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Year Four, Day 293: Going Deeper

 







Good Evening Friends!

Yesterday I promised you an after picture. Here are a few!  This is my new color, "Vesuvias Red".

I like!  It is a little darker than usual, which is closer to my "natural color" (the one I was born with!). But with more red.  And no gray!

Funny how something external like a new hair color or hair cut can make your spirits soar.

And even go deeper inside!

I thought I was going to talk about hair color, weight loss and the state of my love relationship tonight. But instead, I would like to talk a bit about my piano teaching.

I'll start with a little (true) story.

I teach two brothers. Both have been with me about two years. They also play cello, which I believe they consider their main instrument. The younger one started with me as a beginner on piano. The older one had had some lessons.  They are both hard working, and a bit competitive, not only with each other, but with themselves!

They always have this pushing forward energy - to finish a piece (I give them a star when they've mastered a piece enough to move to the next one) and to finish a book (I sent them certificates and stickers when they finish a book.

They are adorable boys. Super fun to teach and quite hilarious at times. They both especially enjoy the "animal game" that we play at the end of each lesson.  The older one is quite gifted.  He is an excellent sight reader.  

Today I told them both we were going to take a pause. Instead of rushing through their pieces, we were going to polish them. We don't have a recital coming up, but I told them I wanted to go deeper musically. The younger one needs to work on rhythmic flow and dynamics. They older one needed to work on phrasing and articulation.


They both groaned, saying they wanted to learn new pieces.  But I gently resisted.  The older one was quite patient with me as we worked on a piece slowly tonight, hands separately at first. The right hand often played staccato while the left, legato. (Staccato means to play the notes in a detached manner and legato is smooth and connected).

After that, he played his most difficult piece all the way through. This piece will be fantastic for our next recital. Then he looked up at me, almost shyly (which is weird for this boy!) and said, "What are you going to tell me I did wrong this time? You always tell me I do something wrong!"

My heart suddenly ached. I told him that he plays beautifully and I am impressed with his discipline and hard work. I told him he was one of my best students. But what kind of teacher would I be if I just sat there and said "Very nice!" 

Not a very good teacher! In fact, I would be a bored and boring teacher!

I told him it was my job to make suggestions that would improve his playing.  I told him he was getting to the point in his piano studies, where we could go deeper, beyond just the notes the page. We could actually make music.

He liked that. 

And then he proceeded to kick my butt in the animal game!

After I finished teaching for the evening, I just sat with my feelings for a bit.  I thought about how I have been focusing so much on what is wrong in my life, just like my student complained that I always focus on what is wrong with his playing.

Today my fiance had a root canal.  I wish I could have gone with him. But it is a good thing I didn't. I tend to be too mothering to those I love.  We talked afterwards and I didn't feel the need to bombard him with questions or race over and make him soup. I had a full schedule of students.  

My fiance is a grown man.  He has told me he doesn't need to be fixed or taken care of.  I think I am finally getting this.

My grandchildren do need to be taken care of. I take great joy in holding, feeding  and singing to my grandtwins. My older granddaughter and I started working on her favorite song today, "Let it Go" from Frozen. She is singing while I play the piano.

My grandson lives farther away. I just take great joy in being in his presence.

I am rambling more than usual tonight. But my take away, is that I have a wonderful career. But I have a choice: I can be a nice, mediocre teacher who says "very nice!" and just uses method books, or I an go deeper. 

Even on Zoom.

And I intend to do so!

I'll stop here. 

But, before I go, I must say that I feel so beautiful with my new hair!




Oh, and I did hoop today. This video is probably the shortest hooping video known to mankind, or at least to Youtube! I hooped much longer, but my granddaughter was being a little stinker and kept walking in front of the camera!


Happy Thursday!

Talk to you tomorrow...

Love,


Zita 
















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