Recently I started taking piano lessons. In my quest to become a better music teacher, I thought that piano would be pretty helpful. My main instrument (for about 16 years!) has been the flute. :-)
As much as I love the flute, piano is definitely a more versatile instrument. Eventually I'll be able to accompany my students in their performances instead of just being able to play scales for vocal warm ups.
This week in one of the 1st grade classes, I was blown away by one of my students. He is usually a pretty shy 6 year old but he asked me if he could play a couple songs he had learned in piano for the class. He proceeded to confidently play FROM MEMORY Ode to Joy and Jingle Bells! It was magical. By a stroke of luck, his class is singing the French version of Jingle Bells "Vive le Vent" for the Winter Concert! I asked him if he would want to play along with the class (who will be playing real jingle bells) I hope he will! I told his mom how great he was right after school. Needless to say, she was so proud! It was very inspiring for me to see a normally shy, quiet student express himself through music. This is one of the reasons why I do what I do.
