can do and saving uh the rest for other people. Private lessons are an excellent way to uh spread the workload if you have one or maybe several people that you can hire that you can trust. Um coming from someone, a little uh unknown fact maybe, I have only in my entire career done music-related jobs. I have never wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

You didn't mow yards?

SPEAKER_00 1:32

I have never mowed a yard. No, I did not do that. You didn't work at Sonic? Nope. The second I graduated from high school, I was teaching lessons and I've been doing that forever. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Uh so I feel like uh I can speak to this with some experience. Um but one of the values of having uh a strong lesson program or strong lesson teachers is that they can reach students, uh, especially uh the the weakest students or students that may have issues developing skills that may you feel a little bit vulnerable about. Um they can reach those students in a very personal way uh that will allow them to make strides and build more confidence that you can't do in an ensemble setting or you can't do in a classroom setting. Um and then on the other extreme, you have the potential to push students who are at the top of the program in ways that are gonna be appropriate for them and get them excited so you can extend the upper level of what your program looks like. Um and then another really valuable uh asset to having a strong lesson program is you have teachers, as long as you build a relationship, you have teachers on your side that can further to support um whatever focuses you want to have throughout the year. Um so, Mr. Shearer, you want to talk a little bit about how you set up that program?

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Yeah, absolutely. Um I think, you know, Missy Sloss, when you were talking, I I was thinking of the term force multiplier. Like lessons are a force multiplier. Yeah. Right? Um not only can they lessen the workload that you have as the uh person in charge, but they can actually amplify and do things that you, even if you are the best percussion director in the history of teaching, um, you'll be better with private lesson teachers.

SPEAKER_03 3:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Because if if you don't have lesson teachers, then the only time the kids are getting better, or the only time the kids are receiving instruction is when you are teaching them.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Um so even if not all of your students are taking lessons, even if your private lesson teacher maybe is someone who's not quite up to the standard you want them to be, or you're working with them to get there, it's still better than having no one. Right. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah, and and and uh I I would go as far as saying, you know, we're we come from a very privileged area in Texas where it's somewhat common to have lesson teachers. And, you know, we've worked with these studios where sometimes the entire studio is in lessons, but we've also been to these places and heard these stories where it's like, oh man, maybe only a handful of kids can afford lessons or can come to lessons or do this or that. I would still argue, even if it is a single child in the program that's in lessons, like that that is uh helping immensely through um, you know, the the the the rest of the thing. So I've heard that sometimes before where it's like people, band directors or percussion directors kind of bail on the lesson thing a little bit because it's like, oh man, I'd only have two or three kids in it. Man, even if that's all it is, that's two or three kids that are better, and then their influence and the things they're gaining. I can remember when I was young in high school, uh, the other really good drummer, he was in lessons I wasn't, and he learned something about paradidals that I had no idea. And when I walked in the band hall and he was playing, I was like, what is this? And then he shows it to me. So even if not every student is getting lessons, the students that are getting lessons are influencing the students that aren't getting lessons, right? Uh and then setting this up, do you think, Mr. Shear, there should be an interview uh process at all? And what would that look like?

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I'm always astonished uh when either I've been interviewed or and I've I've made this mistake myself, um, or I see other interview processes where the interview has nothing to do with what the person's actually gonna do. You know, so it's like I'm gonna hire a teacher, and in order to see if they're a good teacher, we're gonna sit down and talk.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

Yeah, it's like, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Well, but you're not hiring a talker, you're hiring a teacher. So um, first and foremost, yes, there should be an interview process. It should be set and it should be somewhat rigorous. Uh, I would absolutely have part of that interview process be you watching them teach a student. Yes. Yeah. Um, and even if it's just like you're grabbing Johnny, you know, out of his band class for 10 minutes and just going like, hey, work on his buzz rolls. It does, it doesn't have to be something elaborate, but I would want to see that person teach. Um I would also uh want to make my expectations clear to that person. Uh I think a good phrase here is to hire slow, fire fast. Uh we'll get to the firing later. Um, but um hiring slow, yeah. I I think an interview is important, at least one. I think that interview uh should have some in-depth conversations, uh, should have a teaching component. Um and uh like we said, you need to make your expectations clear. Uh this gets a little bit further into uh how to continue and maintain a good lesson program. But uh I think a good place to start is like, okay, it's an interview. I'm gonna make my expectations clear. Well, what are your expectations? Like what what are those? If you don't have those, that's okay. Now's you need to get them now. Um I would start with punctuality and professionalism.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

And maybe personality also. Yeah. Like here's kind of what I expect. Um and uh and then accountability moving forward is also very important. But before we get too far, uh, Mr. Bush, do you want to share your story about being interviewed at Capel and how that interview went?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

So not exactly the same as Miss C. Slus. I did work at Wendy's for, you know, when I was 16 to 17 and uh uh you know mowed a couple yards. But the vast majority of my life, uh my profession has been teaching and uh you know, teaching and arranging, and within teaching, the vast majority of that has been private lessons, and I've been very fortunate to teach all over the North Texas area for tons of different programs of uh, you know, that have been very successful and what have you. But I have never in my career had an interview from a head director. First off, I never had an interview from a head director that I can ever remember for any of the places I taught, except for Coppel. And when you walked in and Mr. Mason had that interview, uh, I think as maybe Mr. Shear alluded to in one of the earlier episodes, like his number one priority was the development of the individual musician. And this was reflected throughout the community by Coppel paid the most for private lesson. Like the private lesson rate was the highest, right? And the majority of other lesson teachers had their masters or their doctorates. They were, you know, for the trumpet and the uh tuba and clarinet or whatever. These were monster educators, and I can remember coming into the room and uh Mason laying this out for me. I'm gonna pay you more than anyone, and this is what you're gonna do. You are gonna show up on time, and if you don't, I will fire you. You are going to make the region a priority, and if the students don't do it well at region, I will fire you. Uh you're getting, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

As a man with some experience.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was very clear that he was gonna fire me. He wasn't holding up my end of the bargain. Uh, but in return, not only was I getting paid more than anywhere else I'd been, I was getting to work with uh students uh who were who were musically and I I guess I'd use the word professionally. Just like the professionalism, the the level uh of seriousness they took the lessons, like how prepared they showed up, like all this stuff was already in place. I didn't I didn't have to fight with any of the students. Like they they came in eager, excited, ready to go. Uh and um spoiler alert, I did not get fired. Yeah, you know what I mean? But I do, I did very, very much appreciate um the seriousness and the uh, you know, like I take this craft seriously, I take the student's education seriously. Clearly, this is important to him as well. And then I think that's reflected in kind of the excellence of of the plane.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Um And you know, I would I would say, Mr. Bush, there's probably listeners right now who are going, okay, that's great, Mr. Bush. You walked into a program because in all seriousness, um, that had been going on when you got there, right? This was probably my second or third year at Capel. Um and but that type of culture in the private lesson program had been going on since my wife was in high school there. Right. Like when I got to work at Capel, there were still some teachers who were there when she was there. Some of them are still there now. They're like an institution. But if I'm a percussion director, you know, um, that is at a school that has nothing like that, right? Okay, well, well, how do I start to create this? Well, what we're describing right here is not the whole picture, but it's part of it. Like that seriousness that you were treated with sent you. I mean, you're a great teacher and you already had this, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:49

It sets a very clear tone for the expectation of the teacher.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

Right, right. Like that teacher is like, oh, okay, they really value lessons here. Yep. I better make sure, even though you were already going to show up on time, like you're like, well, I really better be sure I show up on time now. Or or whatever. So I think, you know, treating it with that seriousness, just with the teacher first, like that starts to set the tone. If you're in a place where that tone is not set yet, there's your first step.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Yep. There's your first step.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

And it doesn't matter if it's Doug Bush or you know, somebody down the road who is the drummer at church and a part-time mechanic, and he's the only guy you can find in town to teach you know your private lesson student, like you can still treat it with the same professionalism and importance.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Yep, yeah, yeah. And and I I love that you use that word importance because that that's also what it did. It's you know, I say that story, and of course you're like, oh my gosh, that sounds so aggressive, that sounds so but after post that I felt important. Yes, I felt part of the team. Like when I would walk in, you know, the band director is acknowledging, and and and you know, that's something that uh Kim Shuttlesworth has continued with like I'll walk in to get a student, she'll be conducting the top band, and sometimes she'll put the baton down and look at me and smile and even talk to me, like the band's rehearsing, and just oh blah, blah, blah. You know, I I feel such an incredibly valued member of the team. And it's not just me. Uh, you know, Kim does that, Ms. Shuttlesworth does that with all the lesson staff, you know. You feel uh such a you feel important, you feel valued, you feel it's a place of home. And um, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Mr. Wynn, who takes that, I mean, this is to a hundred, right? You know, you never show up at Coppel, and Randy isn't warm, inviting, excited to see you, ready to work with you, eager to hear how the students are doing in lessons, eager to talk about the things that are going on with them. And um, those things, yes, getting paid uh more is is part of it for sure, absolutely. But I would take the cut and pay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Yeah, I think that's an important thing to address because you know, there are a lot of programs, there's probably a lot of educators that don't have the option to offer a really so-called competitive rate to potentially get really strong experienced lesson teachers. Um, but if that is the case, having an environment uh in which those teachers feel uh welcome to come and feel respected and feel like they're a part of the team is something that you can offer. I've been in both situations. I've been in situations where I've obviously at Kapel where I feel very integrated into the system and I know what the plan is and I know what the vibe is and uh I'm uh I'm greeted warmly and and and all of that. Um and I've also been in situations where uh I felt so much like an outsider. Uh moments where I was even uh mistaken for another student. You know, I might come in, I teach two lessons before school even starts. I might have not even really met the head band director. Uh, you know, maybe one time in passing, maybe they're not around, maybe they're taking care of stuff in the morning, and then they see me in a practice room waiting for a student, and they're like, oh, what are you doing here? You can't be here, right? Like I've had that experience too. And it makes it really hard for me to want to return to an environment like that where I feel like I'm an outsider and I don't know what's going on, even if I am being paid a competitive rate. But I have uh personally experienced wanting to drive an hour out of my way to go to Fourney High School from McKinney High School or from McKinney where we were living, and you know, the rate was similar to what I was getting in some of the other districts at the time. But because the people I was working with and the people I was working for were so uh respectful and integrated me into the team and were communicative in a very uh effective way, and then the students themselves were fun to teach. It was worth me uh going out of my way to uh get there and to make a have a more professional experience.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Absolutely. Shout out Mario Luna, shout out Shannon Jacobs, you know, and Shannon, I mean that's a perfect example. Uh I could be wrong, but I don't think Riley knew Shannon until he got the Giga Fourne. No, I don't think so. But those two are inseparable, monstrous powerhouse. And Riley clearly came in and recognized the value that Shannon was bringing the the program. And Shannon has uh recognized what it's like to be somewhere where they they value. And I mean, I think what they're doing out there is just outstanding and a really good example of how you can utilize the lesson teacher, you know, and a good thing there too that you might be able to speak is I and again, I don't want to speak for Riley or Shannon here, but I believe you know they complement each other in terms of their weaknesses and their strengths, which is a thing that's important to consider when you're being a lesson teacher. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

I'll just also say on your point, Miss Esau feeling valued. I've been on the opposite end of that before. I I will not say the names of these people, I love them all very much, but I really tried hard to get a private lesson teacher from another school one time who I was gonna pay him more and um give him more students. And uh I think the trajectory of what his students could do at the school at Capel was, you know, potentially like you could do some more competitive, uh, you know, more challenging things with the students at Cappel than where he was. And he told me no. And I was like uh upset by that. And I and I was like, man, if you don't ask me, if you don't mind me asking, this was after a while of like pursuing him, and I was like, if you don't mind me asking, why? Because to be honest, it doesn't really make sense. I'm gonna pay you more and our my program's better. And um and he was just like, man, they make me feel so valued.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

And and that and he said other things, but that was the gist of it. Yeah, and I was like, well, I can do that too. But but he he didn't want he did not want to take a chance. Yeah, he did not want to take a chance to leave. It was great, yeah. So um it's also a very, a very good strategy for retention.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Excellent strategy for retention. I think um there's also some important points to hit. Kind of we talked about the beginning. Okay, how do we get these people in, make this program serious? We talked about that also helps with retention, but in the middle there, like day to day, I want my private lesson program to be awesome. What does that look like? Okay, uh, we've mentioned regular communication with your teachers. Um, speaking to all the percussion directors out there, regular communication, that's a two-way street. That also means that means you talk, but then you also listen. Like, listen. And I know I'm probably guilty of Mr. Bush and Miss Esau probably have stories of me going like, hey, what's up? Okay, listen, I need you to do this, this, and this, and this, and then you're gonna go over here, and then I need to know how that kid's doing. Okay, blah, blah, blah. Bye. You know, it's like, so I'm talking to myself there, but regular communication, super, super important. Um, it means as uh rare as this may be, and as uh hard as this may be, having a regular system of accountability set up with your private lesson teachers. I am a firm believer, not because I'm an expert at it, but because I have the scars from not doing it. I am a firm believer in having regular performance evaluations with your private lesson teachers. Um we don't have metrics like in the private sector of like, you know, okay, you produced this much in sales this year or something. Like that's not what it's gonna be. But just things as basic as, okay, uh, this month have you been late? If the answer is no, awesome. Check the box for whatever, you know, A plus. Okay. Yeah. Um, this month, have I had any parent complaints that you're not handling payments well? Have I had any parent complaints that you, you know, heaven forbid, said something inappropriate in a lesson, or just like all these, they don't even have to be musical things, just these basic things. Um this kid that was right on the fence of making region, um, did they make it? If they did, awesome. If they didn't, that's not necessarily the private lesson teacher's fault, maybe, but regular performance evaluations where we are not afraid to say, hey, there are some things that are not working out well. Yeah. And I want to work with you. I want to hear from you if maybe there's something I can do to help you. But um, your private lesson teachers need to know where they stand. Are they like, man, I'm doing a great job. He's so glad I'm here. I'm, or man, I know that he's not happy with this. I need to make sure that I correct this in this area. That's just a good practice for people who work for you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

And it sounds all these things, it sounds like, man, we're we're wanting to hold these lesson guys to a really high standard. I mean, it's to me, that is the that is not the norm. The norm is usually can do you can you live, uh, yeah, or do you breathe? Do you do you own sticks? Okay, here's a list of kids, buy, right? You know, right. So um to get kind of these, you know, top quality educators that you're also gonna kind of potentially hold to this really high standard, uh, aside from you know, doing what you can to uh uh boost the lesson rate as much as possible. Are there any other incentives that you can kind of think of, Mr. Shear, you used over the years?

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Yeah, absolutely. I I'm gonna get really creative to make if I get, you know, uh Mr. Bush and Miss Islos walk in the door and I'm like, oh my gosh, these private lesson teachers are from heaven, you know, uh, how can I please keep them here? I'm gonna get real creative. I'm going to do everything I can. Like, well, first, I'm gonna listen and I'm gonna say, what else do you need to stay here and be happy here? Maybe it's, hey, you just don't have that many students. We need to make a little more money. Okay, cool. Do you wanna do you wanna uh judge our all region? Do you wanna teach the drumline camp? Judge the all-city auditions. Do you want to what like I'm I'm coming up with things? Do you want to teach the middle school percussion camp? What, whatever it is, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Um, I was I I know not to interrupt you, Mishir, but a big one for me that both Annie and Randy have continued, which is is important to me and super valuable, is when we started to move the drumline audition process, you uh you know, you were like, I can see your passion about this, and I want to give you a shot. You can do that the packet. Right? Yeah, and and that that is rare, you know. And again, you as the percussion guy, you might not be comfortable with that, and that's okay. But I'm just saying as an example, that is something that like um to this day, you know, it it brings me excitement to see the excitement Randy has when I'm like, hey, dude, I think I know the parodyal exercise this year. Yeah, and he, oh, what is it, you know? Uh but it goes both ways, right? He just like you makes such a warm, inviting environment that um I know my word is not final on that. I know I have great influence of, hey, this is what I'd like to do for the parodyal. But if Randy comes back and says, hey, I I want to do it in 7-8 instead of 5'8, then it's gonna be a 7-8 because he's the boss, right? But uh I I feel comfortable coming to him with stuff and I know that it's gonna be supported, I know it's gonna be encouraged, and I know that he knows that I've put a lot of care and thought into this thing. So he's not just gonna brush it off, number one. And then number two, he's not actively gonna look to just change it just for the sake of changing it, right? If if for some reason he does want to do something differently, he he has a very concrete reason for that. And often, um, this is for all you lesson teachers and adjunct people, often it's because he knows something I don't he knows that Kim has this priority on these Thursday nights, and that's why this thing's not gonna work.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Or he knows something about the schedule that you don't know.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Yeah, exactly. He knows the schedule, or he knows something, you know, uh that I'm not privy to, right? Um, so yeah, as Mr. Shear said, I think it's a two-way street.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Oh, yeah. And you know, I can also think of like situations I've been in as a private lesson teacher where I somebody did something for me, and I was like, okay, I'll help you out some more too. Like I I remember when I was auditioning for Phantom Regiment, um, I went home, like maybe this was like over Christmas break or I don't know what I was, but I was like back home in Oklahoma. My parents were living in Cleveland, Oklahoma, which you've never heard of because it's not a very big place. And the Cleveland high school band, like somehow, I don't remember how I got connected with them, but I needed a keyboard to practice on.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

I was like, hey, I need to, I need to, Sandy's gonna listen to me play these scales. Yeah. And I need to practice these forwards, backwards, and standing on my head. And um so I taught some lessons or whatever, but the the band director just gave me a key. You know, like here, you can practice anytime you want. And I was like, I will come teach Johnny for free. You're giving me a key to the bandhole, you know. So just do whatever you can for that teacher to make it work.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Absolutely. Uh, you know, one one of the things I think you one of the gifts that Miss Eastlas has that anyone that has ever hired her will confirm is if you're ever in a privileged enough position to have maybe even multiple lesson teachers, assigning the right student with the right teacher is a is a big deal. And I've seen over the years multiple students in which uh the other lesson teachers just you know are getting 70% out of this kid for whatever reason. And somehow Eastlass is always able to get a hundred percent out of this kid.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

Uh so I don't know, do either of you guys have kind of thoughts on pairing the student up with the teacher?

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Yeah, I think that is uh there is something to be said for that. I think that's a potentially very valuable uh tool that you have at your disposal because as a percussion director, you probably know the personalities of the students um pretty well. Uh and I think keeping in mind the personalities of the lesson teachers that you have is uh very important in being strategic about who goes with what what teacher.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Um because I can uh remember, I'm sure all of both of you can as well, like you connecting with a teacher that you've had goes a long way in how you digest the material that you're getting and um how you show up to the next lesson, whether you're prepared or not. Um I can remember back to being at North Texas, and uh some of my best lessons were with Ed Smith, who is a viprophone player and an excellent teacher, and was teaching lessons specifically towards jazz vibes, and I had no experience with jazz or with playing improvisation or any of that, just like a lot of the students there. Um, and it was something improvisation, especially at the time, was something that was very intimidating to me. But uh, of all the lessons I have, I was never scared or worried or stressed going into my lessons with him because his energy was so infectious, and he was clear he clearly had a love for music and a love for playing that instrument and a love for that style of music that every time I got injected with. Um, when I walked out of the room, I instantly wanted to go to the practice room and do a thing that I normally it was outside of my my wheelhouse. Right. And uh that that pairing I think is so useful and valuable to spread to the rest of your program. It can help to push your culture in a way that you can't, as an individual, seeing them maybe once a week or seeing them in a class setting, it can't do on your own.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah, now, Mr. Shear, uh hey, this all sounds great in your make-believe land of North Texas, where you have lessons, right? I am a single band director that teaches the choir as well from sixth grade all the way through high school uh in Illinois or whatever, right? You know, I I have a lot of hesitations about stuff being said right here, you know. Um is there some stuff that you could kind of speak to these hesitations?

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Yeah, absolutely. So um that's a real scenario, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:08

There's there's a lot of that's the more common scenario.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

That is the that is probably the the majority of the country. And you're going, how do I make this work? Um uh there are a lot of creative strategies. So I'll just the the heading here is like, let's get creative. You know, what what can you do? Okay, uh one idea, and I've done this um with students before, uh, is that maybe you could double up your lessons. Maybe you go like, hey, uh my students can't afford what, you know, okay, okay, guys, you're telling me I need to pay my teachers. Great. I need to pay my teachers more. Well, my students can't afford that. What do you want me to do? Maybe you can double up. Maybe you can do lessons every other week. Maybe you can fill in the blank. There's a lot of options. Like we said, maybe you can find other things you can pay that person to do. Um, maybe you can uh find another director at a school that's close-ish, and like you teach some of their lessons and they teach some of yours. Um, I think in Texas, the laws around this uh maybe prevent this, but I know my experience growing up in high school or growing up uh as a percussionist was a lot of times I was actually taking lessons from my band director.

SPEAKER_03 28:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

So this, you know, in Oklahoma. Um uh and that was a thing that worked out for those teachers, right? Like after school, they weren't doing sectionals, they weren't doing stuff like that a lot. At least it seemed like to me they weren't. I don't know. But but they were they were teaching lessons. So um maybe you can teach some lessons yourself. Maybe that provides you some extra income. And you know what? You might you won't be able to teach every single kid. But that also let's say you can't teach every single kid. That's not necessarily a negative thing. Um I remember, I can see it in my mind right now, the day that I was like quote unquote, like selected for lessons in my sixth grade percussion class. It was the the the teacher of the class, Mr. Bartrug, who was gonna also be the lesson teacher. And it was me and um the other girl in the class uh who was like good. Her name was Tamara Tucker. Shout out Tamara if you're listening. But it was like, these are the ones, these are the kids that get to take lessons. Ooh. So that was like um, instead of viewing that as a negative, oh, I can't teach everybody, I have to do it myself. Well, no, now it's like this special thing. And now you've got other kids practicing because they want to get into lessons, you know. So um I think that can be that can be a really powerful thing.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Can I add one thing that we've kind of witnessed recently is uh another idea is potentially having students that have recently graduated teach. Um and maybe not they're not teaching like your high school juniors and seniors, but maybe they're working with the middle school students. Yeah um that can be really, really effective, especially if you have uh built in some experiences for the middle school students to see. Some of the high school kids play like at a percussion concert or a drumline concert contest or something like that, and they already have this knowledge that they're there and what they can do. Like these kids seem like rock stars. They're not old and boring like the percussion director is, they're really cool. And so they can relate to the kids in a way that maybe you can't. Um, but they know your program really well, they know what's important to you, and they're gonna be teaching those things, even if they're not the most experienced teacher. They have a lot of experience doing what you want them to do.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. This summer, you know, shout out Matthew Boyle and David Duncan, you know. Matthew's like graduated, he's going to college, he's teaching summer lessons to the sixth grader, incoming seventh grader, right? Come to seventh grade. I have a lesson with David. He opens up his copy of Superhands and he has a tempo written down over an exercise. Next to it, he has plus four, which I make every student write down, and then he he literally writes down, okay, I did this at 80, 84, 88, and and I and I look at it and I go, wait a second, did we work? I didn't think we worked on this yet. And he's like, Oh no, this is what Matthew did over the summer. It's like he's teaching the lesson exactly how I taught it to him back when he was, yeah, and it's incredibly powerful. So so much so that here over the break, Matthew's mom said that they hooked up over the break to do lessons. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Right? So cool. Mr.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Bush ain't hooking up over the break, do lessons. You know?

SPEAKER_02 31:22

Um uh Mr. Bush, Miss E Sloss, this is all well and good. I'm gonna get out there, I'm gonna find my private lesson teacher. Um, and everything's just gonna go perfectly, right? Every single time. Because I did the interview the way you told me in the podcast, right? And I and I talked with them and I communicated with them. Does that mean that every single time every lesson teacher is gonna work out perfectly? No.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Oh, I have seen some horror stories here. I can remember a dude at a very strong program in the area that was a lesson teacher for many years. And I remember him telling me once, uh, kid shows up for lesson in middle school, he hasn't practiced. Well, then you're gonna practice now. And he would just the teacher would get out his phone and play games while the student practiced during the lesson. I remember another guy that would do multiple lessons. Okay, well, I'm gonna have two or three kids, but I'm gonna charge them all the full amount. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And this goes back to the being held accountable stuff, Mr. Shear was talking about. If you go through this process, you should make it clear to the hey, you're here to teach the child whether they've practiced or not. Yep. Right? Yep. Uh we don't double up a chart, right? You know, uh, it's that's where you as the percussion director.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

Maybe interview question is if the student has not practiced. What do you do? Then what do you think? Great interview question.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

And like, um, and again, if you're in a more established program, you probably have a private lesson handbook that's like, hey, here it is, private lesson teacher, boom, sign it. We're let's go over it, we're good to go. If not, that might be something good for you to develop. But the reason I I brought that up is I think it's important to say um, you should not be scared to fire a private lesson teacher. Absolutely. If you are, if if you uh for whatever reason find yourself not willing to fire a private lesson teacher, then actually all that other stuff we said about like the interview is so important and you gotta find the right person and we gotta hold them accountable, that's all worthless because they're not gonna get fired even if they don't do it anyway, even if they don't do a good job. So um I think that's really important. Uh and obviously, you know, being fired for bad performance, like that's kind of a no-brainer. But also I would say do not hesitate, and maybe firing isn't even the right word here, but like don't hesitate if you bring someone on and it's clear, maybe they are showing up on time and doing everything you want to do in terms of those non-musical things, but we just have a difference of opinion. Like, like you started communicating with them and talking with them about what they want to do and what their strengths are and whatever, and it's become clear that we just have a difference of opinion that's not gonna work. Maybe it's a technique thing. Maybe it'd say, I I don't know. If it's something musical like that, it's okay to just say, hey man, thanks but no thanks. Yeah. And I I know I was in a situation at Capel where we had a really, really highly qualified guy who came to teach lessons, did an excellent job. The students loved him. He showed up on time, his students progressed, but because of the specific technique type things he was ingraining in them, um, I just couldn't get on board with that. And it was like, I'll never forget. We rolled into drumline auditions, and I was looking at like this row, this line of like 10 kids standing there playing on pads, and I could pick out exactly which ones were his students because of the way their hands looked. And that's actually a sign of an effective teacher. Yeah, right? Like that's if he is teaching this certain method and his students are doing it, good. Good. But that wasn't what I wanted to do. Yeah, so it was like, hey man, yes, and amen. You're doing your thing, but your thing is not my thing. So we're gonna part ways. And that's okay. Yep. That's totally fine. Yeah, I don't think you should be afraid of that.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Absolutely. I mean, I know that there's some of you uh at this point that are still like, hey, guys, this is all good. I just I need a warm body, if anyone, I and I get it. My my final plea here would be when a when a student of mine or Miss C. Slas graduates, if we have taught them from the sixth or seventh grade all the way through high school, that student, I would argue, has spent more individual education time one-on-one with me in a room than any other teacher in the entirety of their education. More than any principal, any math teacher, even more than you. You have not had individual one-on-one time with that. And the impact and power that that the lesson teacher has, uh, I just cannot be I I can't speak highly enough about I so I thought it would be really it'd be a good thing to close out this episode by sharing some personal stories that we have all experienced from lesson teachers that were really powerful, you know, or left big impressions on us. Um Missy's last, do you want to?

SPEAKER_00 36:07

Um Yeah, I mean, I already talked about Ed Smith, but I think uh talking a little bit about Christopher Dean as well being really impactful um lessons for me. Uh I I took timpani lessons with him and and those were really valuable, but I think uh some of the most memorable moments that we had were when I was just beginning to experiment with composition. And it was something that I wasn't even sure if I I wanted to really delve into, but I knew Christopher Dean was such a good composer and he had so many pieces that I had played and really, really loved that I valued his opinion. And um maybe not to my surprise, but I I was very thankful for the fact that uh our interactions, he was very, he was not very judgmental, he was really um open to anything that I wanted to try, but would also hand in hand bring his experience uh to uh what he was teaching. So I think that was so important for me then to go through um when I was feeling incredibly vulnerable about doing something outside of the box for me, yeah, that uh it really man pushed me in a in a direction that I never would have gone.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

Yep, yeah, Mr. Shear. Yeah, um the first person that comes to mind is Ed Sof. And I consider him to be like the master of the 30-minute lesson. Uh just an amazing, um, an amazing communicator. Like so good at picking his words um carefully and correctly to get across exactly what he needs to get across in the amount of time he has for the kid that's sitting in front of him. And I I have this like seared into my mind experience with him um, you know, listening to me play. And at that time, I think in my and so Ed Sov is a drum set teacher, if you're not aware, um, and I was taking lessons from him at the University of North Texas, and uh I needed more help figuring out what to play and why to play it than I did how to play it, right? So, like, okay, we were playing this big band chart or whatever. I I can I can play all the patterns and the coordination, like we're we're good there, but it doesn't sound great when I do it. Okay, I'm not making the right choices musically. Okay, so um I remember him turning on uh this uh album that had Elvin Jones uh playing drums. I think it was a Wayne Shorter, I think it was uh Speak No Evil, and we're listening to this uh, you know, this song that I've heard before. It's not like a shock to me, but Ed is stopping like every 30 seconds or after the chorus or whatever, and he's pointing these things out, and he's he's like, Did you hear that? Did you hear that? And I remember the phrase him going, man, this cat is deep. But like he's he's pointing out the depth of what Elvin is playing and why he's playing it, and it just opened new worlds for me of like, whoa, okay, like he Ed's hearing all these things I'm not hearing, and he's like bringing me into his world because he can tell that is what I need. Exactly what you need. That's what I needed. And then, like, as if that wasn't enough, a few lessons later, I had to record myself playing and bring it into him, uh, which was terrifying, by the way. Um and he's playing a recording of me and doing the same thing. But he's like, he he pointed out to me that I was like playing the bass drum on one, like every four bars, you know, I'm going swinging along and kaboom, over and over and over. And I was like, oh my gosh. But but he he could tell exactly what I needed. He showed me exactly what that looked like and sounded like, and then compared it to my playing. It was just like this amazing experience again that could not have happened anywhere except for a private lesson.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, for me, uh, I got my first lessons when I was a junior in high school. Shout out to my mom, who's my birthday gift. Thank you so much. Uh, and it was with Henry Oxdale, and it was outstanding. And one of the things that he did so well that I I try to do uh to this day, um, is he would play music and we would listen to music. And just like this would be I've never heard Afro-Cubin before, I've never heard giant steps. I don't know why giant steps is important. I don't even know who Coltrane is, right? And uh he would these active, guided listening. He was the first dude to get me to listen to a tune multiple times and just listen to the bass. And how does that respond? You know, how is it Weckle responding to that? And just listen to Weckle. And what if you just listened to Weckle's kick this time or whatever, right? You know, and he opened me up to so many styles of music and genres of music, and with understanding comes appreciation. So then these things I thought I wouldn't like, I end up liking, right? And it's very interesting with students nowadays where you have this weird thing where they have so much more access immediately to so much more music than what we had when we were younger, but they also don't listen to it, even though they have all the access, you know. And so there, I felt like that's something from Mr. Oxel. I took sometimes in this competitive North Texas area. I oh, I gotta spend every second working on my triplet role. No, I'll spend time in lesson with a speaker listening to Tigrin and analyzing the time signature or whatever, right? These things, and and I I I feel a lot of that, you know, initially came from him and was super valuable. Is Missy Sos was saying with Mr. Dean and uh Mr. Smith, Ed Smith, like both of these lesson teachers I remember doing such an incredible job. I feel like for me, one of my weaknesses has been my my technic technicality in my plane, where one of my strengths has been my creativity throughout and both of these, you know, I've had lesson teachers before that I feel like I go in and there's very much, hey, there's a right way and a wrong way. And my way is the right way, and everything else is wrong, right? But these guys, I felt like it was more let's kind of what you're saying with sof in terms of let's understand what's good and bad about these multiple, like why would someone decide to use these mods, or why would someone decide to strike an instrument like this, or why would you arrange it like this, or whatever. So there's just this level of depth thought, no judgment, and embracing creativity. I I would uh, you know, we have you have to do a percussion department at the University of North Texas. I would always do arrangements, and I can remember coming in with Ed Smith and bringing a Street Fighter III uh soundtrack, like, hey, this is what I want to do, and him 100%, yeah, let's do it. Okay, hey, this is what you know, and and working out Kin's stage or whatever, you know. And then I remember with Dean too bringing in like this like Brazilian death metal band, and you know, and then it's like like one chart, this dude's like shredding on an acoustic, you know, at like 220, and like, oh, I want to arrange this for Rimba and you know, and African hand drums or something. And Dean, absolutely, okay, let's listen. Oh, you know, you know, uh, and it was just really, really powerful. Um, powerful stuff. Uh yeah, hey, uh in closing, guys, thank you so much for hanging out with us today and talking about private lessons. If you have uh any questions for the podcast, please send them to teameslos at gmail.com. That's teames loss t-e-a-m, i-s-l-as at gmail.com. Shout out to all the great percussion companies that support teameslos, Maypex Majestic Percussion, Remo Drumheads, Promark Sticks and Mats, Sabian Symbols, Beetle Percussion, and Lot Ride Apparel. Are you looking to level up your lessons with method books designed from the ground up to be used in percussion lessons? Then I recommend checking out the snare drum method book Super Hands and the Mallad method book Momentum. Miss Islas, where can these fine listeners grab a copy of these books?

SPEAKER_00 43:47

You can find them at teamslas.com, lulu.com, uh, Dallas Percussion, Steve Weiss Percussion, or anywhere that you purchase your wonderful music books.

SPEAKER_01 43:57

That's right. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and if you practice hard all week and you showed up to your lesson prepared and you're ready to throw down, then give us a five-star review. Remember, friends, step one is time, step two is sound, and step three is subscribing to the TV's loss podcast.