Rewarding or Annoying?

Teaching kids music is a bittersweet job. When they do well, you would find it very rewarding. When they don't, you would find it annoying. Today, thankfully, I was on the rewarding side.

There has been a period of time when P (who is 10 years old) did not like his lessons. He didn't say it, but he totally showed it on his face. Frowns on his face, not reactive to my commands ... I was thinking I would lose him sooner or later . Usually traditional Chinese parents would not let their kids quit their lessons, so he kept coming. But I really started to struggle; I didn't know how to encourage him more than I already had.

I went for a music camp for three weeks. I decided I'd worry about student issues when I come back. Of course, P came back for lessons after my trip. He looked different. He looked much brighter and happier and more confident. I have no idea what God has done to him. He became more attentive to what I say. He bacome more interactive with me. It seems he is more willing to work with me and is enjoying the process more.

I put him on a song project (I do that to all my drum students), which is to play along the recording of "Let Everything That Has Breath (Matt Redman)". At first he didn't think he could do it because it's fast. Really, it's not crazily fast, but I think it's a good time for me to put that song on him because he needs to start doing things out of his comfort zone. I told him to try it out for a couple of weeks to get familiar with the song and play eighth-note hi-hat along with it and see how it goes. If it's still too fast for him then we'll work other things out. Amazingly, a week later, he told me it's actually not that difficult. He said he was just lack of confident for something he had not done before.

Today was the 3rd time (I believe?) we worked on this song in his lesson. I analyzed with him the song structure and told him to put fills at the designated places. To help him get the hang of it, we practiced the introduction numerous times. A few times with me just counting the bars out, a few times with the music and with my counting, and a few times with just the music. He got very excited each time he successfully finished the task.

When I saw the smile on his face, I felt joy in my heart. I really look forward to his finished product.

I thank God for being able to teach. It's not an easy job, but it's all worth it when you see your students enjoying themselves and are really getting something out of what you teach. I hope to see P serve at church as a drummer! ;-)