Goal Setting – to be the Youngest UMTC Teacher
Pauline has shared her passion for music with her students AND her children.
Pauline's daughters began studying with Pam Smirl at PJ Music Studio in Victoria.
Pauline decided to teach her son Voxov.
When I first heard of Voxov and his dedication, desire and determination to succeed at completing the Ultimate Music Theory Workbooks, I was just blown away by his goal setting!
Goal Setting began with Pauline. Meet Music Teacher Pauline Rae Miller and her son Voxov. Voxov has a goal... to be the Youngest Ultimate Music Theory Certified Teacher ever!
Pauline Miller is a remarkable teacher of Piano and Theory. She is a grad of the University of Victoria with a Bachelor of Music.
Pauline is currently setting goals and building her own successful piano and theory studio in Alberta, Canada.
Goal Setting is the greatest motivation for achievement!
Goal Setting - This is Voxov.
Voxov is 7 years old, and as part of his musical training, he has to do music theory. He also HAS to do theory, specifically Ultimate Music Theory!
It’s the first thing he does in the morning, pairing cluster chords with his pancakes and milk.
We have eclectic conversations about esoteric theoretical questions like:
- "What if you wrote a scale in E double sharp- what would the leading tone be?" and more down-to-earth statements like:
- "WHY are there so MANY imperfect cadences?? I’m TIRED of doing imperfect cadences!"
Voxov was a most welcome surprise addition to our family.
He started his musical training when he was quite young, and has had the added benefit of listening to his two sisters play piano and do theory.
As I write this, we are on the scout for another piano, as practice time here is a little difficult to come by.
Our house is like musical chairs, when the music stops, you’d better find a piano bench quickly or you are out of luck!
I saw pictures of Voxov "Super Ultimate Music Theory Boy" popping up on Facebook. One of my favorite pictures of Voxov is him armed with his Vanilla tea (my personal favorite as well) and his So-La and Ti-Do stickers to get his daily 10 pages of theory done.
I contacted his mom Pauline and asked if she would share the story of Voxov - his goal setting to be the Youngest UMTC Teacher.
Here's how it all started and the Story of Voxov "Super Ultimate Music Theory Boy" by our Guest Blogger - Pauline Rae Miller.
Some things you do because you have to do them.
And some things you do because you HAVE to.
Either way, you have to do things, and guess what?
It takes just as long to go nowhere as it does to arrive at your goal.
As I struggled trying to teach my girls theory, a good friend Lana Buschert recommended Glory St. Germain’s Ultimate Music Theory system.
I purchased the books immediately!
Having studied music theory in University to rather, ahem, less than stellar results, my admiration for this amazing system quickly grew as I realized how incredibly valuable this resource was.
Although neither of my girls really enjoy music theory, they did much better with the UMT system. We keep hoping Glory St. Germain will develop the Ultimate Harmony System next. (hint hint)
When my husband remarked that Voxov should start with theory, I purchased the Prep 1 and Prep 2 Rudiments Workbooks for him.
To my surprise, he really seemed to enjoy theory.
Suddenly Glory’s “Theory Club” plug at one of her seminars started to make sense.
There ARE actually students out there that love theory.
Who knew!?
Voxov started out doing a random page here and there, based mostly on my haphazard approach at the time.
Life had become suddenly much more complicated last winter.
When my husband remarked that Voxov should start with theory, I purchased the Prep 1 and Prep 2 Rudiments Workbooks for him.
To my surprise, he really seemed to enjoy theory.
Suddenly Glory’s “Theory Club” plug at one of her seminars started to make sense.
There ARE actually students out there that love theory.
Who knew!?
Voxov started out doing a random page here and there, based mostly on my haphazard approach at the time.
Life had become suddenly much more complicated last winter.
Nonetheless, Voxov really enjoyed doing theory.
When we discovered that the deadline for taking an exam under the “old” RCM system was August 2017, we made a financial decision.
Goal Setting - One exam instead of 3.
I asked Voxov to try to do 6 pages of theory a day, just to see if he could do it.
He could, and did!
When he completed the Basic Rudiments, he got to take his friend Henry out for pizza!
Goal Setting - We moved right on to Intermediate Rudiments.
When he finished that in 3 weeks, Trevor Bennett UMTC, recommended the Complete Rudiments.
That’s a big book!
I knew he’d have to work more quickly to complete the book before the exam.
Voxov's goal was to complete 10 pages a day.
He will finish the Complete Rudiments book in 10 days.
Goal Setting!
Voxov is excited to complete his Advanced Theory Exam May 13, 2017.
He has a LOT of work to do before then.
Guess What? He completed his Grade 2 RCM Practical Exam with massive success.
Voxov’s goal is to be the youngest theory teacher out there.
He’d like to take the Ultimate Music Theory Certification Course teacher training offered by UMT!
I'm a proud mom and teacher! Voxov is an inspired, goal setting "Super Ultimate Music Theory Boy"!
Goal Setting - Dream Big ~ Pauline Rae Miller
Thanks Pauline for sharing the story of Goal Setting with Voxov. You are never too young and never too old to Set Goals. Just take the first step.
Want to share your story of inspiration, adventure or share ideas for learning and teaching? We'd love to hear from you!
Teach With Passion... Enriching Life Through Music Education!
Glory St. Germain
