So I've been teaching here in Philadelphia for a few weeks now, and I've learned more about how teachers used to view me than I ever did when I studied with them. It's hard to put yourself in the shoes of a teacher when you're a student, but damn, I was difficult to deal with sometimes.
I currently have three students whom I teach weekly or bi-weekly. I'm starting to get the hang of regularly teaching more than one student, especially students who aren't older adults. Last week and this week, two of my students had major breakthroughs. It was so cool to just walk into a lesson and hear a completely different player, transformed in the matter of just a couple weeks. I'm not saying they're Wynton or anything, but it's satisfying to hear great improvements.
So far it's been up and down for me...one minute I feel like I'm completely missing the mark, and then the next minute they're playing up a storm, and I feel like I've helped them get to that point. What I'd like to know from my teacher friends is how do you stay patient through it all when they don't quite get it, and how much of their success (or lack thereof) do you attribute to your instruction?
Please let me know what you think.
A.J.
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