Quiet Quitting, Should Piano Teachers Do It?
I have been hearing more and more about this thing called ‘Quiet Quitting’ especially from my classroom teaching friends. I loudly quit my classroom teaching job in 2013. The ongoing certification requirements, low pay, behavior management in the classroom, made me realize that classroom teaching wasn’t for me. So, I left the classroom to focus on private piano teaching, gigging, writing, and composing.
I have a lot of friends who are still in the classroom and most of them are not thrilled with the situation. But it’s not just teachers, nurses, office workers, corporate employees, and even medical doctors, are talking about how unhappy they are with their work. Many can’t afford to leave, many have ‘golden handcuffs’ in the form of pensions or high salaries.
Along comes this new thing called Quiet Quitting.
What is it?
Quiet quitting refers to employees doing only the minimum required for their jobs without going above and beyond, often as a response to feeling undervalued or overworked. This trend has gained attention as workers seek better work-life balance and disengage from the hustle culture.
Assist.com
Honestly, I don’t think it’s anything new really. My Pop ran his own business and had a few employees that today might be referred to as ‘Quiet Quitters’.
You know; show up right on time, punch out right on time, do only what is required, and don’t take work home.
I totally get it. Some things in life we just don’t have control over. If you are stuck for whatever reason in an unfair, toxic work environment, you have to save yourself. That may mean pulling back, taking care of number one, and not absorbing, stress, over-work, and negativity.
But what about us? What about piano teachers?
There is no doubt that our work can be frustrating, challenging, and stressful. Students that don’t practice week after week, parents that won’t adhere to studio policies, constant schedule changes due to sports and other activities deemed more important than music, can make us feel discouraged.
Should WE ‘Quiet Quit’? Can we check out and coast?
Teach for thirty minutes and be done with it.
Unfortunately, (or actually fortunately) we can’t. And in my opinion, we don’t want to.
First of all, most of us run our own businesses. We are studio owners, or solopreneurs. The proverbial buck stops with us. My Pop had to show up. It was his business. Our studios are our businesses, we have to keep them going. If we don’t, our bottom line will suffer.
Secondly, we are teachers. What we do makes a difference. Providing information, support, and most of all encouragement is crucial to the success of our students. If we give up, our students will likely give up as well.
And that’s-a no good!
Here’s how I found out.
A couple of years before I left Florida to move to Cleveland (yes you read that correctly, lol) I had some family stuff going on. I didn’t know anything about ‘quiet quitting’ at the time, but I guess that’s what I did. I kept teaching but I wasn’t doing the job up to my usual standards.
It didn’t take long before studio atrophy started to take effect. I fell into a slump and my students went into it with me. I skipped the spring recital and canceled a few lessons. I stopped advertising and onboarding new students. Parents started noticing the lack of progress and enthusiasm, and students started leaving.
Yikes!
Luckily, things calmed down. I got back on track before too much damage was done. I had a full studio again.
But I learned a valuable lesson. My studio is a reflection of me. I know I can’t be one hundred percent happy one hundred percent of the time. No one can, but I have to do my best.
In the next post I’ll share what I do to keep the joy and energy going in my studio, so that I don’t feel like I want to ‘quiet quit’.
“People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude”
John C. Maxwell
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