After a 3-year hiatus since my wife returned to full-time teaching, I’ve elected to take on a few private students this summer. I opened a limited number of slots, and offered lessons in voice/repertoire, audition skills, theory, composition/arranging, etc.
I recently finished first lessons with most of my students. First lessons are always atypical for me – we spend most of our time on two things that merit far less time in following lessons: repertoire selection, and practice skill discussion.
Practice skills, are, of course, the silver bullet of lesson success: even a small amount of regular personal practice can dwarf the time spent in lessons. So we go in-depth to discuss strategies, tips, and expectations for practicing. I tailor practice goals to each individual, as I get to know them better through a brief interview/conversation.
In starting lessons for the first time in a while, I had the opportunity to rethink some things from my last time around. Here are a few documents I used during first lessons to jump start the process. Feel free to copy them if they are helpful to you.
- First Lesson Sheet – 3 per page, with room for the kind of information I like to gather at first lessons. (I already have contact info at this point).
- Student First Lesson Sheet – As we worked together through the first lesson, space for them to write down goals, practice goals and strategies, and future lesson dates/times.
- Practice Log – There is room for four logs per page, and this log enables the student to gather in about 90 seconds the salient details. I asked students to bring logs to each lesson, so we can spend the first 2 minutes discussing how to make practice more effective.