An Emphasis on Healthy Relationships and Communication

Beyond learning music, UpBeat students receive mentorship from their instructors with the goal of encouraging positive communication and building mutually respectful relationships. Music is a powerful avenue to provide mentorship and show our students what it means to belong to a greater community.

How Do We Mentor?

Relationship Building

Students and teachers will get to know each other, with instructors providing an empathetic ear and a caring figure. We have seen first-hand the value that students reap from these efforts and both students and parents report an increase in confidence and creativity after taking lessons with UpBeat.

Student Performances

There are three elements to how we approach student performances as an extension of our mentoring program: preparation, performance, and reflection.

Preparation

Performing in front of friends, family, and peers can be very intimidating for musicians; in order to alleviate this anxiety, UpBeat instructors take care to prepare each student for the act of performing itself. This includes talking about posture, how to speak into the microphone, and what to do if you make a mistake on stage. Beyond the applications to performing in front of an audience, these lessons are broadly useful for the students as they grow.

Performance

While the preparation is an essential aspect, the performance itself is where the student overcomes any concerns they may have and shows their friends and family the progress they have made. This achievement builds confidence and is often a source of pride for the students.

Reflection

Once the performance is done, the students are given time to reflect. Teachers will ask students to consider how the performance went, how could they improve, and what they did well. The ability to effectively reflect on their actions, whether it’s their performances or things they do in everyday life, is invaluable and a key aspect of our mentorship.

Learning Life skills

The final aspect of our mentorship practices involves teaching students indispensable skills which they will need to navigate our world. UpBeat instructors and board members will give workshops on useful skills, including everything from ‘how to tell your story’ to ‘how to write an email’ and ‘how to interview.’ These workshops also give instructors and students to get to better know one another outside of the context of a lesson. Altogether, our service learning activities provide an excellent opportunity to strengthen our community while providing valuable skills to our students.