To tip or not to tip?

I had a coffee with friends at one of my favourite places today. I know the owner and I know most of the staff. They are great and the coffee is good. The most popular are the delicious, home made cakes that are made according to the secret recipes of the owner's Italian mum prepared by her own dear hands. I appreciate good service and good food so when I get them I like to leave a tip. Today we sat around longer than usual after finishing our cake and drink, chatting. We paid for our bill and left a tip on the table. After saying good-bye to each other with my friends, I was just about to drive away when I saw the waitress cleaning our table but not seeing and taking the tip we left for her as a thank you. Our table was on a busy pathway and we were worried that by-passers would just take the money so visible. We decided to give the cafe a quick call. Soon the waitress came out to check the money but for the time she got there a few people sat down at the table. The waitress picked up the money and left.
This situation made me think about how many times after giving tips to people I hear no thank you or see any form of sign of gratitude. What does that encourage? Not leaving a tip! It is a very simple example of how important it is to be grateful for everything we get!
What are you grateful today?

I am grateful that I woke up this morning, that I am healthy, that my music teaching business goes well, that a friend thought me worthy of asking me to work with her and promote new products in Australia that is a huge business opportunity, that I have lovely students and parents to work with, I am grateful that my brother is healthy and happy and that we are working pour business together, grateful that I have great friends.... and that I am doing what I love doing!

'Innercise' to reach your goals!

If you are serious about your goals and the future, take 30 minutes a day early every morning to focus on and reading your goals. In addition to affirmations, visualizations and role playing, run your fingers across your written goals to send another message through your fingers to your brain. In essence, program your own mind.

Today, technology is so advanced it's so much easier and there are many more evidence based methodologies to re train your brain. You may call it "Innercise".

Man walking on water

How many times have we heard that our only limitation is our own imagination?
At the time of the Paralympics watching the incredible human achievements of those athletes or meeting Nick Vujicic, the inspirational man with no limbs who just got married we have to stop and think.
I really wonder how pathetic we, humans, can be! The better lives we have, the more pathetic we become. However, the human spirit truly strives under pressure and adversity. There are plenty of examples of people, who in the darkest moments of their lives showed the greatest spirit. Their achievements inspire everyone who think their life is hard.

There are certain stories that we don't really know if true. Just tonight I saw Dynamo, the magician who can walk on water. According to my knowledge, there is only one story of a person who walked on water. His legend has been around for thousand years. Tonight, when I saw this young man walking on the Thames, I realized that truly only our imagination limits us.

What destroyed my spirit seeing him walking was the police. While I do understand that they have a duty, my heart sank and could not help thinking that there are people who just can't help and step back for a moment and be one with the magic. They just have to break and destroy the moment. Destroy the moment for all involved. For the person who creates the magic and for those who enjoy the magic and believe in it.  Like they don't want us to believe. I even risk this sentence. The destroyers are the non-believers.

During Dynamo's walk there was this moment when he was in the middle of the water. I might be not the only one to put his act in parallel with the legend. In that moment we all believed in miracles. It was one of those life changing moments we carry in ourselves for a life time. How sad that some people just had to ruin in it. Ruin it for everyone. No miracles. No magic. However, we saw it. We know it exists. We know, it's possible.
Dynamo's walk on water.

The future of Music

Hi, I hope you are having a great weekend. I am just working on my new book The Road to a Simple and Good Life. Checking my Facebook news, a dear colleague of mine has posted this article you will see below. I so agree with the writer's thoughts on music and education. My experience working at universities was that they are like a glass house, totally isolated from real life. Most of the lecturers hold on to positions throughout their whole life and die out from that position. On a national level it's like a musical chair, one moves and everyone shifts chair. 
I clearly recognized many years ago that to stay up to date and a real musician, I will need to leave the university and work for myself. I did not want to end up rigid, dogmatic and as an administrator instead of a musician and live in a ivory tower. It was a huge risk but it was worth it. I see a clear pattern emerging in my life that shows that my own personal and professional development and growth takes number one place instead of chasing jobs for money. Now, a few years later this clearly pays back in professional growth, productivity, creativity, happiness, lifestyle and in finances. I absolutely have no regrets. I wish, I had done this earlier!
The concerns mentioned in this article you will read have been my concerns for more than a decade and I have done myself what the author suggests. That's why with great passion and happiness I post her blog article here for others to read and share. The present crisis in our education system closely relates to these thoughts in the article.
Schools and educational institutions must keep up with technology and reform their teaching style to keep students interested. How irresponsible it is for music institutions to produce musicians who won't be able to make a living? Similarly, how many The Voice and XFactor shows should the TV run to make the impression that these young people will be stars and make a living as a performer? 

Please enjoy the article!
The End of the Symphony and How Today's Music Students Should Adapt

Today 18 years ago....

Big day. Today 18 years ago at midnight that I landed in Sydney first time in my life. Arrived for a position at the Canberra School of Music, Australian National University. Some could say I was stupid and adventurous to come to a continent I knew nothing about...I was terribly lonely and homesick but faced the challenges professionally. I enjoyed the traveling and learned as much as I could about the country, the land and its people. In this process I became one of them and grew to love it. I have seen more of Australia than most Australians do. Some videos are now up on my youtube channel on vargatube. I still miss Hungary but would be equally homesick for Australia as well. 

Check out my videos on vargatube!

I flew British Airways then Ansett (good old Ansett!) to Canberra. When I saw the land from the air approaching Canberra, I knew I would like it here. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Although I have lived abroad before in Europe, I did not anticipate the hardship that goes with leaving your country, home, family and friends and coming this far in a country you don't know anyone. Anyhow, I had incredible opportunities and did some great things I could have never done if I have not left. I made new friends and established myself professionally, built successful businesses and do new and fascinating things. Presently, I am working on the some great stuff so it is 'head down' time. Reflecting about the last 18 years is pretty emotional and makes me proud that I did not give up and run home where it was all comfy! Coming to Australia provided more challenges and makes me grow faster and go further. Forever grateful to my parents who always encouraged me to follow my dreams and believing that I can do anything and my brother Varga Pál for supporting me and being my very much loved brother. Just getting started in Australia :)

Hurray! Holiday!

Every teacher prays for the break to arrive. How about teaching during holidays? Hmmmmm....I am one of those lucky music teachers who teach in breaks. It just happened, years ago that I was asked if I could give lessons in the break. Now, it is an option for my students. Many of my mature-age students don't care about the school breaks so they want to keep having lessons. However, they are not alone. Many of my school-aged students have more time to practise and the parents want some holiday activity for the kids. A few of the parents or students just want to continue and enjoy the steady progress. I have a family in Brighton that I have been teaching for a few years now.

Tonight, after lesson we were standing at the gate with the mum of the two kids I teach and we were enjoying a great chat. She made a comment that made me think about this all. She mentioned that her younger child, a boy I started to teach this year after seeing her sister excelling in piano, was really looking forward to our lesson. Ryan has practised every single day,  played even 3-4 times a day so he was keen to see my reaction to his work! Mum laughingly mentioned that Ryan is an early riser and many times he is down at the piano at 6am! Somehow I can't imagine that he would be very popular in the family!!! Anyhow, the parents have a great attitude towards this. Hearing mum's comments after the lesson, I was glad that Ryan's work attracted my cheerful and demonstrative praise with lots of fun stickers acknowledging how well he is progressing! Kids truly respond well to positive feedback and praise when it is well deserved! Hmmm. Not only kids but adults as well!!! From the teacher's side, I need to admit that a good lesson puts me in a great mood and I never mind teaching during the holiday. The rewards are such that it i worth it.

Bach