I had a nice exchange with the mother of a young student yesterday. The student is going to start playing sports at school and the mother is trying to balance the schedule. The typical conversation is usually something like, "Sports are going to take up most of our time, so we will only have time on Wednesdays between 4:30 and 6:00." Or "The Coach has changed practice times so you will have to find a new time for us to come in." A problem has been created and it's now my responsibility to solve it.
But yesterdays conversation was different. I explained that I didn't have any other openings in my schedule but I would ask another family if they could switch. And then I asked if I should remove the student from my current schedule. Her answer was swift and emphatic, "No! Music comes first."
My relationship with sports is complicated. As a child I tried various sports but I'm really not very good. When I was about thirteen my father put up a basketball hoop at home so I could practice. That year I practiced nearly every day. I began as soon as the snow went away in the spring and practiced dribbling and shooting. When I started I was abysmal. But when school started in the fall I was still terrible. So I went back to practicing my guitar. I am not athletically inclined. More like athletically reclined. I watch sports on television from the comfort of my favorite chair.
I truly wish that I was more active. I don't even play golf. The last time I tried golf I took a swing at the ball and missed by so much that I nearly screwed myself into the ground like a cartoon character. But I really feel like I've missed out on a lot. And I don't want my students to miss out too.
It's all about balance in our lives, I think. To balance the artistic with the pragmatic, the physical with the intellectual. Private classical guitar lessons do not offer the team experience. Later, if they students play chamber music, jazz, rock, or country they may get the chance to play in a band. Team sports can fill that void. But team sports does not offer the student the experience of self-reliance like solo music performance does. They balance each other to the benefit of the student.
As I said, in a typical tug-of-war between music lessons and sports it seems like music comes up short. So yesterdays conversation was a welcome surprise. But I don't want to gloat. It's a challenge for me. I will do my best to accommodate this new addition to their family schedule. To help perpetuate the twenty-first century version of the warrior poet.
I didn't make the basketball team all those years ago and, to be truthful, the team didn't miss me. But I think I missed the team. Yes it allowed me to focus more on music but there was no balance. I will attempt to accommodate my student. For her sake and, I suppose, mine too.