It’s been a long, full summer, and it’s not quite over yet. Next week lessons start again, so I’m in the process of organizing music and materials and plans. I shudder when I think of how many years I taught with absolutely no preparation.

I received stacks of used music this summer from a couple of teachers who retired. It’s been quite fun to go through it all. There are multiple copies of a number of pieces that I am not likely to use, but I have also found some real gems and a ton of books that will be useful for my Sight Reading box.

This year instead of using the “official” sight reading books for exam preparation, I have put many books into a box, organized roughly by the level of difficulty. At every lesson, instead of me hunting for a book to give students to practice their daily few minutes of sight reading, I’ll let them pick a book from the box. It’ll save a few precious minutes of lesson time and, hopefully, pique their interest as they see the many different possibilities. This is also a good place to put all the books that I’ve acquired over the years from workshops, new music releases from publishers, stuff on sale that I’ve picked up from the music stores, and other music that I’ve never actually used.

Over the next few days I’ll share my Teacher Binder materials, Student Binder materials and assignment pages, and my new incentive program. I’m ready and excited for lessons to resume.