Look How Far We've Come

The February 1, 4:00 Suzuki Piano Teachers Guild Advancing Recital Group

My Advanced Kids

My Seniors 

In the Blues Brothers movie the club owner says they have both kinds of music, that is, country and western. Here in Minnesota we're having both kinds of weather, that is, cold and snowy. Another ten below drive to school today. I can't remember a colder snowier winter. Sunday was ground hog day. It ain't no six weeks till spring here. More than one person said--we don't care about the shadow, just shoot the dang rodent.

The new four year olds in the studio are something else. She wiggles. He looks around. He asks a million questions about the minutia of the room. She wiggles some more. Then she actually plays a song. Then he wiggles some more. He tips the foot rest over on purpose and looks to see what I will do. I try to play a game and the game takes over. I'm about to pull my hair out and then he does this Twinkle and lifts his hand so pretty on each note and the tone is so sweet. I say that was so BEAUTIFUL and she smiles the cutest smile you've ever seen. Then she picks her nose.

It' frustrating. It's amazing. I love it. It's exhausting.

We simply must acknowledge every smidgeon of marginal progress or we will never make it. This is a long road. I'm still on it.

Look how far we've come. Four months ago these munchkins wouldn't even look at me. Now they are playing Twinkle with finger numbers and working out book one songs by ear. They understand a gentle round hand. They don't jump on the sofa when they come in. They listen to the sound. Slow and steady wins the race.

I'm taking a lot of video at these lessons. My personal teaching goal is to keep the lesson as short as it needs to be to work toward complete focus. Even though I know better, there is still some misguided pressure inside me to keep them at the piano for their entire 30 minute lesson, even when the focus is gone. That's teaching them how not to focus. I try to ignore any negative behavior and praise every effort, no matter how small. I believe I'm really good at teaching these little ones, this is what I do really well, but I tell you, every lesson with them is still a lesson for me and I'm reflecting and growing every week as well.

Thank God for the seniors. They are a daily reminder of how far we've come. They are so calm. And still. We've made it. We've changed from Mrs. Kotrba to Sara. It's all about the music. And a little about life. In a year they will just be my Facebook friends but back in the day. . . they were wiggly too.

I also love the middle kids. The biggest challenge for the middle kids is setting weekly goals and helping them be accountable for their own progress and musicality. It has to be theirs. Sooner is better than later. And there is also the whole relationship thing. . .

I have my own middle kid, Calvin. So I'm thinking a lot about middle kids these days. I'm happy to report that at the moment he loves music and he still loves me. And the music is his. He owns it. It's the greatest privilege and opportunity for me to coach him everyday. He's playing in Book Seven but we are doing a broad foundation. He picks the repertoire from carefully selected options I provide. And he wants to play it all and eventually we will. We aren't in any hurry. He will play everything from the Suzuki Repertoire and Chris Liccardo's books and all the Keith Snell editions. He's playing through and making recordings of all the Burgmuller and Streabogg. On his own. His idea. All the Schumann Album for the Young and the Tchaikovsky. We are going to play it all. After Book Seven he wants to do a recital of all 15 Bach Inventions. His idea. He looked at my shelf of "real" piano music and said, "jeesh, you could spend your whole life learning all this."

Yep. People do.

It's the same with teaching. Every week I think about how to be a better teacher to him and to Mary and to every single piano kid. I'll spend my whole life doing this. How to make it fun but still get something done. How to make them make it their own sooner than later. How to help shape their hearts while we shape the phrase.

Yet, look how far we've come. I have a whole drawer full of Calvin's charts that have little boxes for keep your feet flat. Charts for a happy heart. Charts for "yes, mama." We played a lot of games. We "wasted" a lot of time. But he loves music. And he still loves me. Slow and steady wins the race.

Look how far we've come. I'm amazed and I hope you are too. Yes, reflect. Yes, make it better everyday. Love the music. Love the child. But whether it's been four months, four years or fifteen years, take a moment to look how far you've come.