Mastering the Art of Multitasking: Teaching, Admin Work, and Personal Practice

If you’re a music teacher, chances are you wear a lot of hats. You’re not just an educator—you may also a business owner, administrator, community-builder, and often, a performing or practicing musician yourself. While it's deeply rewarding to live a life immersed in music, balancing all of these roles can feel like juggling timpani mallets during a windstorm.

Let’s talk about how to make the multitasking a little more manageable—and maybe even enjoyable.

Acknowledge the Season You’re In

Some weeks are all about teaching. Others demand more focus on business tasks, like scheduling, billing, or event planning. And sometimes, your personal practice or creative projects need to take center stage.
The trick isn’t to give every area equal attention all the time—it’s to recognize which season you’re in and adjust your expectations accordingly.

Try This: At the beginning of each week, write down which area of your professional life needs the most attention. Use that as your north star when prioritizing tasks.

Batch and Block Your Time

Switching gears too often is exhausting. One of the simplest time-management upgrades you can make is batching similar tasks and blocking dedicated time for them. Instead of responding to messages between every student, designate one or two time slots a day for communication. Same goes for lesson planning, admin work, or practicing.

Bonus Tip: Treat your personal practice time like a student lesson—put it in your calendar and protect it!

Streamline with Supportive Systems

You don’t need to do everything manually. From automating studio communications to organizing teaching materials in one place, using the right tools can reduce mental load and free up creative energy.

For Practice Space users: Features like the shared teacher library, multimedia lesson assignments, and practice tracking make it easier to manage the teaching side, so you can put more energy into your music (or just take a well-earned breather!).

Let Go of Perfection—Done Is Good

We get it—you want to give every student a customized, inspiring experience. But if writing the “perfect” assignment is keeping you up at night, remember: done is better than perfect. A well-thought-out but simple lesson is still incredibly effective.

Pro Tip: Reuse great assignments or challenge ideas across students—just tweak where needed! Practice Space makes this easy too.

Lean Into Your Community

Whether it’s a local teacher meetup or an online group of educators, connecting with others who get it can help you feel less alone and offer practical support. You might find your next best studio system, assignment idea, or bit of inspiration just by chatting with a colleague.

💬 If you're a Practice Space user, our Facebook group is a great place to share wins, get advice, and stay inspired.

Celebrate the Wins (Even the Small Ones)

You answered all your emails. You taught seven students in a row with energy. You practiced for 20 minutes. You finally organized your recital sign-up sheet.
These are victories—name them, notice them, and give yourself credit.

You’re not just multitasking—you’re holding together an ecosystem of creativity, education, and artistry. That’s no small thing.

You’re doing amazing work. And you’re not alone.

✨ Keep teaching. Keep practicing. Keep growing.