An ode to my students

So I haven't written in about a thousand years, and the likelihood that anyone ever reads this blog is dubious (to say the least), but I feel the need to mention how grateful I am right now.

I feel absurdly fortunate to have this year of writing . . . writing is a blast, and I am confident that it's the work I most need to do right now . . .

But it doesn't pay the bills (at least not at the moment).

I marvel at the fact that I get to do something I love soooo much to pay the bills while I write in my extra time. I am working with a whole bunch of students who range in age from 2nd to 11th grade, and I'm constantly amazed by them. I teach private voice lessons to most of them, piano lessons to a handful, and I'm also directing three a cappella groups.

The experience of working with individuals and small groups is very different from working with large classes and choruses; it's fun to be able to tailor instruction to each particular student. No two people are even remotely the same, which means no two lessons are the same . . . it's the ultimate test of my ability to think on my feet and experiment. It's so fun.

My students are teaching me to be a better teacher; they also constantly teach me to expand my ideas of what is possible.

I'm really just the luckiest person in the world.