Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Hot Crossed Buns can lay the groundwork for your child’s success in the future. A student who starts music in 4th grade has the opportunity to spend 9 years honing their musical skills before they graduate high school. How can you make the most of this opportunity from day one and turn music into college acceptances and scholarships? You don’t need to be a musician for music to pay off.
“Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise” – Michael Jordan
Getting started off in music can feel slow. But getting started off right, and getting your fundamentals down early, makes music rewarding, fulfilling, and fun. With the right start and the right help, students go from feeling like music is a struggle to learning and improving at a breakneck pace. The easiest way to get your student set up with strong fundamentals and engage them with progress and success are private lessons.
With private lessons, even if they are just over the summer, students will get the 1 on 1 attention that is necessary to fix small fundamental problems that get missed in a classroom setting. It also introduces them to new and exciting solo music beyond what they play in band or orchestra. A half hour private lesson a week will make a night and day difference in both a student’s playing and their attitude towards the instrument.
“Hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard.” – Tim Notke
There is a myth that some people just aren’t musical, or that some people just aren’t good at music. While it is true that some people aren’t interested in playing music, it is 100% false that some people can’t learn an instrument. Our private teachers work with people of all different ages, with all different experience levels (yes even some people who swear they are ‘tonedeaf’) and with private lessons and practice at home everyone grows as a musician.
Even if it is just 10 minutes a day, practice at home helps students grow as they learn music. With a little bit of hard work, absolutely any student can grow into a great musician regardless of how shaky they started out.
The Payoff
College applications have a specific feature designed to let students show off their musical and artistic talents. It’s called an arts supplement and it can often help a student get into their dream school or get them a scholarship.
What is an arts supplement? An arts supplement is a secondary component to a college application that gets submitted in addition to the rest of the application materials. In the case of music this is typically a video of the student performing.
What is the benefit? While the largest factor in admissions is the standard application, an arts supplement allows students to differentiate themselves from other applicants. Sometimes an arts supplement can even get you considered for additional merit scholarships. The bottom line is a strong arts supplement can push you over the edge and give you the depth of application needed to get in to many schools.
At the end of the day all of the time spent driving to lessons, performances, and listening to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is worth it. Regardless of where your students’ academic passions end up, music can help them accomplish their goals through something as simple as an arts supplement.