The First Half of the Journey

I have finished teaching for the fall of 2013, and my students are now enjoying an extended Christmas break. I ended up teaching 5 students every two weeks, working around my chemo treatments.  Most of them are first or second year students, just beginning their journey in piano playing.  I often wonder how far will their journey take them.  Will they continue lessons for another year, five years, into adulthood?  What makes some children want to quit after a few months, while others still play into their grown up lives?  It's easy to play the blame game: the parents should have made them practice more, the teacher should have made the lessons more engaging.  But I suppose it really has to come from somewhere within.  We do what we love to do.  If a child loves to shoot hoops, he'll play basketball.  If he loves to run, he'll go out for track.  My daughter loves dogs, so she runs a pet care business.  A child will either love music, or they won't.  If I offer them what they perceive to be what they love, they'll want to keep doing it.  If I offer them what is perceived as drills and drudgery, they won't. Since my students only had about eight lessons over the fall, I had to get my bang for the buck, so to speak.  I found pieces they loved, that were fun to play, that the student didn't mind playing over and over again.  I saw one boy light up when he figured out the pattern to Kabalevsky's "Scherzo," and another enjoy the cross handed arpeggios in a piece about a Flamingo.  Another found enjoyment in writing pieces, so we worked on several composition assignments. The joy they have now is worth far more than years of lessons in which they were only half-hearted about.  I hope to take these children through the first half of their piano journey, and anticipate seeing how far they go beyond the "finish line."  My cancer journey is coming to the half way mark. I will be completing my chemotherapy treatments this month, then I will have six weeks of radiation in Feb.-March.  I don't love the journey, but I love being alive, having hope to see my children grow, marry, meet my grandchildren one day, if the Lord be so gracious.  A child's musical journey may not always be pleasant, there really are drills and drudgery along the way, but if it's what he loves, he will look beyond that to the end, to the real joy of playing music he loves to hear.

A Season of Change

I wish I were merely speaking of the approaching autumn, my favorite season, with the changes of weather and color in the trees, warm cozy firelit nights, new routines to settle into, maybe a new student or two.  But this is a change that will set me on a new path which I can't return from. I was diagnosed with cancer in June, and will be starting chemotherapy in a few weeks after my surgery heals.  It still seems surreal, and I am uncertain where my future in teaching will go.  I made the difficult decision of turning one of my students over to another teacher, but I know it will be the best for him. He was approaching a late intermediate stage, which I am not comfortable teaching beyond, so it would be time for him to journey on soon anyway.  I know the new teacher will be a good fit and she will be able to bring out his full potential. I am actually excited for him, tho I hate letting go of the plans I had for his year ahead. Another family that has two boys whom I teach ironically is also struggling with a diagnosis of cancer for their mother.  She is going thru chemo currently, so they are on hiatus.  I am left with a mixed lot of students from beginners to older ones who struggle practicing and being faithful to lessons. I think they will be flexible with my schedule, and a missed week here or there will probably not set them back greatly. I will give them the option of finding another teacher, but somehow, I think these 8 students will stick with me.  As long as being bald doesn't scare them too much...  I am hopeful that I will make it thru everything, and will come out with a remnant that I can still build a studio on. If God has other plans, then I will walk down that road when I come to it.  My posts may be farther between, or of a different nature now. But I still hope to provide some sort of firm foundation for my students, musically or otherwise.  So for now, off on my journey I must go.

Relatively Speaking

This is probably a no-brainer for most piano teachers, but sometimes my brain works more slowly than usual.  While explaining dynamics to a student this week, I simply correlated it to our speaking tones.

p=whisper
mp=talk softly
mf=normal talking
f=loud talking
ff=shouting!

It worked like a marvel, he played the whole piece with very good contrast.  I may even try to make a poster for my studio to help beginners learn the differences in dynamic expression. :)

You don't need to know that.....

...but isn't that wonderful that you do! While preparing for an annual syllabus exam, my student began demonstrating chord progressions in keys he wasn't required to know yet.  My first response was to tell him not to worry about them. Then I almost bit my tongue and began praising him for how well he applied what he knew about chord progressions and asked him to show me more that he had figured out.  I realized quickly I wasn't wasting precious review time, but rather he was showing me how well he was understanding the theory he had been taught.  While discernment does need to be applied, I hope I can stop myself again when a student wants to deviate from what I think is necessary at the time and encourage exploration of their interests and accomplishments!

Another Quote on Winning

Winning is for a moment, but becoming better lasts forever.

I heard that on a cooking competition I watch frequently on television.  The contestant wasn't discouraged that she didn't win, but rather looked for what she could gain from the experience to become a better chef.  I recently entered students into our local MTA's Bach Festival, which is competitive, each student receiving adjudicator's comments.  I tried to encourage them to enter the event, not to focus on winning, but to learn from the experience as they develop their skills.  The feedback gave positive reinforcement, and some new ways to try performing their pieces. I think there are often winners who take away less than the "loser" who grows.

Try 3, not 2

"Don’t correct mistakes, instead find the source of the error."

I came across this quoted quote of a quote on another piano teacher's blog this evening.  It was exactly what I experienced with one student this afternoon.  She knew her piece well, except for one particular measure with a broken inverted G chord.  She understood the notes, knew what she was supposed to do, but hit it wrong every time.  We took a look at the fingering, and decided using her third finger on the starting note instead of the second made more sense.  We switched the fingering, and it was perfect!  Every time!  Yay!

The article I read today continued on saying that fingering was one of the biggest reasons the notes are played incorrectly.  She also mentioned not noticing dynamic markings and articulations, or simply not knowing how they should sound when correctly expressed.  I also tried this afternoon to go over a section of my student's song with a  piano and forte section.  We played it until she could make the contrast she heard me play.

I love this quote and this way of thinking.  I often ask myself, Why is this student making this mistake?  It pays to find out! 

Reflections....

I think it is time for a little reflection and evaluation of being a teacher.  Last week, I had two students stop taking lessons.  Today, two students cancelled their lessons last-minute, and they are both families I consider "on the edge," meaning I wouldn't be surprised if they took a break from lessons as well.  I am not sure what to think...is it me, something I am doing?  Or do families simply take piano lessons lightly and not really want the commitment?  I am trying to use these as learning experiences. The two students who have stopped were really too young for the methods I use to teach.  I will have higher qualifications next time I evaluate a new student: they need to know how to read and write their letters (or better, are reading), they need to be able to play with all five fingers, and they need to be able to pay attention for at least 20-30 minutes.  As for the students I have remaining, none of these things are an issue.  Overall, I see a lack of motivation in my students.  They don't eagerly go home to practice, they don't seem to care if they get any better, and parents don't seem to support the requirements of taking piano lessons.  There are two recitals and an evaluation coming up in the next 3-4 months.  I am hoping to really build this up, really get students excited and eager to learn their pieces.  Maybe I need to reflect on what my attitude is towards these students...do I expect them to succeed?  Or have I somewhat given up on them?  Tomorrow is a new day...I pray I can face it with some joy and revival.  I have to count blessings too:  I have two new adult ladies starting this month.  One has taken lessons previously and just needed some new direction; the other will be playing for the very first time.  It's interesting how many adults I have - will some of these young students that have left reach 30 or 40 and wish they had kept taking lessons someday....? [And can I prevent the students I have now from this.]  I am also becoming more active in the local Music Teacher's Assoc, which seems almost ironic as I am losing students!  Hopefully, I will look back at this post in the future and understand more what was happening now at a time I could easily get discouraged, but choose to plod on....!

Stop! (And make them happy!)

My precocious 5-year old student was learning about whole notes and whole rests today.  When we played the whole notes, I told him you have to give them a full four counts, or else they won't be happy.  We then encountered whole rests, which he thought looked like a stop light.  That's great, I said, because that's what you do when you get to one - stop playing and rest for four counts.  Just like a whole note, they won't be happy if you don't give them four counts.  He counted out his line, giving every whole note and whole rest it's full four counts.  Are they happy? he asked.  Yes, they are very happy!

A Break Doeth Good

Yesterday was my first full afternoon of teaching since the holidays, and I was pleasantly surprised (if not all-out amazed) at how well my students did!  One young man, who had very spotty lessons through December, came prepared to play his last assigned song quite well.  We had just introduced playing with hands together, and he has come so far on that.  Another older beginner started thinking about how many words could be spelled out of just A-G.  Though I was trying to introduce a song to him, I pulled out the flash cards instead (an idea from another blog) and showed him words from 3 to 7 letters.  He's just learning where all the notes are too, so it was great to see him whiz through them.  We got back to the song and discovered the first three notes spelled ACE!  Many students received new books with new songs to learn, and all seemed eager to try.  While consistent lessons are important, having some time off is needed to refresh and restore everyone!