Full Circle

I have a piano student taking private lessons from me now, after my two-plus-decade hiatus in teaching.  The decision is easy - she is Addie - a gifted student who is a sponge for knowledge.  As for me, timing is everything.  

Apparently I make decisions slowly.  This one took me over twenty years.  When my good friend asked whether I would take his daughter as a student, somehow my mouth muttered "sure."  Thinking back, I am almost certain that I was possessed, perhaps by Chopin or Tchaikovsky's spirit...  Next thing I knew, Addie was sitting at my piano playing scales and finger exercises and Bach's Minuet in G.  It was the most exhilarating thing since sliced bread was invented.  

Classical music is my life blood. Make me a mute, but never take away my ability to hear music.  I could not possibly remain sane without music.  

I find myself effortlessly remembering the finger exercises that my teacher gave me when I was nine, and I gave the same exercises to Addie.  I wasn't allowed shortcuts.  I worked those damn fingers!  I couldn't crush walnuts with them yet, I'm still working on it...  "It takes a lifetime," she said.  But I can crush your hands; wanna try?   

Full circle.  

I started studying under Mrs. Jensen when I was 14, after my parents fired my first teacher when we landed on this land.  I excelled more in my four years of high school than many previous years combined.  I was exposed to all kinds of music compositions from different periods.  She gave me two private recitals.  I can still hear her singing the melodies while I played on her Steinway at my weekly lessons. I was a serious student, but she was an exceptional teacher.  Mrs. Jensen was magnificent.

"This are no bad students; only bad teachers."  Eric's words reverberated in my head over and over.    

I have my parents to thank for so many things in my life, but especially for my piano studies and for the love and appreciation of music.  They saw my potential, and had the foresight to relentlessly search for the best teacher for me.  We were not rich by any stretch of imagination.  We probably never went to movies or ate at restaurants, but I never stopped my piano lessons because we couldn't afford them.

Hail to all the parents willing to sacrifice, willing to invest in their children's curiosity and love for music.  And are patient and loving enough to tolerate all the wrong notes, bad tempo, terrible renditions of Für Elise, Stairway to Heaven, and cacophony of it all.  

A student learns from the teacher, but a teacher most certainly learns from the student.   Today, I am entrusted with a child's development for the appreciation of music.  Music opens doors to a lifetime of achievements.  It opens minds, souls, and windows to the world.  It's so much more than playing scales, finger exercises, and Minuet in G.