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.
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