My One and Only

I am a musician as well as an English teacher. I have written in this blog about my choice not to major in piano when I was in college but to to get my BA in English. That choice was a wise one and has turned out to be very satisfying. But music has also played an important role in my life. First of all, it allowed me to start as my elder son's first piano teacher. I taught him the way I wished I had been taught -- accurately, including the techniques of good piano pedagogy, and not just learning the notes. Today he is a professional keyboardist and traveling with the likes of Peter Cetera and David Foster. As a retiree, I now have an outlet for my musical ability that is so very satisfying. I have one piano student. My student is in his 40's and is self-taught. He first came to me for piano lessons ten or fifteen years ago. He did not progress and eventually dropped the lessons. A year and a half ago, he came to me asking if he could restart lessons. At first, I was dubious, remembering the missed lessons, the non-practice, and the lack of progress. I therefore made it very clear that I would charge him an hourly fee, would charge him that fee should he miss without arranging a make-up, and that we would not use any of the piano hour for visiting. He agreed. I have challenged him once regarding his seriousness about the lessons to which he responded: "This is therapy for me." From that time on, he has progressed rapidly to the point that I look forward to his coming for his lessons and pray that his confidence some day will allow him to play before an audience. I would be proud to tell someone that he is my student.