Lessons for Music Teachers from Folk Dancing

Teachers can find lessons everywhere if they look carefully enough. In this article, I want to share with you the lessons I learnt from my years of folk dancing that show up today in my music studio.I was that student growing up. You know the one that you complain to other teachers about because they’re too overscheduled to practice?Yeah, that one.The thing was, I wasn’t actually overscheduled. My parents weren’t the driving force behind my busy timetable. It was me.I wouldn’t quit anything.One of the many things I wouldn’t quit was Irish dancing. (Before you ask...Yeah, sure, kinda like Riverdance.)I could’ve been a better pianist if I focussed entirely on piano. However, I believe it’s experiences outside music that made me the teacher I am today. As you read through my lessons from folk dancing, I hope you’ll take some of them with you. But, more than that, I hope you’ll investigate some of your own experiences and think about how they’ve affected the teacher you’ve become.