Being a classroom guitar teacher is a great! You get to play music, think music, and breathe music, but the day-to-day can be challenging. Fortunately, when you are trying to motivate and help a classroom full of kids become a classroom full of awesome guitarists, you can stand on the shoulders of giants.
Here are some quotes from great athletes and coaches that could have been said in the classroom as easily as on the field.
Champions keep playing until they get it right. ~ Billie Jean King
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Practice, practice, practice! Remind your students that when a great guitarists play they have years (or decades) of practicing behind them. The only reason it looks effortless is because all of the effort was put in before the concert.
Before you can win, you have to believe you are worthy. – Mike Ditka
But, it’s not just practice, musicians also have to have moxie. You have to have the self confidence to think you’re going to knock it out of the park at the next concert.
Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better. – Pat Riley
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Getting better happens incrementally. When you’re students are feeling like they’re not making progress, reassure them. There is progress it just takes a while to notice.
The will to win is meaningless without the will to prepare! – Joe Gibbs
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Everyone has the will to get an “A” in the class, but they have to put in the work. Your students will get there if they are willing to work for it.
Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win. – Bobby Knight
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Have your students prepare with the end goal in mind. Tell them to visualize the audience and hear their applause at the close of the concert. Tell your students to hear themselves owning that piece of music. Then, ask your students to trace the steps back from that future and make it real.