My Newest Student

I started a new student about six weeks ago. She was very excited to start learning with me. She'd done some previous beginner theory studies at home, but it was her first real time playing on a piano. I was nervous at first. I wasn't sure how our lessons were going to go. I didn't know if she could sit still during our lesson. Would she take them seriously or did she just want to play? 

Our first lesson was so much fun. I set myself a timer because it was earlier in the day than I normally taught. As she walked in, I went to greet her at the front door and walked her into my studio. I showed her the bathroom where she could wash her hands and which towel to use and where to put them after she dried her hands. 

The view from my "desk"

She did a great job curving her fingers and playing all the notes very carefully. I wrote her homework in a little notebook for her to have during the week and practice with at home. But the best part was watching her enjoy her piano lesson so much. I don't know if she enjoyed her lesson so much because she was playing piano or if she enjoyed having me as her teacher. Either way, it was a lot of fun for me, too. 

I hope she remembers this first piano lesson of hers. She might not, and chances are, she won't, but I hope to share these thoughts with her one day. This lesson reminded me of why I love teaching and why I love playing the piano myself. When our lesson was over, I handed her her books and told her I'd see her at our next lesson. She bounced off the bench and left my studio.

I tidied up my studio a bit and then walked over to the next room. I saw my daughter grinning at me, smiled back at her, and asked, "Did you have fun at your piano lesson with Mrs. Cathy?"

***

She calls me Mrs. Cathy just like all my other students. I only speak English with her during our lessons. And I remind myself not to have extra standards for her just because she is the child of a piano teacher. I intentionally do not practice with her during the week because these roles need to be clear and separate. So far, they are working out very nicely. I'm sure there will come a day when a lesson will be more stressful than it is productive. And I may need to readjust my perspective in order to keep my priorities straight. But these last two months have been filled with a lot of joy. I hope to keep it that way as long as I can. 

This last week, she was talking to one of my student's moms and sharing about how she was taking piano lessons with me. In her conversation, she told the mom, "My mommy is magic. In her studio she is Mrs. Cathy. And then when she walks out of her studio she's my mommy!"

💗