When A Favorite Student Moves On
As the summer begins many students go to camp, vacation, etc. or simply take a break from lessons. This is a common occurrence; however, this week one of my students said goodbye not “for now,” but rather “for good.” At first, I was caught by surprise and my initial reaction was sadness. I’m not naive enough to think that students will stay in lessons forever but this is one of those unique situations. Sometimes kids move on and another shows up to fill the void; but, in this case, I’m going to miss this person.
Many of my fellow teachers will attest to the fact that after a full day of lessons if the last student of the day fails to show it is an almost welcome surprise. I, on the other hand, looked forward to whatever surprise my 9PM Monday student would bring—except to find out the she wasn’t coming. She would come in with questions about jazz, classical, rock, blues, music theory, modes, four-part harmony, traditional counterpoint, you name it. I enjoyed teaching a talented, self-motivated guitarist that wanted to simply “learn more” and rose to the challenges that music and the guitar bring.
She is moving on to follow a different program that my teaching program doesn’t provide. Our facility just isn’t for her anymore so it wasn’t a complete surprise and I am happy that she is going to continue her music studies. My greatest hope for her is that she continues her musical journey and during that journey she teaches a student that brings as much to her life as she has brought to mine.