SPEAKING OF TEACHERS
Welcome to the new 3e blog. I feel I should be sending up balloons and offering you canapés! But I forgot we’re in cyberspace. Guess you’ll just have to imagine virtual balloons and canapés.
Anyway, the idea behind this blog is to raise some questions about teachers and teaching, get people to send in their ideas and comments and see where 3e fits in with all this. Also, I’ll let you know of 3e news and opportunities you may want to pursue. From time to time I’ll ask you to weigh in on a specific question like, for instance, what would you like 3e Institute to do next?
Speaking of teachers, who was your best teacher, the one who really made a difference?
Take a minute to think back on your own education, while I tell you about my best teacher:
The summer before my junior year in high school, my family moved to a different part of the state. As a consolation for having to give up all my friends and activities from my old school, my parents arranged for me to take violin lessons, something I had been yearning to do since I was a little child. There was no string music instruction in the school system, so I took lessons from a professor at a state college about 30 miles from my new home.
I was 16, about twice the age most kids are when they begin playing a violin, but my teacher had the patience to work with me through all the tedium of the finger positions, the intonation and the bowing. He gave me half hour lessons that actually lasted two hours, until my shoulders ached and my fingers were sore. He never lost his temper and was always encouraging. Once in a while he’d cock his head and say, “There’s something there, I know there’s something there.” He gave me music compositions to learn that were far beyond my technical ability. I could never figure out why he insisted I was talented and could master the instrument, but knowing my teacher believed so strongly in me was profoundly important, especially at that time in my life when I felt uprooted and lonely.
Two years later I went away to a college populated by many talented musicians headed for professional careers in musical performance. My small musical aptitude faded into oblivion. But, incredible as it may seem, several decades later I took up my violin again. Even though I had to painstakingly re-learn everything, it brought me comfort and a sense of tangible accomplishment, along with the connection to the beauty and expression of the music. I pulled out the challenging music from long ago. I now think my teacher had intentionally put that hard music in my hands to challenge me to help myself grow in the years to come. I am still learning to play the violin.
Above all the rest, I remember my violin teacher because he accepted me at the point I was starting from, believed I could learn to play exceptionally well, and took me as far as he could in two short years. And he gave me something to reach for and achieve long after our ways parted.
I’m hoping you have time this week to send in a comment on your own learning experiences....
Who was your best teacher and why? I wonder what sharing these memories will bring to light. I am eager to read your reply.