- I feel lucky to be able to make a living through music. Not everyone gets to follow their passion in life, but here I am!
- I love my students. They are interesting people with a variety of backgrounds and musical interests.
- My guitar students inspire me. How many adults purposely put themselves in the position of trying to do something they can't do? Yet that's what my guitar students do every week.
- I learn as much or more from teaching as my students do. Explaining how to do something to another person helps me understand how to do it better.
- I like figuring out how another person's mind works. When I can get inside a student's thinking process, I'm able to explain things more clearly, and they understand more.
- I love seeing the light go on in someone else's head when they begin to "get it."
- My students help me become a better musician. Some of them are darned good! And fast! And I have to prepare new material to keep them busy.
- It's fulfilling to help other people reach their creative goals. Nothing can make me "kvell" like seeing one of my students singing and playing a song that we've worked on together in lessons.
- My students expose me to music I would never hear otherwise.
- Teaching has made me aware of how much I know, and at the same time, how much I don't know. I've learned that I don't have to have all the answers, but if I can create a climate that encourages creativity, exploration, and musicality, I feel like I've succeeded.
Labels: community, teaching