Why do I require summer lessons?

I love teaching in summer, if offers so much more freedom from the normal school schedule. School takes up a good 6 hours of a students’ day and with that 6 hours now freed up a little the students have the opportunity to play more music. They can also attend earlier in the day sometimes, and they are able to play music with others, as the schedule can be more flexible. Just like reading if you don’t play at least some piano during the summer break, going backwards in the lesson books is to be expected. I require 4 lessons during the summers to make sure that during the summer vacation the students’ have touched the piano. I have had students at a late elementary level come back from a summer break and have to do a quick review of the keys on the piano- something they learned the first month of lessons. I have also had students who have had to restart books and 6 months later were where they had finished the year before. It is hard for me to comprehend the reasoning behind taking summers off completely when doing just a little bit would be better for the brain and fingers than doing nothing at all. That’s not to say that breaks aren’t necessary sometimes. I take a month vacation in summer, just not a full 3-month hiatus.  

Some teachers offer summer camps weeklong sessions dealing specifically with various elements of playing the piano, these camps are lots of fun and really do help group dynamics later in the school year. While other teachers change the focus for summer, as it really is hard to keep up on ALL the interests of each student and summer can be a good time to focus on just composition, popular music, ensemble playing, or theory.