Technology

I had a student sit down at my piano today for his lesson and ask, "Is this always on?"  :)

Summer Plans

My hope is to continue teaching regularly through the summer.  I have only a handful of students, all beginners.  I don't want them to take a summer off and lose what they've learned (or lose them as a student!).  One family is taking a month long vacation, but will start again in August.  And I am hoping to do longer lessons with a couple of my advancing students.  I hope to take a bit of time to catch up on some things that get overlooked during the regular year, including composition and notation with one student, and playing lead sheets with another.  I've started on their theory for next year already so we can learn it gradually, and soon it will be time to pick out duets to polish for the Ensemble Festival in the fall.  Hopefully I can slow down for a bit though and look for what doors the student opens during the lesson!

Recital Reflections

My "year end" recital was about a week ago, taking place while I was recovering from a bad flu.  I had to cancel and rearrange lessons the prior week, so I wasn't even sure whether some of the pieces would be ready, especially the duets.  But everyone pulled through, worked hard, and every student did their very best that night.  I started the evening feeling confident, knowing the night was really about the student.  But I'm not sure how well I did making sure each student and family knew how much their child means to me.  I'm not an extremely "social" person, I don't mingle well, and nerves took over when I began the program.  I kept my comments to a minimum, when I perhaps should have said more.  I am not sure what I will do next year - perhaps plan my opening and closing statements more thoroughly, maybe add some sort of recognition of achievements made throughout the year (syllabus levels completed, songs memorized, etc.).  Something to make the students and families feel special.  My favorite part that night was watching my newest student, a 7-year old boy who only started in April, play at his first recital.  Nothing beat the joy in his face while he looked over at his mom - while he was playing his duet with me - and smiled big!  That's what recitals are all about.