providing materials for students

[ludwig]

What are your opinions on the amount of extra resources you provide for you students? After reading Bob's thread about Bernhard's library collection I felt inspired but at the same time a little guilty, this is because I have very little budget to buy a collection of CDs, scores, sight-reading books, aural test/exercise books, and other method books on reading/playing for my students.
I have the basics like recordings of pieces they are playing, the scores for their program (graded) and my own music/recordings (which is a good collection), some musicology books, basic theory books for exams and practice test papers, but I don't have additional resources which will help my students improve, such as different recordings of the same piece, different editions of scores, many different sight-reading, method books for reading and general knowledge etc...

Just wondering what do you provide your students with? Any essential books that you found very helpful? Any fantastic music history/musicology books to explain different styles, periods, composers that aren't too boring (maybe pictures for the little ones?? :p)

Part of the problem is I don't have alot of students, my piano lessons are 3x what I charge for my own students, I'm still studying andi have to pay bills bills bills (which are hell for most people) etc...eeeek! I feel mean asking my students to buy certain things sometimes but often it'll be a specific resources for them only, but still I wish I had it and so they can just copy it etc...

[ptmidwest]

Ludwig, I would humbly offer that you have no reason to feel guilty at all.  Like good parents, we would all dearly like to offer so much more--the world!--to our charges.

In truth, even the most passionate students have a limited amount of time to practice and study, and I would generally prefer that they use their time to practice.  The advanced students will make the time to do the amount of study that they choose to do, anyway.

If you do lend out, keep good track of it, and remind each student (every time) that they will be responsible for the REPLACEMENT value of the item.  (Go so far as to find out the replacement cost of a couple items, so you know.)  They have the option not to borrow an expensive item.

Then keep a master list (or such) in one place, with the  person's name, the borrowed item, and the date.  Write down everything that leaves your studio. 

If it seems cheap of you to do this, remember that almost no one, that student included, can afford to lend  everything out and lose them.   

You are generous to offer to lend your materials.

[ludwig]

Thanks ptmidwest, I feel much better

I guess just I feel responsible for providing resources, and I know that it is not easy for parents to not only pay for a lesson but also for books etc...So I don't usually tell my student's parents to buy anything if I don't have to. But now that I'm teaching more students with a wide variety of grades and abilities, I'm finding my music budget for investing in resources is becoming impossible! I would buy soooo much music materials if I could So do you think it is mean of me to ask parents to buy something for their kids to help them progress faster? Or should I just buy it and invest?

Yeah I have already misplaced 3 Urtext editions of Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann (I think ) I really need to keep a list of things I lend out, and perhaps even like a copy of receipt saying they have it and get them to sign it...

[super5james]

Im very grateful when my teacher provides things for me.I cant even buy CDs at some times because i still get allowance and its 10 bucks a week and ill save to but some stuff.But its very usefull whem teachers provide.

[Bob]

I don't have a library.  I was just wondering what one would consist of.  I have lent out my materials in the past, but on a broad scale for everyone.

If you have a library of lending materials, you can up your fees to cover the cost of that.  I was thinking something that everyone could use would be a good purchase, like flascards.  When they're done with them, there's not much use for them anymore.  If you raise everyone's lesson fee $1, then you might buy one book per term with that.  It's an idea.

Otherwise, if you only have one student playing a certain piece and you want them to hear a recording of it, I would ask them to find one -- buy it or check out the regular libraries.

I'm thining if I gave a listening assignment (which could just be "Oh, you have to hear this recording!"), then having a collection of CD's of the standard pieces might be good.  It would get used by everyone.  That way they would be aware of very well-known pieces and a few concert artists.


Oh yes, I would make sure it's something I want.  Something that will benefit me personally.  Unless I'm in a really giving mood or this collection will majorly benefit my students (and better students means I'm a better teacher who can attract more students so that benefits me still).  That way I'm not feeling resentful if the students don't take advantage of this library -- it's still useful to me.

[sarahlein]

What about taking advantage of the free resources one finds on the Internet?
I also don't have the money to invest in various recordings (of the same piece/s) my students are learning. So what I do is to give them links to sites that contain recordings, preferably MP3s ( I don't particularly like MIDI files) Such as: (to name 3)
www.clasiccat.net
www.classicalarchives.com
www.pianosociety.com
but then again you probably have thought of that already

[ludwig]

Thanks guys for the suggestions...I try my best to find resources online and actually "borrow" (hehe) stuff from schools I teach at...I try to encourage my students to not play the same things, (if I encouraged them to play the same grade pieces it would save a lot of time for me), I realise they have different tastes in music and play a few lines of the options and then let them choose their pieces. However, this is proving to be difficult since there are lots of options, the major problems and questions I have now are

1) Should I have an origianl of everything the student is playing? That would be a bit of a nightmare for me budget wise but I guess it'll be very useful, and does this edition have to be a really good one? (again budget and also literally hundreds of different pieces, 25 students x 4-5 pieces each)

2) Should I have a recording for all of those pieces? Even if its a copy? (recordings are much much harder to come by, especially if the student has chosen a 20th century not well known composition or something rarely recorded? The quality is really important, so is the style, and students will not be able to buy a few copies of the same piece...I feel a bit stupid actually when one of my students asks me for a recording of something they want to learn and I don't have it

so basically I'm finding myself choosing repetoire for students more and more from what I have at home, which isn't that bad a collection, I have all the basics from the standard, before 20th century stuff, which is cool, but I think I'm restricting some of my students from pieces which would suit them (like late 19th/20th east european composers and styles, or australian 20th century pieces). The teacher's reponsible for exposing and guidance on repetoire, so I was wondering if you choose repetoire for students from basically what you have? much appreciated =)