Events in Our Lives Shape the Lives of the Children We Work With
I think every individual has memories of past events that have had lasting effects in their lives. I certainly do–in music. My grandmother gave me my piano. It was a new spinet model, and it was so beautiful, and I was so proud. My first teacher was gentle and patient with me, but I was only able to take a few lessons from her before my family moved from Northern Colorado to a very small town in Southern Colorado. There was only one piano teacher, and she had a waiting list. I was excited when the call came that she had had an opening.
My new teacher was not like my original one. She was strict and proper in all matters. I was not good at note reading. This bothered my new teacher, and me, particularly because I could not memorize the pieces, and all recital pieces had to be played from memory.
The recital was held in the school auditorium, and a good share of the community was there. Everyone was related to everyone else in the community. Every aunt, uncle and cousin for each student had to come, so you can imagine the crowd. We were to go on stage, bow or curtsy, introduce ourselves, and give the name of the piece.
It started out great, but then I forgot a part. I simply started over as if that was part of the piece. Because I was anxious and fearful, I again had trouble at the same spot. I left the stage in tears. My teacher scolded me and told me how much I had embarrassed her. I never wanted to play the piano again, but my parents always told my brother and me that if “you fall of the horse, make certain you have not broken a bone, and then get back on and ride that horse.”
There was no way my mother was going to have my music experience end in this way. They found a friend who had some musical training who would work with me. She did so much to restore my love of music and taught me a lot about patience and “stick-to-itiveness.” I took from her for several years until a new band teacher came to town who taught private lessons. I started taking lessons from him. It did not take him long to discover that I really could not read music easily, and he found fun and interesting ways to help me overcome my problems. How very thankful I am to these wonderful people in my life.
These early childhood experiences in music had a big effect on my life and my attitudes toward music and teaching. I did not want any student I taught to have the problems in note reading that I had. When I was not able to help some of my young students, I had to find a way to solve this problem. The Animal Note music teaching method is the result of that desire.
If you were to attend one of my students’ recitals you would come to my home to a friendly, fun and warm atmosphere where each child is praised for their accomplishments and problems are discussed with love and understanding. This is what all of us want for those we teach, and it is important to remember that learning, though an essential part of life, should be fun, interesting and associated to the knowledge base already possessed.
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