Between The Lines Music

A Teaching Philosophy Say hello to Dr. Timothy VanCleave, Between the Lines Music's drums, vibraphone, percussion, and music history specialist, as well as being our first guest blogger! Thank you, Timothy, for sharing this post with us! Being a music teacher is humbling and transformational work and has helped me to understand the importance of addressing a student’s social and emotional needs. It further solidified my belief that music has a special role in society and that music education changes lives. I am passionate about sharing music with students and helping to contribute to the newest generation of musicians. My variety of teaching experiences have led me to be a teacher that values balancing high standards with empathy and recognition of every student’s unique needs. It is essential to first build a lasting trust with the student so that they will be willing to take risks, ask questions, and feel comfortable in the learning environment. Once trust i...

Simple question, right? Let's talk about it! We all know that different children develop at different rates, and there are a lot of skills that all need to be in place before a child is ready for lessons (especially private, one-on-one lessons). Since we at Between the Lines Music School don't know your child (not yet, anyway), we developed a "checklist" that can help us make that decision with you.  Once we (parent and teacher) have made a preliminary decision, we will set up a short introductory lesson ($15). It gives our teachers a chance to meet the student with the parent present, and perform an assessment, after which we will make a recommendation. If we confirm that the child is, indeed, ready to start lessons, we will finish the registration process, and book your next lessons. If we think your child isn't quite ready, we will give you some suggestions about the next steps to take to prepare him or her for private lessons next term or next yea...

What are these "Snow Days" of which you speak? Let me first preface this entry by mentioning the fact that I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. If there had been such a thing as a "snow day" in Edmonton, no child would have attended school between November (or sometimes October) and early April (or sometimes May). So the whole concept of a city more or less shutting down after a snowfall was pretty foreign to me, until I moved to Portland. Now, listen, I get it. We're in really hilly territory here, and unlike Edmonton, where the temperature goes below freezing and can be counted on to stay there for months at a time, here in Portland we'll get snow, and freezing rain, and then more snow and it hovers around the freezing point for days, melting and re-freezing and causing undriveable ice rinks over most of the city. I also understand that this year has produced record-setting levels of snowfall. That said, however, as a teacher of private mus...

Here at Between The Lines Music School, we've decided to adopt the slogan "Take Music Lessons Like a Grownup!" But what does that mean? How does a person take lessons like a grownup, and how do we change our teaching style to meet the needs of an adult student? So how is it different when you take lessons as an adult, instead of as a kid? Well, first of all, you're taking lessons because you want to, not because your mom or dad told you to. One of the joys of teaching adults is knowing that they actually want to be there! Adult students also tend to have more specific goals in mind when they start taking lessons. On the other hand, adults tend to get frustrated faster when their progress isn't as swift as they feel it should be. They don't remember how long it took to learn how to read, or do math, or any of the brand new skills they learned as kids. Learning music is like learning a new language, and although it's definitely possible, it will t...

Labor Day Already!?!? So, here we are in September! We are refreshed after a lovely Portland summer and looking forward to our new "teaching year!" I remember reading an essay by Robert Fulghum (the " All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned In Kindergarten Guy") that talked about how, even after many years being out of school, he still felt like September felt more like the beginning of a cycle of living than January did. I can totally relate to that. Summer sun and heat and time at the beach or by the pool feels like the reward for all your hard work during the last twelve months, and September, when the Northwest rains return, feels like time to get back to business. We at Between the Lines are excited to get back into the groove, so to speak, and we encourage you to do the same. Whether you took lessons last month, last year, or twenty years ago, take advantage of our Back to (Music) School Discount Coupon! Right now, you can receive 10% OFF with the purc...

What will you do when your child tells you she wants to quit music lessons?  Because, let's face it, the likelihood is that, at some point (or points), they will want to quit, so we might as well be prepared for the conversation. Music lessons (and the practicing they require) are not completely, 100% fun all the time. There are complex skills involved, both physical and intellectual, for every instrument; skills that don't come easily or intuitively. For every breakthrough, there is often a long period of feeling "stuck." Most of the time, when kids say they want to quit lessons, it actually means they want to quit practicing . Unfortunately, it is the practicing that eventually allows the playing part to be so much fun! And it can take years of lessons to get to the point where a student is truly self-motivated to keep playing and practicing and learning. So many students quit before they reach that point... and those are the students who come back to B...