Last few weeks

The last weeks of Spring semester in my studio are always challenging.  Students are tired. They are over committed to extra curricular activities. They are weary of school and their least favorite teachers. Parents are tired of the routine, the endless car trips, the whining and complaining and any lack of cooperation that goes with it.  So when the discouraged parents and weary students show up at the studio with baseball or soccer or basketball or flying kites on the mind it is my job to inspire them to think for half an hour, or for a whole hour. Then, just perhaps, they might also be inspired to practice the following week.  Today I did drills, played games, sang, tried impersonating a British teacher, went along with music chosen by the student, challenged some to play "10 times perfect", did my best to play along with everyone who came for six hours, and ended with performance techniques for recitals.

The best compliment I had all day was from one the the last students.  He said, "Is that all?  How long have we been here, because it just feels like a couple of minutes."  I love that boy!