Shaw Strings and 2023
What’s the line from Rent? “How do you measure, measure a year?”
For a private music studio, there are plenty of ways you can try to quantify what happened in the last year!
Here are a few of the things I’ve been pondering over these last few days as I wrapped up lessons for the year. It’s been a busy year, so some of these numbers never really hit me until now!
Over 2000 individual violin and viola lessons taught (If I managed the math right!).
11 group classes where we worked on playing together as a group, concepts like singing and solfeg, performance practice, the importance of listening and more!
2 studio field trips to see the Maryland Symphony Orchestra perform with amazing violinists! Nick Kendall in March 2023 and Tim Fain in October 2023 were both SO inspiring for students and their families to see perform, I love that we do this field trips.
Student performances like our annual studio recital in May 2023 and our studio’s end of summer Play Music on the Porch event.
Studio members participated in opportunities like the Washington County All County Orchestra and Solo and Ensemble festivals, summer camps like Shepherd University’s Junior Strings and Senior Camp, the Intermuse International Music Institute and Festival, and more!
Parent education opportunities were shared with studio parents and caregivers when we joined with a few other small violin studios to hear from Christine Goodner about working with the child in front of us - Studio members, feel free to ask for the link to this private video anytime you want a refresher!
One Shaw Strings Alumni Panel where I was able to check in with former students about their experiences in college as a music student.
I was able to perform with the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra in May and November 2023, as well as in the orchestra for the Mercersburg Area Community Chorus and Shepherd University’s Masterworks Chorale!
I was able to attend professional development through Peabody Conservatory’s Pedagogy series, register training with the Suzuki Association of the Americas for Violin Unit 4 and fit in an Intro to Irish Fiddle class to boot.
Several other little one off opportunities to volunteer in local schools, assist with performances or
overall studio experience for 2023
It is hard to put into words what this year has been like!
As the first full year of in person lessons since the pandemic and the first full year in a home studio space, it has been really wonderful. I’ve loved the flexibility of having my own space where I don’t have to compete with other programs or offerings to make a studio event happen! It’s finally given me the consistency I needed to be able to host a regular group class and fulfill that side of a Suzuki studio experience.
Priority on Parent education
In the second half of this year I’ve also really prioritized parent education - From collaborating with other studios for our parent talk with Christine Goodner to highlighting great videos like Barbie Wong’s “Music, Mayhem and Memories” or books for parents like “To Learn With Love” by William and Constance Starr and Christine Goodner’s vast written resources. Parents and other supportive caregivers are crucial to the success of my students, so I want them to feel like they have places to turn when they have questions, when they feel frustrated, overwhelmed or start to wonder if this whole music thing is for them after all. I continue to have new ideas to try out with studio parents and caregivers in the new year, but this year has confirmed the importance of a good teacher-parent relationship along with the student-teacher relationship.
Looking ahead
Traditionally I’ve taken the last week of the year to plan, tackle from projects for the studio I’m not able to do when things are operating as usual and continue working. For the first time in my working life I am leaning into taking off between December 23rd and January 1st. If inspiration strikes, I may log in and tinker with some ideas, but as I end 2023, I’m really trying to remind myself that my studio has done and accomplished a lot this year. I’ve tied up my loose ends for the year and if I rest now, I’ll be able to tackle 2024 with that much more energy!
Expect to hear more about my hopes and plans for 2024 early in the new year - In the meantime, wishing anyone who is reading this a wonderful holiday season.
