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My Self-Employed Ponderance: What Kind of Boss Are You Being to Yourself?

As I mentioned in Episode 117 of the podcast, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what poor work-conditions we - the self-employed - can put ourselves under.

I can't help but wonder what I would do if I had an ACTUAL manager/boss/supervisor-type say any of the following things to me:

• "You don't have TIME to feed your family a decent meal. I have emails I need you to send."

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• "I can see you're working hard, but it's NEVER going to be enough to please me."

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• "You have a vacation planned 6 months from now. You can rest THEN."

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Seriously: I can't imagine EVER putting up with a supervisor who made comments to this effect in real life, but the truth of the matter is, I have a boss in my head who says them to me ALL. THE. TIME.

FRIENDS. We have to be better, kinder bosses of ourselves. While being self-employed has its share of INCREDIBLE benefits, it is easy to get caught in a cycle of doing more, more, more.

Isn't one of the toughest aspects of being a musician/teacher the fact that there will ALWAYS be "more" we could/should do?

I don't have any giant revelations to help you solve this problem today (sorry!), but I do think - like with most things - the first step is acknowledging the truth of the situation.

We NEED to take notice of the dialog inside our heads and imagine how we would feel if those words were spoken to us by an actual human authority figure. Would we tell them to get lost? In my case, that answer is a definite YES. I'd be willing to bet you're in the same boat.

So, take a moment and repeat after me:

• I am more than my work.
• I have enough time.
• I am allowed to enjoy my life outside of my work.

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AND! Because I think it's ALWAYS good to put action behind our self-reflection, I created a fun little "Employee" Satisfaction Survey (Self-Employed Edition).

You can get the printable by clicking here.

Be sure to hit REPLY on this email and let me know how you scored. I plan on re-visiting this survey in a few months, and I'd love to see if/how our scores can improve.

(psst! I'll share MY score with you when you reply!)

Two things have been consuming the bulk of my time these days: (1) My student's local piano festival, and (2) Getting ready for the MTNA National Conference!

Regarding Festival: this year was affirming in many ways. Most especially, it reminded me we are not responsible for what our students do outside of their lesson time. We are here to be sage guides to their study of their instrument. We can offer wise counsel. We can (and need to) communicate clear expectations of timelines. Large, studio-wide trends are telling (for better or for worse), but outliers are not indicative of our effectiveness as teachers.
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​Onward and upward, friends. You're doing good work.

As for MTNA: In some ways I'm more prepared than I ever am one week prior to a conference. But - there still are some pretty superhuman feats I'm going to need to accomplish this week (as well as the VERY important work of enjoying time with my girls as they are on Spring Break!).

If you're interested in browsing the MTNA Conference Schedule, you can do so by clicking here. I am looking forward to many of the sessions. As always, there are some next-to-impossible choices to make. I'm just glad I have plenty of friends going so we can "divide and conquer".

If you happen to be attending MTNA, I have a special gift for my followers. If you see me in passing, just tell me the "secret code": APTF (that's, Anytime Piano Teacher Friend).

Your opportunities to see me speak at the conference are as follows:

• Pedagogy Saturday: 8am, Resources Roundup
• Pedagogy Saturday: 3:30pm, Breaking Up the Burnout: Mental and Physical Wellness
• Main Conference: Tuesday @2:15pm, Busy Teens: Should They Stay or Should They Go?

If you see me out and about, PLEASE make sure you say hello! I hope to meet as many of my Teacher Friends of the Internet as possible.

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I get asked about repertoire choices in this community A LOT. Here are a few selections I think you will especially enjoy!

I like to teach pop music in a variety of ways, but for those who enjoy using traditional publication series, I was recently reminded how much I enjoy the Alfred Premier Pop and Movie Hits arrangements. I don't use the Alfred books much these days, but I enjoy the wide range of selections in this series. I've linked to Book 3 of the collection (which contains a great version of Wipe Out!), but really, the entire series is great for this type of book.

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For more advanced students, don't sleep on the music of Dianne Rahbee. Her Preludes, Volume 1 and Preludes, Volume 2 are STUNNING. The "Twilight" Prelude (Opus 69, found in Book 2) is arguably her most famous composition, and it contains the most delicious 7th harmonies. These are fun to teach AND to play ourselves. Dianne Rahbee often draws comparisons to Chopin and Scriabin... high praise, for sure, but I like to think of her in a class by herself.

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YOU GUYS. Last month was our first official round of "Teachers Teaching Teachers" (TTT) and it was EVERYTHING I wanted it to be - and more!

TTT takes place on Zoom, the last Friday of every month, at 11am Eastern time. It is a chance for studio teachers to find connection with one another, while we examine a piece of student piano literature. We share teaching strategies for the piece at hand (which, of course, have plenty of carryover to the rest of our teaching!).

THIS MONTH: We are looking at a piece from Book 1 of Martha Mier's Jazz, Rags, and Blues collection. Sign up for the "Let's Party" tier of the Patreon community and we'll see you on Friday, March 31st, at 11:00am Eastern time!

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ALSO ON PATREON: I am hosting Monday Morning Power Hours on (well...) Mondays at 11am Eastern time. These co-working sessions are available to anyone subscribed to the Patreon community - regardless of tier! This means you can join these productivity sessions for $3/month. That's just crazy! Check out the Patreon Community by clicking here. ​

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PS: There are affiliate links in this email. That's just smart business, but I assure you all recommendations are 100% genuine and void of icky ulterior sales motives.

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