Christina Whitlock, Beyond Measure Podcast

Today, I Confess: Music is Not a Status Symbol Fair warning: Today's Confession features a Teacher Lesson wrapped around details of my mother's recent death. If that is going to be difficult for you to read today, please skip this one. No hard feelings. 💗 I have yet to tell this story publicly, but I hope it helps add some fuel to your Teacher Fire today... If you've been following me for any length of time, you know we've been saying a "long goodbye" to my mom as she found herself in the...

Today, I Confess: I Was Asking the Wrong Questions In this week's podcast episode, I shared what I call the "most annoying" Teacher Truth: the fact that we have NO control over what our students remember. It drives me crazy: the effort we put into our words... our demonstrations... our studio experiences... Maybe they'll remember. But maybe they won't? 🤷🏻♀️ Granted, Episode 273 was largely exploring what students remember later in life. Getting them to recall musical details week-to-week is a...

Today, I Confess: Sometimes I Miss the Obvious In this week's episode of Beyond Measure, I spoke about the Barn Metaphor, and how it relates to teaching. This gist is this: sometimes we miss things that are obvious to outsiders because we are too enveloped in our weekly student routines. Let me be clear: No one knows the working dynamics of your studio better than you. You don't need to explain why you make the decisions you do. At the same time; sometimes an outside opinion is exactly what...

*the following is a reflection I originally sent subscribers two years ago. The message remains timely. 💗 What I'm learning about Student Commitment from my 9/11 Reflections. I shared a bit about this on my IG stories yesterday and was blown away by the depth of feedback I received. I thought I'd continue the reflection here... Everyone (at least, of a certain age) knows where they were the morning of September 11, 2001. I was a sophomore in college, and first heard the news in Music Theory...

Today, I Confess: Summer Taught Me Some Things... In this week's podcast episode, I promised a rundown of summer reflections in this week's e-letter. ...so here we go, friends! A peek into the wild ride that was June, July, and (some of) August. *while there is SOME teacher-related content here, this is largely a personal reflection. I'll be Back to Business next week! No. 1 - Water Resets: When I was pregnant with my first baby, someone wisely told me, "when all else fails, get cranky kids...

Today, I Confess: It Won't ALL Be Awesome... My ultra-anxious kiddo spent a week at an overnight camp this summer and - as per usual - I found an important Piano Teacher Takeaway in the mix. (Connecting everyday life lessons to teaching is my superpower). 😉 Parenting anxious children has taught me a lot about establishing healthy expectations before nerves have the chance to derail everything. She was excited to go. So many people were telling her how amazing the week would be. As we drove to...

Today, I Confess: Big Lessons Often Come from the Small Interactions In this week's Encore Replay of the Beyond Measure Podcast, I discuss an important takeaway that came from a casual conversation with friends at NCKP in 2023. Of ALL the things I learned at the conference that week, the only thing I felt compelled to speak about on the podcast came from one serendipitous conversation while wandering the exhibit hall. Isn't it funny how that works? This is why I am such a champion for...

Today, I Confess: This is what My Younger Self Needed.... Here's my backstory, in a nutshell: I grew up in the smallest of towns (shoutout to Malvern, Ohio!). I took lessons with the only piano teacher in town; a delightful college student majoring in piano and vocal performance at nearby Malone College. There are MANY things this teacher did well. Most of all, she treated me like I was a musician from Day One. She never made me feel anything less than capable. She was a brand new baby...

Today, I Confess: I Humiliated Myself on Monday... Life has a way of keeping us humble, right? 🤷🏻♀️ This week on the podcast, I shared some mildly embarrassing stories in an attempt to remind teachers how important it is to say EVERYTHING: even things we believe to be "obvious". Let the record show, I try to be a good sport. I can laugh at myself. ...but the universe decided I needed a little more practice in that regard this week... For context, I put over 1500 miles on my vehicle last week,...