Three Favorite Facebook Groups for Music Teachers
Three Favorite Facebook Groups for this Violin and Viola Teacher
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How do you connect with other music teachers?
I am so grateful for the many ways to connect with other teachers!
For Suzuki teachers, we can connect at the various Suzuki Institutes held each year. Many teachers are lucky to have a supportive local community by means of a shared teaching location, an active and local chapter of their professional organization or something similar. Even our local and live music events can give us the opportunity for social interaction that can support a thriving arts community.
But then enter COVID-19…
And everything went online.
Personally, I always loved using online connections to help get new teaching ideas, make friends with others in my field and banish some of that isolation solo entrepreneurs can feel. That’s part of why I’ve maintained an active Instagram account since December 2017! (You can find me @shawstrings if we aren’t connected there.)
But the second best way I’ve felt more connected with other teachers was through Facebook Groups! Today I want to share the three groups I’ve enjoyed being a member of as a violinist and as a private music teacher, then highlight what makes these groups unique. You’ll also find an honorable mention at the end!
These are the three groups I’ve appreciated the most in the last year.
Now on to what makes these groups stand out!
Distance Learning Forum for Music Teachers
This group sprang up as COVID-19 turned many of our studios upside down and forced many of us to figure out overnight how to do lessons online. It is difficult to outline the sheer amount of support, teaching ideas and more that came out of this large group of teachers when we were all in the early days of the pandemic. While teachers wait for a vaccine, some are even considering keeping their studio’s online permanently! As a result, this group has shifted into a supportive group for maneuvering all these ways forward to teach in a post-pandemic world.
This group was also instrumental in helping me find a great fiddler to come in and do a workshop with my studio in March 2021! A simple post gave me 42 names to choose from, which was such a great help in letting us find a teacher who could fit my time and studio needs.
The Violin Guild
I have found this group to be the most welcoming and supportive group for violinists on Facebook! This group has beginners through professionals, amateurs to teachers and beyond. The variety and positive outlook of the group is refreshing when you are used to working with classically trained musicians - Face it, sometimes we’re just snobby!
I find this group to be fun and inspiring for all things violin related. One day you might find videos of pop songs covered by violins, while the next you’ll find informative articles on how our instruments are made. You can ask questions about best places for student instruments, or what other’s favorite editions are for the sonata you are starting. No question is stupid and the answers are supportive. This really makes for a unique online group of string players!
School Orchestra and String Teachers
Although I’ve been in this group a short amount of time, I’ve really enjoyed finding a group focusing more on the orchestra side of my career. This group came highly recommended by different teachers who presented at the Ohio State String Teacher’s Workshop, so I quickly found them and started watching the conversations online. I’ve been so impressed with the camaraderie in this group, particularly as American teachers faced so many different protocols about how to teach during the COVID-19 pandemic. The brain power of all these teachers together, sharing lesson plans, teaching resources and more is really awe inspiring. And there’s often hilarious jokes from the classroom that only other string teachers would understand, which helps me remember just what I love about what I do. The relationships you build as you work together to learn and make music are like nothing else and it has been great to see how that has continued whether teachers are working virtually, in person or split between both methods.
Honorable Mention:
Suzuki Triangle for Teachers
I have found this group to be the most intimate and therefore supportive Facebook group I am in. It was managed by Christine Goodner, author of the popular books “Beyond the Music Lessons: Habits of Successful Suzuki Families” and “Positive Practice: 5 Steps to Help Your Child Develop a Love of Music” and filled with kindhearted teachers ready to commiserate, celebrate and brainstorm with you regarding any studio situations that come up for us all. This group has been a wonderful resource for me, most recently giving me reassurances as I prepared for maternity leave.
Just days before I published this post, unfortunately the group Suzuki Triangle for Teachers was archived as Christine is moving on to other areas of work. As you can see from the description I had prepared and posted above, I highly valued my time in the group and will miss the camaraderie we had there!
What do you want out of a Facebook Teacher Community?
I hope having a brief description of these groups helps you to connect with other music teachers! You need to feel supported as you teach music to your students.
It is easy to become isolated inside our own studios and feel like we are the only ones with our particular struggles and successes! We are meant to be connected with others, so I encourage you to check a few of these groups out and continue to search out other communities to support you.
My final thoughts are challenging you to think about what you would like to see in a community, too! Perhaps you have other needs not addressed in the list above. How can you make that come together? What would you like to see?
For myself, I know I will be missing the Suzuki Triangle group very much in the coming months. If you are interested in a more intimate group based in the Suzuki method and you are in a similar boat, contact me and let me know! I’d love to see a new group come together that will carry on this tradition.
Share your thoughts with me about starting a new group, or any of the established groups above today!
You can connect with me on Instagram or Facebook @shawstrings or by email at renee@shawstrings.co.
Talk soon!
