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At the end of this teaching week I've never been greeted by something so firmly. Something that made me leave my studio lamenting. Wrapped in itself, what greeted me at the end of my teaching week is that music really is a gift. A gift to us from God and a gift that we can give to others.
I had that conversation after a student of mine started crying. I think she's overwhelmed by school and other things perhaps but it was during the conversation of how good she is at singing, but how she doesn't like singing by herself. When students cry it's usually a combustion within themselves. It makes sense to me that most of my students cry at some point in my studio. Whether it's tears of anger, sadness, frustration or from laughing too hard, tears are a sign that emotion is alive. It's a sign that there's a reaction going on and that something needs to be expressed. That's why I'm pretty comfortable with tears, it comes with the territory as an artists and as an educatior. I can't make an environment truly open for music and expression if someone can't cry.
I decided that my student was old enough to be taught something plainly that I hadn't understood until earlier in my university career. I told her that music is a gift from God. That her ability to play music and her effort to practice and play piano is a gift too. It is given to us because it is a gift that God wants us to share with other people. I explained that when we sing and play piano for others it is not because we are showing them how good we are, we are not parading ourselves off or trying to get attention. We sing and play piano because we can make people feel good, feel loved and feel closer to God. I explained that she needn't ever be ashamed or embarassed because she was meant to give the gift of music to others. After I got her to smile and agree to performing in our recital, her mother was in tears.
When you come into music it's scary because it can burn. It can really set you on fire when it is deeply connected to your being and to how you are meant to serve people. Remembering that initial fire that I had that was both scary and thrilling through my student's experience was very special for me.
My own gift-giving aside, I am so blessed to recieve so many young, hopeful, musical gifts.