One of the many amazing things about the music teachers at our school is that they are all professional working musicians. They perform and record in tons of different situations, and implement that experience into their lessons!
Since they have gigs, we sometimes have one of our teachers cover for another. In our school, this is a huge benefit and feature!
The Top 5 Reasons Alternate Music Teachers Are Amazing
1. Alternate Music Teachers Provide a Fresh Perspective
Each teacher at our school is a performing musician! They all work in different styles and genres. Thanks to this, they each experience music in a highly skilled yet different way. When it comes to teaching, this differing of experience and perspective provides an opportunity to hear feedback in a fresh way that may bring to light something previously unthought of.
Sometimes all it takes is a new person to phrase a piece of information slightly differently for it to click.
Our alternate music teachers experience situations like this every week!
2. Alternate Music Teachers Help Students Stay On Track
Our school runs on the traditional structure of having one lesson per week. At some schools, lessons are canceled outright for the day a teacher is away. This means that 2 weeks will pass between lessons, which is a long time! Especially for younger beginner students who can easily start to forget what they’ve learned!
With an alternate teacher, lessons stay on track and progress continues moving forward. Our alternate teachers are always updated with notes and a lesson plan for the day, keeping things clear, concise and on the right path!
3. Alternate Music Teachers Help Grow Performance Confidence
The only way to become comfortable performing in front of people is to continually practice it! Even if you are performing for just one person, the brains till treats it the same way.
It can be nerve racking for some to have a different teacher for a day. However, there is no need to fear! All of our music teachers are supportive, kind and understand the nerves that this new situation may cause. We encourage our students to treat an alternate teacher as an opportunity to grow out of their comfort zone in a safe space.
Practice makes perfect!
4. Alternate Music Teachers Keep Everyone In The Loop
Substitute teachers sometimes get a bad rep. We tend to hear the word “sub” and envision a day of goofing around and getting wild! In our school this couldn’t be further from the truth. Before taking a day away, our teachers leave detailed notes for the substitute about where the student is at in their studies and what the alternate teacher should continue with for the day.
Our alternate teachers follow these notes to keep the lessons on track and prevent the need for taking time out of the start of the lesson to get caught up.
Once the lesson is completed, our alternate teachers leave notes for the regular teacher to fill them in on what happened for the day.
This method keeps our lessons organized and moving without a hitch!
5. Community Is Built
At Toronto Arts Academy, we are more than just a school, we are a community of music makers! One of the many things we pride ourselves upon is the relationships our school fosters.
Our teachers are friends with each other, our students befriend one another, and thanks to having alternate teachers, students become known and supported by all of the staff!
This is prominently seen at our recitals, when teachers see students who they have taught on a sub day and support them whole heartedly in a personal way!
Alternate teachers allow for both staff and students to benefit from the community that music builds.
Closing Notes
Fantastic alternate teachers are one of the best things about our school. To get signed up, or learn more about how we can help you on your musical journey contact us today at 647 748 2787!
