abstract_association unhinged one of my favorite students is actually my slowest. she has the weirdest sense of humor. she is sweet, goofy, musical, stubborn, but overall a strange little duck. she is the youngest of five though; not knowing too much child psychology i have a hunch that may have something to do with it. it took her FOREVER to get twinkle twinkle little star correctly. there were a lot of environmental factors involved including the time and day of her lesson, irregular attendance, but it took her about 16 months to play it correctly. we would clap and say the rhythm. over and over. we would sing it. over and over. she would listen while i played it on the violin and the piano. over and over. but when it came to her picking up her violin and playing it, she couldn't get it perfectly. being as i'm stubborn too, i don't pass my students to a new song until they can play the old one somewhat perfectly. (at least i don't make them memorize the songs too like my first private teacher did) and it got to the point where i didn't know what to do and then one day i realized what it was. half notes look like open notes on the page, as opposed to quarter notes that are colored in. when you don't put any fingers down on the strings of a violin, it's called an open string. this student could play all the half notes on the open strings, but not when she put her fingers down. i looked at her and said 'you know you can play half notes when you put your fingers down too. any finger can be a half note.' two weeks later, she played it perfectly. i freaked out and she giggled. and it was probably my biggest triumph as a teacher that i finally realized how she was thinking of it. i still shake my head though...open note, open string. duh. hello. 080810 ... unhinged (by the way, i think she's six now. i have a feeling she would be good at improv) 080810 ... oren You_are_special! 080810 ... unhinged karma_is_my_lamp i miss that child. 830 on monday nights was our time. we had fun and cheered each other up. her parents paid me to be stable for her when they couldn't. her last lesson was my last one too and she asked me for the nameplate they put on my door and i only had to think twice before i handed it over. she was four when we said hello and nine when we said goodbye. i miss that child. 120618 ... epitome of incomprehensibility A few weeks ago I fell asleep while typing. I thought I was playing piano. When I opened my eyes and saw a string of nonsense words, I thought: That's weird, it SOUNDED perfectly fine. 120705 what's it to you? who go blather from