How to Cure Music Teacher Burnout, with Eloise Hellyer

April 28, 2024, 5:58 PM · Every now and then, a music teacher needs a pep talk.

Fortunately, the Chicago-born, Italy-based violinist Eloise Hellyer has written a 450-page book that is pretty much that: 1 Teaches 2 Learn: Private Music Teaching and You.

Violin teacher Eloise Hellyer, with her book, "1 Teaches 2 Learn: Private Music Teaching and You."

The advice she gives is not your typical "teacher training." While it's helpful to learn specific pedagogy, such as finger placement on the bow, Hellyer goes into something far messier and more elemental: she dissects the psychology of being a teacher. She dives straight into our worst hang-ups - our difficulties in communicating, our ego problems, fears, frustrations - and offers a way to let go, get over yourself, and cast your role as teacher in a positive light. At the end of the book are interviews Hellyer did with famous players and pedagogues such as Gil Shaham, Robert Mann, Gidon Kremer, Vadim Brodsky, David Russell, Salvatore Accardo and others - asking them about their own experience with teachers and teaching, and more.

After reading the book, I also went to see Hellyer speak at a lecture she gave for teachers called "Renew Your Passion! Connect to Your Inner Powerhouse," a Shar Music-sponsored workshop at the 2024 American String Teachers Association Conference in March.

Like her book, her lecture held up a mirror to a teacher's inner life and offered wisdom and perspective. Here is one of her many wonderful insights: "Teaching is not something you do to someone, it is something you do with someone," Hellyer said.

Hellyer, who also publishes ViolinTeachersBlog.com, took aim at teacher burnout - that state of feeling tired, disconnected and full of dread. What causes a teacher to slip into that negative cycle, and how can it be turned around?

It helps if you can get into a state of "flow." "Flow" involves intrinsic motivation and immersion in the task at hand. In such a state, time feels transformed - your immersion is so complete that you no longer feel tired, upset or disconnected.

It's the difference between "efficient" teaching, and "effective" teaching. "Efficient" teaching focuses on doing things right - is the student playing "correctly"? Does that bow hand look right? Is it in tune? "Effective" teaching focuses on doing the right thing - is the student engaged in the learning? What would engage the student, to get the point across?

Effective teaching involves "being in a state that is so receptive that a circle forms around you and the student," Hellyer said. It feels as though teacher becomes the student, and student becomes the teacher - the communication is that open.

To reach that kind of connection, you have to figure out what is stopping it or plugging it up.

Of course, there are famous teachers who get "great results" through fear and abuse - but at a terrible price.

Hellyer held up the famous violin pedagogue Ivan Galamian as an example of a teacher who connected with students in all the right ways: He had no favorites. He gave everyone his or her 59 minutes of lesson time. He was immensely devoted, teaching 10 hours a day, seven days a week, up until he died at the age of 78.

Teaching in a state of flow involves communication and connection on the highest level. But what could be holding a teacher back from reaching that high level? Hellyer offered six problematic attitudes that could be interfering, and why:

1. Our conditioning. In other words, our attachment to how things "should be" can keep us from seeing how things really are. As a teacher, you have to let go of concepts of what "should be" in order see where your student is coming from. Suzuki advocated something similar: "Meeting the student where he is at."

2. Victimhood and taking things personally. A teacher who reacts will not be able to be a compassionate teacher. If you see someone as "being" a problem - that is about you. If you see someone as "having" a problem, then you can deal with this and try to help them. Take nothing personally!

3. Opinion: sizing up students. If you decide that a certain student has a certain personality, certain talents, certain characteristics, then you box that student in. You wind up with confirmation bias: "You teach your idea of the student, instead of teaching your student," Hellyer said. People change and evolve, and what's more, you might simply be wrong. It's better to simply observe the student in the moment and go about working with whatever comes up.

4. Looking at "what" instead of "why." When something is happening that is not working, try putting the word "why" in front of it. For example. Instead of ruminating on the idea that the student is not practicing, ask "Why is the student not practicing?" Instead of dwelling on what is happening, look at why it is happening. This allows for the possibility of also finding solutions.

5. "Dukha." This is a sanskrit word for a general sense of "unsatisfactoriness" that can become a way of being. "Never being satisfied" is not a virtue! Sure, sometimes we want to do more, we want to do better. But when this turns into constant self-criticism and dissatisfaction, that is a problem. Remember, you can't force excellence on someone. So don't forget to take stock of what is going well and what progress has been made. "Look at what is good, not always at what could be better."

6. Failing to value your own teaching. "Teachers always make an impression on their students," Hellyer said. "Do not underestimate the importance in what you do."

Teaching is never easy, and difficult situations will come up. The trick is to work with what you've got and seek to learn from those situations. "Let nothing come between you and your student."

If a student is having a behavioral problem, ask, why? Why do they keep coming? Your lessons may be very important to that child. "What you think people are paying you for and what they think may be completely different."

She also warned that when a teacher fires a student, that can have a terrible, long-term effect on the student - and even on the wider community. Conversely, when a teacher nurtures a student's enthusiasm and love of music - even if they are not destined become a famous soloist or professional musician - that student might yet become a passionate advocate for the arts, a board member who helps lead the local symphony, or a donor who helps build music school. They might simply become an amateur musician who is comforted by their love of and participation in music for a lifetime.

"It's enough if they know what music is and they love it," Hellyer said. "If your mission is to promote music, it's hard to go wrong."

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Hellyer's book, 1 Teaches, 2 Learn: Private Music Teaching and You, is available for purchase from Shar, in book form (click here), or as a digital download (click here).

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Replies

Richard Pairaudeau

April 29, 2024 at 07:54 PM · This is a heartening article Laurie. I particularly like the point that a "student might yet become a passionate advocate for the arts, a board member who helps lead the local symphony, or a donor who helps build [a] music school." It is only a disappearingly small number of those that start on an instrument who will go on to professional or soloist careers, but I bet that quite a number will go on to become concert-goers and to buy recordings. Music teachers are also preparing the audiences of the future. Eloise Hellyer is doing great work!

Laurie Niles

April 30, 2024 at 07:07 PM · Thank you Richard - it is so true! Her lecture was really a shot in the arm.

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