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.