Another Conversation

I guess any teacher would be happy to hear a student saying this:

S = Student Q = Quennie

Q (after hearing her student playing a snare drum etude): Well done! You can now practice this piece with bass drum. (Note: I do often ask my students to practice snare drum etudes with bass drum and hi-hat)

S: Really? Already?

Q: Yeah, you did well.

S: I thought you might say I have to perfect this and that. I think I can still do better.

Q: Well, yes, you should still be perfecting various spots. But, to me, you have played well enough to move on to the next item. Like I said before, I have very high expectations, but I also have a different gauge on each of my students, based on the person's and skill levels.

It could be that my student has seen a lot of my critical side and it has become hard for him to believe that he is indeed doing quite well. Nonetheless, I am quite happy that he bears serious attitude towards playing percussion. He is 11 years old and he has studied with me for 1.5 years. At this point, we are still focusing on drum set and snare drum stuff. If he decides to join band as a percussionist when he goes to grade 7 in September, however, I will start teaching him other percussion instruments.

Wish him all the best! :-)