For many years I taught a class piano curriculum called Music for Young Children out of Canada. They kept track of how many students I taught and would give me a lovely pin at the conferences. I have pins with 700, 1000, 1800 and 2000 and then I lost count. Suffice as to say I have taught thousands of students in my 35 plus years of teaching music. Although every student was different with diverse dreams, goals and talents there were some patterns in the musical journey that I found fascinating.
When I started my musical journey I would write little songs while driving in the back seat of the car. I drove across the US and Canada twice as a child with my father. This was before any modern entertainment or seat belts for that matter. I looked out the window, listened to the AM radio, sang little tunes and waited for the next hotel or road side meal. I remember writing a song to the moon and I remember my dad buying me a brand new yoyo at a truck stop.
The next stop on my musical journey was taking piano lessons with my sister Katie. She had a studio in our house with her brand new grand piano and she had a small cadre of young students. I remember the Thompson piano books with the little gnomes and even at 6 years old I knew my sister was giving me amazing expert accompaniment to my little two black note songs. I enjoyed the piano, but my sister could tell the instrument itself didn’t speak to me and I was much more interested in the nylon string guitar my dad played.
Although I continued piano playing my sister wisely shifted my lessons to early music, chordal accompaniments and composition. I basically started writing songs using the piano as my accompanying instrument and I started my first guitar lessons with my dad. My dad was used to teaching college level students so he started me on songs with 4 and 5 chords and full C, F and G chords at age 8 or 9. I would have a much different approach now with my students and I have guitars that fit their little hands. I wasn’t deterred at all by this approach and was quickly making my way with the guitar.
My journey took an unexpected turn when my sister’s band needed a drummer. I began playing drums professionally for her band at age 14. When I graduated early from high school I went back to my true passion of playing the guitar, but I always had a drum set for the occasional gig.
My journey took me to the University of Southern California where I studied classical guitar with James Smith and William Kanengiser. On the very first day of school I befriended a French guitarist named Clare Delerue. She had just started learning the theorbo and played a piece for me. I was so taken with the instrument that I immediately checked out a lute from the school instrument library and started lessons in lute and voice. I followed the muses through lute, voice, clawhammer banjo, electric guitar, Irish drums, Renaissance Guitar, Baroque Guitar and Fiddle.
Often when students start an instrument they are unprepared or rather their parents are unprepared for the idea that music is a journey. At the beginning of the journey the parents imagine their house filled with beautiful music and their little protege gracefully leaping through each and every level of an instrument to mastery of said instrument. They aren’t ready for their students to struggle, get frustrated, fail and change instruments like you change your shoes. In other words the unsuspecting music student and parents don’t really understand what the journey could look like.
That’s the beauty of a journey. You don’t know what to expect and you never know how it will turn out. It can be harrowing, but also amazingly beautiful. Everyone experiences their music making in a completely unique way. We all come to instruments and our voices with a sense of discovery and wonder. How we practice, perform, share and teach music comes in many colors. I happen to think the challenges are worth it and every day I sit down and play music it’s a gift.
