More Lessons Learned

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While discussing how to make a proper stage bow for recital:

Me: "Be sure to keep your arms at your sides when you bow."

5-year-old student: "But I want to bow like THIS..."
(Takes a very low bow with one arm in front of his body and the other behind his back.)
"...it's how you bow to a KING!"

Me: "But that's not a good way to bow on stage. Besides, there aren't going to be any kings at the recital next week."

Student: "God is a King. And He will be at the recital because He is everywhere."

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Another 5-year-old boy:
"I need help with this song I am trying to figure out. If you know this song, you can help me. If you don't know it, then I will teach it to you."

* * *

From the eight-year-old girl who loves scales and chords (and apparently quarter notes also):

Me (Counting out loud in 2/4 time): "One...two; one...two."

Student: "You forgot to say the other beats."

Me: "This piece is in 2/4 , so we only have two beats in each measure."

Student: "Oh, I feel sorry for poor old beats 3 and 4! They get left out!"

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10-year-old girl, after listening to the composer Ravel for the first time:

"And I thought BEETHOVEN was crazy!"

First Post

My friends and family inspired me to start a blog. (They've also been encouraging me to publish my first post, too!) So, to Megan and Ellie especially: here it is! I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I love reading both of yours.

It's not going to be a "business" blog, or a chiropractic-educational blog, or a music blog - just notes about normal life.

I've recently been collecting cute-and-funny quotes from my students (that's what you do when you don't have any kids of your own that you can talk about), so I will share. If any of my student parents are reading this and you happen to recognize your own child's brilliant wit or humor, enjoy! Thank you for letting me teach your child - it's wonderful to watch them grow and advance.

Here are just a few. Some of them I may have talked about before.

1. My 7-yr-old violin student. He kept dropping his violin onto the floor, at least 4 times during lesson. I finally said, very seriously, "The next time you drop your violin, I am going to charge you a quarter. Make sure you bring some money to your next lesson." After a few minutes, we started working on "playing position" and the exercise of holding his violin under his chin with no hands to support it. Finally he said, "I think you have something you REALLY want to buy, and you must need 25 cents more... because you are trying to GET me to drop this thing!"
(I bet his family listens to Dave Ramsey)

2. Random comments from a 7-yr-old piano student (she gives me a hilarious quote every week):
-"I wish this was a glass piano that you could see through, and I wish it had butterflies on it."
-"My fingers are like robots."
-"The Twinkle variations are my counselors."
-"When I come into my lesson, all I ever think about is piano. I forget about my family, school, and even my toys."
-"Judy Carmichael [professional swing/jazz pianist] plays all sloppy." (She said this after attending a Judy Carmichael concert).

3. "Mommy, take notes!!" (whispered urgently by 8-yr-old piano student, one of my best ones.)

4. A nine-yr-old girl, working on a Schumann piece. I explained to her that it was from the Romantic period, and that it needed rubato and dynamics and emotion so it didn't sound like a machine. She responded: "Romantic?! Ughghg! That's yucky! I hate romance."

5. Older sister occasionally takes baby sister to the bathroom while middle sister has her lesson. The girls would always come out of the bathroom, with the little one holding a few squares of clean toilet paper. I finally asked the big sister why. She said, "Oh, Mrs. Hall, she LOVES your toilet paper because it's so soft!"

6. Same girls: I used to teach in an apartment building with loud neighbors. One day my student came in, and neighbor was BLARING rap music from their stereo. My student said, "I told myself, 'I know that's not Mrs. Hall - she would NEVER play music like that!'"

7. "My daddy spilled wine on my book." (6-yr-old violin girl).

8. Overheard this at a recital. Little sister whispers to her older brother after his performance, "You made FIVE mistakes!"

9. From an 11-yr-old girl: "I like the recitals better when there aren't any BOYS on them. Boys make me nervous."