Stick your neck out. (In Unison).(getting involved in your music association)

Throughout our country for the last decade or so, all of us have read about individuals, groups and organizations that have participated in "Make a Difference" programs. These programs recognize acts and events that take place and make a difference in peoples' lives, in our society and in our environment.

As we "gear up" for the beginning of school and our fall lesson programs, let's consider some ways that we can make a difference: 1) on a personal level; 2) on the independent studio/ college level; 3) on the local association level; 4) on the state association level; and 5) on the national level.

Now, all of us are busy! That goes without saying! How can we juggle one more responsibility or volunteer activity in our lives? Perhaps we need to reevaluate and prioritize differently. First, each of us has different priorities at different times in our lives. Since my children are now on their own and have spouses, children and careers, my relationship with them is on a different level than parents who are in the midst of raising their children and involved with school activities and so forth. Each of us must look first at our personal lives and determine how we can best spend the time we have.

Second, as professional musicians and teachers, we should evaluate our career goals, business management of our studios, teaching goals for our studios, competitive and noncompetitive activities for our students, college course syllabi and so on. Personally, I am always looking for ways to streamline the business management of my studio, ways to motivate my students to accomplish more during their music study and ways of evaluating my college course syllabi, dropping those ideas that don't seem to work well and searching for new ways to teach a concept. Is there a way I can accomplish a task with less work, more enthusiasm and more interest on the part of the students? How can I make a difference? For example, one way in which I have developed interest in rhythmic reading and understanding in my ear-training classes is to have groups of students write and perform "rap" compositions. Their ideas were great! By actually deciding and writing out the rhythms and words themselves, they learned much more about rhythm than I could tell them. What activities do you have on the local and state levels that students could participate in? Have you considered using the MTNA Music Study Awards and Achievement Awards in your studio or perhaps holding a Studio Festival? One of my young boys came up to me after the spring recital and proudly showed me his MTNA Achievement Award Pin, placed on his tie as a tie tack!

Making a difference often means taking a chance or a risk. In a recent issue of the Frontline Employee, a newsletter from the Employee Advisory Service for Washington State employees, the following vignette appeared:

 
   "Ask people who have 
   advanced in their careers and 
   you will hear that taking risks 
   was one of the secrets to their 
   success. You will also hear that 
   some paid off, while others did 
   not. Are you passing up high-yield, 
   safe risks that can help get 
   you where you want to go in 
   your job? Classic opportunities 
   missed include raising your hand 
   to lead that ...