Introductions

So - thanks to all who read my first ever blog - as promised here's the introductions to my pupils so far - hopefully it'll save confusion in later posts when you at least have a vague idea of who I'm talking about!

The Twins - actually some of my first pupils this year, and provide some very amusing anecdotes - I teach both of them piano, and the boy violin as well - sometimes a bit of a hair tearing experience as behaving well isn't really on their list of priorities - and neither is music apparently! Having said that they are great when they do concentrate, and they've done pretty well in their exams so far.

Binsdon - So I teach three children there - of varying degrees of concentration! T the eldest has... let's just say a little difficulty concentrating - as in - he'll do almost anything else apart from play his instruments - including imaginary games with mallets, pens, hats...pretty much anything! He wrote me a rather sweet card though - as he's just got a merit in his grade 2 - or at least I thought it was sweet until a friend pointed out the various planes, bombs and burning buildings depicted - hmm! L is the middle child, and the complete opposite - it's actually hard to pull him away from the instruments once he's there! I is the youngest and only just starting out - more to come!

Roy - Another of my early pupils - he's actually head of chemistry at a pretty prestigious local school - so the first lesson was a bit of a nerve wrecking experience - can't help feeling a little apprehensive when you're teaching a teacher! He's super dedicated to his trombone playing though, and the daily practice is really showing! What I thought was maybe a little ambitious at first (you know, 3 months in and major trombone repertoire could be a little too much for some!) is actually sounding pretty good now!

Trombone T - evidently my other trombone pupil - it's pretty cute he still can't quite stretch the full length of the trombone (he is 7)! He started in november time, and he's progressed pretty well too.

P - one of my lovely pupils - she has her grade 4 violin coming up super soon so I'll probably be stressing about that in a few weeks!!

Masefield - I have two pupils there, F, and her son M, although they're actually not going to be able to have a piano for a while so lessons might be quiet on that front. F's made loads of progress - as an adult (re)beginner, and M, well, not quite so much, but he CAN play the star wars theme tune now so this is definitely progress!

Piano T - I think my most recent pupil - turns out he actually works at my old school as the rowing coach (impressive) and another rebeginner.

Stone Meadow - 3 pupils there (also fairly recent actually) Tom, S and J. Not a whole lot to say about them just yet

Petr - Another fairly recent pupil - a very funny character - there's so much confusion about lesson times and whatnot -  and last time we actually DID have a lesson, we managed to end up watching the first bit of his daughters film (after about half an hour of trying to get the tv to work!)

H - Another new pupil - she's using the half term week to have a 'crash course' in learning to play the piano - whether she'll carry on - well, we'll just wait and see.


I think that's all of them....maybe I've forgotten a couple, but they'll make an appearance at some point!! Sorry for the super long post - I figured it would be a good idea to introduce them all briefly so I'm not rambling on about life stories etc later on!


On a different note (note - get it?!) - I went viola shopping today, and now have 3 lovely violas to try out - and then hopefully choose one (and pray it doesn't completely bankrupt me forever!)

Thanks for reading guys, and keep following (if this doesn't put you all off to sleep) and sharing and etc! Will be posting again tomorrow.
 J xx

First lesson (I mean post...)

So, hey everyone - first post jitters.
I'm a local music teacher, and after 4 years (I can't believe it's taken me this long!), I thought I'd start a blog, if only for my own amusement, of the secret life of a music teacher - sort of like an online diary - which I guess a blog is anyway...
I have lots of lovely pupils, who all do and say lots of funny things, so, I thought I'd jot them all down - it might provide entertainment for some, others may be able to empathise, and if noone at all reads it, then it means I won't forget!

So today (Bank holiday Monday) - I was surprised to have two people wanting lessons, however, today came and an email popped through from one of my newest pupils - ''Sorry can we reschedule to next Monday, very busy time at the moment etcetc''. Fine by me - extended lie in, and means I'll get a chance to do some work before my next lesson.

Next lesson comes - and this is one where I actually teach at his house (mansion) - and because he's a beginner he'd asked me to buy him some stickers that he can stick on the piano and it'll help him learn the notes - not sure how useful they'll be, but I'll guess we'll find out! So I arrive with the stickers, and the mildly ambitious piece he's decided he'd like to learn (Maple Leaf Rag - Scott Joplin) - only to find him outside working on one of the cars. Hmm. Judging by the look of surprise on his face, I don't think he was expecting me...so, that was the second lesson cancelled. However I did get a huge sorry and hug to make up for the wasted journey - so I guess I'll just have to hope he doesn't forget Wednesday's lesson now!




I hope you guys enjoy my first post - the lone few of my friends who I will actually force to read it! It'll probably take me a while to get into the zone of ''blogging'' - but bear with and I'll try to make sense of all these muddled events - I'm thinking the next post should be a list of all my pupils so you guys can get to know them, and hopefully won't get too confused from lesson to lesson!

J xx