I have been at the Smith Masters in Social Work program, the first of
three, extremely intense, academic summer sessions.  This summer
focused on the foundational theories that modern day therapists and
social workers use.  I learned all sorts of theories for family
therapy, child therapy, individual psychology, policy, agency,
sociocultural postmodern identity, group therapy, etc… it has been a
roller coaster ride of thinking, not much sleeping, and a lot of
reading & writing.  But in the end, and in part, this is what I am
supposed to be doing.  This fall I will be working at Berkshire
Children & Families in Hadley, helping with permanency placement for
foster care to adoption, it should be very challenging and very
rewarding!  Of course the other part of me is a musician, and I am
very interested to see how these two worlds will meld together.

I hope your music, or son’s/daughter’s music, is going well.  I
enjoyed working with those of you I saw in July and am looking forward
to working with all of you again in the future.  While I am still not
entirely sure of my schedule, I know generally what my obligations
will be in the fall and feel comfortable enough to write to you now.

There are a few changes that I want to inform you of: Schedule,
Location, Length, Frequency and Rate.

Schedule:  Visit here to see this weeks teaching schedule/available time slots:

http://www.levinschwartz.com/lessons/calendar/

Location:  I will be teaching at my house and traveling to your houses
to teach.  My address is:
17 Number 6 rd, Leverett, MA 01054

Beginning September, 2009, I will be teaching primarily on Monday & Tuesday.

Frequency:  In general, to accommodate the number of students whom
wish to continue taking lessons, we are going to have operate on an
every-other-week teaching schedule.  If there is someone who is very
interested in taking lessons every week, contact me and we can see if
we can work it out.

Length:  In general, I am only going to teach hour long lessons,
unless you are under 12, then I will teach 45 min lessons (no more 30
min lessons).

Rates:  If I go to your house: $45/hour, if you are under 12 years
old: $40/45 min.
If you come to my house $40/hour, if you are under 12 years old: $35/45 min.

That about covers it, let me know if you have a preferred day(s) and
if you would prefer me to come to you or visa-versa.  If you come to
leverett I should let you know that we have a dog and two cats (just
in case of allergies).  Also, for those parents out there, you would
be totally welcome to hang out and read, use the internet, drink
coffee…whatever, while your child was having a lesson.
Take care all.  I hope you had a wonderful summer.
Talk to you soon,
Levin

Resolve: I hope my students will develop a lifelong learning attitude, consistently evaluating their progress and reflecting on how to improve their abilities. Learning an instrument and the language of music takes time. From an educational perspective it is a process, and as my favorite college professor used to say, “You must trust the process.” As fluency is built, I will impress upon the student the value of making his or her own musical decisions. Right from the beginning I would love to hand my students a set of “hall passes” labeled ‘avid theorist’, ‘outstanding improviser’, and ‘prodigal composer’. These “hall passes” would allow all my students to wander the halls and go anywhere in their musical lives. However, I can only give students’ physical exercises, examples and theoretical ideas to become competent. With these I believe that everyone has the ability to set their own goals and take the necessary measures to meet them. By cultivating their own values and nurturing their own intellectual curiosities, each student will eventually be able to learn by their own design.