Welcome to the blog devoted to brass playing and classical music. A blog by two brass teachers: Matt Hurley and Doug Battson.

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Another Month... Music still lives

Another month has gone by and so it is time for me to post once again on this site. Not a whole lot to report. Life continues on. I still work too hard, still don't play my trombone as often as I would like, still doing the same things that I did yesterday and the day before that, and the day before that. Otherwise, not much happening.

One of the items that is new is the store where I teach lessons is closing its doors as of the beginning of March. Caught me by surprise. Certainly didn't know what I was going to do about teaching anymore. Gave me pause for several long nights of doing some heavy thinking considering my options.

One of the options was to teach out of my apartment. However, since I am not the neatest of individuals, that would mean some serious cleaning and keeping the apartment clean. Didn't forsee that happening very well.

Another option was to go to another store and try and teach there. This nice thing about the place I was teaching at was that it was literally 2 minutes away from my apartment. I was going to have a hard time driving other distances just to make a go of it, especially with the shape that my car is in.

Another one of the options was to stop teaching when they closed their doors. I will have to admit that I gave this one some serious thought. It would be nice to have my Saturday afternoons and Monday nights back to myself. It would be nice instead of having to go to teach lessons to be able to sleep in and kick back and do whatever I wanted for the weekend. The thought of this was very tempting to me. However, the more that I thought about this, it just wasn't me. I enjoy teaching. I enjoy playing.

Luckily for us, one of the guitar teachers there has partnered with somebody who is willing to put up the cash to open up a lessons studio just a few doors down from the current teaching location. They will be opening up just as the other store is closing. This is great news for me and my students. It will mean that I will have to continue to give up my Saturdays and Monday nights, but after the next story, how could I not give up those days to teach music.

I have a 69 year old gentleman who started taking lessons from me a year ago. He had never played an instrument before in his life, but he always enjoyed music and always wanted to learn. He was so distraught when I broke the news to him that the store was closing that he went home and talked to his wife to see if it would be okay for me to come and give him lessons at his home. For someone who loves music that much and feels that he his learning something each time we have a lesson, how can I not continue to teach?

1 Comments:

Blogger Tom Switzer said...

Truely, you MUST teach!! It is your Duty!!!

27/7/05 3:34 PM

 

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