in, PhD, NCTM
As active musicians and music teachers, our professional obligation goes far beyond the instruction we offer in our studios. How we serve as arts advocates can impact our students’ lives, our communities, and indeed, our nation. This presentation offers helpful information on how to advocate for the arts on a multitude of levels. It covers what “the arts” really means and offers robust and effective arguments on the importance of art for art’s sake for those who do not understand their value. It covers the positive impact that the arts have on our brains and the ways the arts can be used to improve wellness, education, and community life. Government funding for the arts is addressed, as are ways music teacher groups can work together to prevent laws that damage our profession. Finally, it addresses the impact we can have when we serve as day-to-day advocates for the arts.
in, PhD, NCTM
Our jobs can be wonderful; we can love all we offer to our students, the creative curriculum we develop, the relationships we nurture, and the freedom of running our own studio. But at times we can also feel stressed, overworked, undervalued, burnt out, burdened with financial concerns, or maybe just bored. This presentation covers five crucial and intertwined types of self-care for the independent music teacher: financial health, professional health, business health, emotional/mental health, and physical health. If any one of these five areas suffer, they all can suffer.
Although not everything in life is within our control, much is. There are numerous things we can do to keep ourselves professionally content, financially secure, emotionally well, and physically fit. This presentation offers valuable suggestions on ways to take care of ourselves and our studios and includes an extensive handout of helpful resources.