hmm...

O time thou must untangle this, not I.
It is too hard a knot for me to untie.

-Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

Better than a yearly review...

Generally, I get the sense that my students enjoy learning with me. And since many of them have been with me for multiple years now, it's not hard to figure that out. However, every once and while I have a student who goes above and beyond to let me know how much I've made a positive contribution to their life. Recently one of my students, Bianca, had an assignment in school to select a "person of the year" in their life. Bianca chose to me as that person and wrote a very sweet paper describing how I've affected her life. It's just so amazing to hear and the best form of compliment. I've typed out her paper below...

Bianca
Feb 2009

"My Inspirational Teacher"

I walked into the piano room feeling nervous. This was my first time ever playing an instrument. I was able to relax a little when I saw my instructor sitting in his chair smiling. Eric, my piano teacher, is a laid-back piano player. He is one of my favorite piano instructors and is a phenomenal player. Eric has freckles around his eyes and brownish blonde hair. He has bright blue eyes and a scratchy brown mustache. Eric is my person of the year because...

Eric is SUCH a good piano player. He can play a really difficult song with his eyes closed!! When you see him play, he really gets into it and he's very expressive. One of Eric's qualities is he can perform in front of people without preparation and with no mistakes.

Eric is a GREAT teacher for kids. Whenever someone is talking, he listens. He always asks you what you did that day. Eric's funny in a way; he jokes around with kids and laughs a lot. Eric's always up to teaching a class. He is also extremely understanding. If you can't come to a class, he'll reschedule it for you.

Eric has a wonderful personality. Everyday he's cheerful and always smiles. He is patient and detail-oriented. Eric listens to what you have to say and is engaged in what you are saying. He's enthusiastic and very knowledgeable about musical instruments, especially piano.

Because of all his great attributes I choose him as my person of the year. His qualities make you want to meet him or get to know him. I think he is one of the best music teachers in this state and maybe even the country. It takes skill and hard work to be as good a teacher as Eric is.

End of Fall Semester

Well, the end of Fall Semester draws to a close at Forte Music School. Luckily the economy isn't causing too much trouble for us. We'll have about the same amount of students going into spring, which isn't as good as an increase, but a lot better than a dropping off. Generally, we're seeing that parents are pretty set on keeping music as a priority in their childrens' lives. If people are cutting expenses, I've heard a lot of stories about vacations or going out to eat being taken out and keeping the more worthwhile activities like piano in. So that's very good to hear.

Eric's 2008 Movie Hits and Dissappointments

HITS:
The Dark Knight
Benjamin Button
Wall-E
Iron Man
Tropic Thunder
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Burn After Reading
The Bank Job
Seven Pounds
Sex and the City Movie
Ghost Town

DISAPPOINTMENTS:
Indy 4
Eagle Eye
Hellboy 2
The Day the Earth Stood Still
21

THE ONES I MISSED AND AM INTERESTED IN:
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Rachel Getting Married
Doubt
Quantam of Solace

Teaching Stories

I have "classic" kids stories every day of my life while teaching. Kids of all ages are full of surprises and craziness. Now that I've been teaching private lessons for over four years now, my biggest surprise is how they all grow and mature. I've had some of my students for a LONG time now. I've seen fourth graders turn into teens, I've seen teens turn into young adults, I've seen four-year-olds grow into little adults, I've seen adults turn into little kids! :) In one week, I've seen a 10 year old tell me that he "wants to learn more about politics so that he can keep up with the world." An (very accomplished) adult say that she's much too scared to play in a recital. A pre-teen tell me that she's going to be an international star by the time she's 20. And an overachieving young man who even though he knows that he's not going to be a concert pianist, wants his songs to be perfect...more perfect than anyone who's ever strived for perfection in their life. I don't have a boring job. I have a job that with every second teaches me what it's like to live life. :) I'll post some more specific stories in future posts, I promise. They are numerous. I sometimes feel that I have over 50 children of my own and sometimes just want to share every second of every one of them.

The Forte Music School Bowling Team!

Well, for the last 3 months, myself and 3 others from my work have been participating in a bowling league. It's a "happy hour" league...so it's mostly just for fun, however there is a pretty healthy bit of competition involved. It's been a great league so far and we're all having a blast. It's nice that it fits into our late schedule and we've met a lot of great people. We're definitely one of the more "fun" teams to play with, but we're also last in the league...Mostly because we're having too much "fun" :) Nothing like taking your aggressions out on a bunch of bowling pins.

New Years Weekend

Well, New Year Eve was better than I thought it would be. I had a good time playing games with some friends. I did some more biking and I've been venturing out a little further with each ride. This area is pretty hilly and I'm still getting my body to cooperate with this "winter exercise" thing... I came across a cool fountain I hadn't noticed before. I'm hoping to work up enough skills to make it to a great place just a few miles from here. A McMinemin's (A Portland Brewery chain) that's up in the middle of nowhere a few miles from here...I'm pretty sure that I could make it there at this point, but not quite sure I could make it back! :) I also spent a lot of time this weekend journelling. I didn't really think I would be into it, but it feels really to good to write...helps me process. I countinue to learn more and more about myself with everyday. I know this sounds a bit cheesy, but I'm finding that I can see my own faults a lot clearer these days. 2009 will be a good year to work on those. Bring it on...I say!