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Want to build confidence in your students? Let them cheer each other on.

Give kids the time and space to talk to each other about how wonderful they are. 💬💛

If you have back-to-back lessons, try this:
🎶 Ask the first student to stay for an extra 10 minutes and watch the beginning of the next student’s lesson.
🎶 Then, ask them to give a bit of feedback.
But here’s the key — tell them to highlight what was wonderful about what they saw or heard.

Kids come up with the most insightful, encouraging feedback when you let them. And that kind of positive reinforcement, coming from a peer, can make all the difference in how a child sees themselves.

Confidence is contagious. Let them pass it on. ✨

#MusicEducation #ConfidenceBuilding #PeerFeedback #PositiveLearning #GrowthMindset #TheConfidenceFactory #PerformanceConfidence

A short 'how to' video outlining a simple exercise to learn how manage nerves and enjoy performance.

Note: Listen to Blues Brothers 'Green Onions' while reading this.

You are nearing that time of the year when there is a performance assessment coming up and you hope you are prepared. To make sure you go through your checklist.

• Do you know the 10 assessment criteria?   Yep
• Have you included evidence that each of the 10 assessment criteria is covered?   Yes 
• Have you been practising regularly?   Sure
• Do you know your performance pieces?   Almost...will do by exam day
• Have you been performance practising?   Yeah...I have been going through my repertoire from top to bottom
• Do you know where the tricky areas are?    Of course, I practise those over and over again

You feel good about your answers, and think, 'that must be a good sign that you're prepared'. 

As the days go by you start to feel a little nervous, and excited over the prospect of completing this assessment. Some days you feel on top of everything, other times you feel a little overwhelmed. You have done so much wor...

April is an odd time of the year to be reflecting. We usually look back during New Year celebrations. April in 2023, however, was a very exciting time for me and so I thought I would share what happened to me within a year, (less actually).

I had made arrangements to reduce my classroom music teaching to part time. I loved teaching but was exhausted and I was looking forward to enjoying the reduced workload at school. During the Christmas/New Year break I was offered a part-time position that I had my eye on for quite some time. As I was teaching 3 days a week, I was able to begin training for my new position from the start of 2023, then I resigned and moved on the week after Easter.

It felt like it all happened very suddenly at the time. I was set to teach part-time for the year, then by April had resigned and moved on! Some might say I was lucky, but really luck had nothing to do with it.

For quite some time prior, I had been developing my network based on my interests. I had also...

Dancing was a big part of my childhood, and I have many albums full of photographs of me in colourful costumes performing with my dance troupe. Almost always at the back, because of my height! Of all those photos, why is this black and white picture so special to me? Simply, because it records a significant moment in my life.

If someone looked at this photo without any back story, what would they see?

They would probably see a happy, young lady, posing somewhat too gracefully for the costume she's wearing, in front of a mirror in a large hall, for a staged photo. They'd see confidence, success and maybe some sort of leader.

They wouldn't see that she had been crying, that her shoes were borrowed just for the photo, because she didn't own those types of expensive shoes, and she had been asked to stand out of the previous photos. They wouldn't see that there's about 10 children from her class and their parents behind the camera, with arms crossed, wondering why her photo was getting t...

I have created an E-Book,  'HOW TO OVERCOME PERFORMANCE ANXIETY', in which I help professionals and students, between 16 and 55 who lack the necessary public speaking/presentation skills to progress in their careers, to overcome their nerves and other limiting beliefs about speaking/performing in front of people, so they … and their audience … actually enjoy the presentation, in as little as 6 weeks.

No more feeling out of control on the stage.

No more feeling stupid in the moment even after lots of hard work in preparation.

Just use a set of tools as you prepare for the event to avoid this situation.

Best part is, a successful outcome will be perfected before the public appearance!

How it works is, instead of hoping that your nerves won’t kick in and spoil all the preparation you’ve done, I show you, in 'HOW TO OVERCOME PERFORMANCE ANXIETY', how to avoid the nerves in the first place, so your audience can relax and be responsive and you can actually enjoy sharing your presentation with you...

Well we are in a New Year and we have left a few hard years behind us. I hope the new year has started well for you.

With a New Year often comes new goals and opportunities.

Maybe this is the year when you are looking forward to a new job and preparing for interviews.

Maybe you are finishing your schooling and you have exams in your future.

Maybe you are launching into a new business.

Maybe you are going to be teaching large groups or be a guest speaker, or maybe you might be preparing for performances.

What ever opportunities there are coming up for you, there is an element of presentation or performance required. So how are you going to prepare for that? How are you going to ensure that you present professionally, that you confidently.ooze the skills required? What is required to become successful in your quest?

SIMPLY, HONEST HARD WORK AND A POSITIVE MINDSET

Success comes to those who focus on their goals, not on obstacles.

We need to work jolly hard and be determined to su...