Determination = Success

All of my students have been preparing for their Spring recitals, which will take place next week.  Over the last few weeks, I have had some students ask if they could change their recital piece.  Because of so many end of the school year time commitments, students have been worried they wouldn't be able to adequately prepare their pieces in time for the recital.  This is of course reasonable and understandable.

I have a very determined student named Ben.  He is involved in a lot activities and desires to do each of them really well.  During last week's lesson, I began to get worried he wouldn't be able to have his recital piece even learned, let alone memorized.  His piece is lengthy and complicated.  I asked him how he felt about it, if he wanted to change, if he had time.  He just told me "I really think I can do it."

When Ben came to his lesson this week, he sat down and played the piece through almost perfectly.  I was amazed!  He assured me that he would have the entire piece memorized by next week.  I believe him.

I assumed that Ben was able to practice more because many of his time consuming activities had ended.  I said to him "See what happens when you have time to practice?  You can do great things."  And you know what he said to me?  "I didn't really have time to practice.  I just decided I had to make myself do it everyday."  What a great teaching moment - for me!  I have learned a valuable lesson from this young man - It's not about the "time" to practice, it's about the "determination" to practice.  And that determination has made him successful.

A Little Composer

My cute little student Ellie comes to lessons and likes to show me the songs she is writing.  These are songs that she has made up and then memorized.  A few weeks ago, I suggested that she write them down on manuscript paper.  We started notating her song together through the first two measures.  She came back the next week with the majority of her song notated.



It's so exciting to see Ellie put all the theory she is learning into practice.  She is excited about being a composer and I'm so proud of her accomplishments.  She wrote her mom a song for mother's day and has more projects ready to be put to paper.

May Minute to Win It

Katrina did it again!

Not only did she beat her old score (and everyone else) by a lot, but she went though the entire stack of flashcards.

Katrina wasn't at her lesson this week to have her picture taken, but we want to congratulate her for her hard work.