A Piano Teacher’s Reflection
It’s mid July. The familiar is in the rainfall, the anticipation of my annual trip to Spain, and being at home.
This is also the month of summer camps, and Music Medicine courses, children painting the school windows each day, crepe paper strewn everywhere, and paper plate creations by the dozen, painted and drying on the windowsill. Drama games, mini-plays, songwriting, chanting, friendships forging, cardboard box castles and creative chaos!
But not this year. I’ve been home now since mid March. I’ve connected with my students through Zoom, where some students green screen themselves onto the beach, with moving waves and palm trees, or spend the lesson in outer space. Trial and error, internet glitches, sound vanishing as students play so I am hearing only through watching their fingers move, cameras freezing, phones dying, and pixelated students moving as though in a snow storm!
However, the overwhelming feeling I have is of gratitude. Here are some of the most joyful moments:
students dressed up as princesses to attend piano
doing a buddy class with 2 best friends who hadn’t seen each other and watching their excitement at connecting
having a student green screen himself into pizza
increased practice across the board
connecting more deeply with my students
having to do many crash courses in tech, cameras, teaching methodologies and much more
the challenge to be creative and to find new ways to teach when I cannot be there physically
becoming a better teacher
I would like to say a huge thank you to all of the piano students and parents for the past few months. Thank you for your support, your resilience, your commitment, your fluidity, your understanding and your joy.
Enjoy the rest of our summer and I will see you all in September for another year of creative music-making.
-Claire Crehan
