The Best and Worst Parts. . .

When we are at my folk's house in Iowa, we have a tradition of going around the table at dinner-time and everyone sharing the best and worst parts of his day.

This Spring has had many best and worst parts for me.  Here are some of the best parts. . .

I really love writing this blog.  It has had over 2100 hits since I started writing.  I am quite sure my mother hasn't checked it that many times, and the counter doesn't count when I check it, so there must be some folks out there reading and coming back.  Y'all must becoming back in spite of my occasional bouts of self-pity, insecurity, too much religion, or just plane boredom.

Another good part of this Spring was filling in as accompanist for our church's senior choir.  It felt really good to be part of an ensemble and perform every week.  It didn't seem like too much of a burden on my family and I felt like I was contributing to worship.

Another good part of this week was that our plans for the S.A.M./Suzuki Piano Teacher's Guild Fall workshop are coming together.  We are having several speakers/clinicians including Mary Sheedy Kurcinka  to talk about challenging kids and Reiko Imrie to give masterclasses to our advanced students.  I am 100% on board and will feel very positive about inviting parents and students to participate.

Another good part is that this week I got invited to teach at a really cool summer institute.  I don't know if the details will work out because of the last minute nature of the offer, but it really made me feel warm inside that I got the offer.

The coolest part of my week is that Bill left with the kids to go to his folk's cabin at 4:00 this afternoon.  I am alone, as in--all by myself in my own house.  I am going to join them Sunday evening, but between now and then it is just me, 12 cubic yards of western red cedar mulch, a rubber-made bucket, a pitchfork, a bag of popcorn and a bottle of wine.   Never mind that it rained during the first four hours of my "work weekend."  I'm cold, wet and exhausted but ready to sleep until noon and start it up again tomorrow.

The worst part of my Spring is that one of my treasured Suzuki families is leaving the studio to study with someone else.

It has been 18 years since a student has left me for a better teacher, so I kinda forgot how to react.  Eighteen years ago in Austin I started a student, Eric.   After three years of study he was six years old and his mom wanted him to participate in a contest put on by the Austin District Music Teachers Association.  So I signed him up and low and behold he won the six-year-old division (playing the Moderato movement of the Beethoven Sonatina in G) which was very competitive.   Not that I remember every detail. . . Congratulations. . . the next week he was solicited by a contest winning teacher in town and in an effort to give the best to their child his parents switched him to the other teacher.   My--in-the-know--piano technician informs me that this is called poaching.  I am so naive I thought he was talking about making eggs. . . .  None the less, as my mother-in-law would say, "no good deed goes unpunished."  I ran into Eric's mother three years later in the grocery store.  With tears in her eyes, she told me that he was still winning contests and practicing hard, but that it had never quite been the same. Incidentally, the teacher was not a Suzuki teacher.  I have never ever heard one single story about a Suzuki Piano teacher who deceptively took another teacher's student.  We are all on the same team.   Note to self: avoid competitions outside the Suzuki community. . .

So when the Minnesota family decided to go to another teacher, at first my ego was pretty badly bruised.   Many people have told me, "it's not about you."  That is probably true, but to me, it is about me.  I think every teacher out there would say that they feel a personal sense of failure when someone leaves the studio, regardless of the situation.  I am slowly getting over the ego thing. . .

But, the broken heart is going to take a little longer.  It just is what it is.  When you love someone you are sad when they go.  My friend Carla reminds me, we don't know why God allows people to come and go from our lives, we just do the best we can with them with the time we are given.

It is easy to get wrapped up in the ego thing and the broken heart thing and forget that what is really important is the students.  I have nothing but love for these students and their dear dear precious mother.  I truly wish them nothing but the best.  I hope they find everything they are dreaming of.

I am still just here.  My husband tells me to just keep on doing what I do.  That is, loving children, and loving music.  In that order.

Farewell Anna, Christina, and Oliver.  Bon Voyage.  Sandi, I love ya.