Fall/Winter Updates

Time just flies by.  I am continually amazed that the only constant in life, time, just never seems like it is.  So much has gone on the past few months.
First, the students who inspired this blog have quit piano.  It was rather abrupt, which I was unhappy about (I found out on their lesson day), but I suppose that life's circumstances sometimes get in the way of piano.  The mom said that her parents had been paying for the lessons and they decided they could no longer do that.  I heard from a friend of the parent that she was just "tired of fighting the kids all the time" to practice.  And I heard from someone else that the parents are in the process of divorcing.  Any one of those things could have happened, and I actually suspect it's all three.  It's very true that the students weren't progressing--I could tell they spent very little time at the piano between lessons, but they are sweet children and I do miss seeing them.

Of couse, I immediately got requests from other families (who were referred by the above mom!), and I took two new students, both boys, which I always find interesting.  One of them had one lesson, arrived 15 minutes late, and then went home the following week sick from school and didn't have a lesson, and then last week was still on Thanksgiving break.  The other just had his first lesson on Thursday and it went very well.  He's a middle-schooler and has been playing for some time.  He came from the same teacher as the students who caused me to write this blog in the beginning, and I am seeing the same weaknesses.  Interesting...We're going to tackle that right away this time. 

I shuffled around a few other students because of scheduling things, and that's working out well.  On Mondays, I have 45 minutes free from 6-6:45, which is a perfect time to eat dinner and then teach two more lessons.

We're gearing up for our Christmas recital on December 18, and that's exciting.  I've worked a lot on my studio website, and even added a page for "virtual recitals".  I think families like sharing this with relatives far and near. 

One thing I noticed with a student, M, is that the same Christmas book she had last year and struggled with, she is still struggling with.  This was a real eye-opener for me, and I'm not sure what to do about it.  Does it mean she's not progressing?  I know that she works more slowly than others, but I'm spending a lot of time thinking about her playing. Her mom plays piano, and I think we'll have an email discussion about it.  I find that keeping parents in the loop is always appreciated, and since they see things day-to-day, whereas I only see the kids once a week, they can often have helpful input.