no expectations are good expectations
Well, I certainly had no problem with discipline this week! I also only had one student show up. Good news: he’s my favorite. Bad news: teachers aren’t supposed to have favorites. And yet, even a few weeks ago I found myself struggling with this concept – it is just so hard to treat each kid the same, when one really wants to learn and another thinks that he’s the most amazing thing since sliced bread. James is a bit of an introvert, is always early to class, and on the first day said that he really wanted to learn the violin because his dad is Irish and played fiddle music around the house when he was growing up. He also told me that he thinks “music is amazing and can make a bad day good.” Who couldn’t love this kid, with his green-hazel eyes peeking out from a head of long and shaggy hair? A few weeks later we were talking about goals and he said he wanted to be a musician, a pilot, or a “computer guy” when he grew up. He’s not the best violinist out of the boys, but he concentrates hard and well, and he’s a quick learner. And (on the days when all the boys attend) it is so difficult not to favor him, to treat Andrew (who last week told me he didn’t like me: “So what are you going to do about that, huh?”) with the same respect, acknowledgement, encouragement as I give to James. Similarly, it is difficult not to give extra attention to Terrence, who the others often make fun of, who is a little slower but truly thinks about what he is doing, and cares about it, and is simply so genuine in his actions and words that you can’t help but want to give him that extra piece of candy even though he’s missed the last twelve questions.
So this week I had planned to play “Musical Cranium” (after a bit of thought I threw the “Jeopardy” idea out the window), and had made cards and categories, questions and prizes. But I couldn’t just play it with one student. A few minutes into the class I realized the others weren’t going to show up and felt a mild internal anxiety begin to rise. What in the world was I going to do with this kid?! We couldn’t possibly spend the entire time going through flashcards, talking about the instruments of the orchestra…I couldn’t just quiz him on musical terms or vocabulary for the whole lesson. I had no back-up plan. So what was I going to do?! After a few more minutes of chat I realized that we were just going to play the violin. And talk about playing. And if he started to get tired, then we’d break out the rhythm games or work on note-reading. Miraculously, it was one of the fastest and easiest classes of the year! It has been amazing to the watch the boys’ progress on the violin – despite the fact that they don’t take the instruments home and/or practice at all, despite the fact that they have one brief lesson each week, in which they are trying to concentrate after a long day at school and while the room resounds with noises of cowboy games, they still get better from week to week! Yes, the progress is slow, and each week I re-evaluate how much or little I can truly expect from them by the end of the year, but it has been so precious to be a part of their discovery of what it is to play the violin. The expressions on the boys’ faces when each held the violin for the first time, and drew a scratchy bow across a string (or, well, two strings…and maybe the bridge, too) was utterly priceless. As much as they goof off in class, as much as they want as much candy as possible, as much as they talk right through my own words, they still want to learn the violin, and they are incredulous when I play something for them, when they watch their own fingers making a sound. I hope to bring in some young performers this year, too, so that they can see some kids their own age playing, because I know what an impression that made on me when I was younger. Any suggestions? Any of you out there have students who need performance opportunities (for other kids)??
But back to James and this week. We had a lovely time! And by the end of our lesson, he was playing “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star” and reading through lines of my sight-reading book fairly easily (we’ll see how much he remembers next time!), figuring out how to make a good sound (this is so hard to teach! As I am learning. But then again, what isn’t hard to teach?!) and correcting his own bow hand. It was amazing!! Last week we were playing duets that only required the students to play open strings (still fun for all of us, I have to admit – it was also fun to witness their first introduction to chamber music, to that feeling of amazement when you realize that you are playing something with someone else, making something together!), and this week James was telling me that “next should be a high two, which is a C-sharp, and is close to the third finger.” And that may not sound like much if you are not a musician, but it’s a big step if you are an almost-middle-school boy in your second month of violin lessons. And it’s a big step if you are a post-middle-school girl in your second month of teaching beginning violin lessons!