Once in grade school my class was given an assignment to write a short story. We could write about anything as long as it fit the prescribed format. So I wrote a silly piece of fluff that was loosely based on a dream I'd had the night before. It was intended to be fanciful and was filled with my idea of humor. When the paper was read. graded. and returned I was disappointed to see that I had received a poor grade. It seems that, while I had met the requirements given, my subject matter was too "far-fetched". Apparently "write about anything" had its limits.
It took me a few years to realize that the poor grade was a reflection of the teacher not me. A good teacher can a change a persons life. So can a bad one. I have other stories, as I'm sure most do, of good and bad teachers in my life. And I draw on both for inspiration.
Imagination is a valuable commodity and honorable trait and should be nurtured, I believe. However, society doesn't always support the process. I have young students with wild imaginations and I like to encourage them. They will tell fanciful stories, draw bizarre pictures, and generally act silly. It's okay as long as it's balanced with the hard work necessary to produce beautiful music. Some families react differently though. Some are "nose-to-the-grindstone" while others are more open to my style of teaching.
A notice posted on my studio wall proclaims "Our goal is to play beautiful music beautifully". And I strongly believe that the creation of beauty is not a rote activity. It requires an active imagination. The hard work comes when you have a notion of what you want to achieve and then have to work so hard to get it.
A few years ago I was talking with a fellow guitar teacher. He was telling me about all of the things that he made his students do. It sounded to me to be pretty rigorous and reminded me of my military training. Because he demanded so much he wouldn't teach anyone under the age of 10, but was considering changing that to 12.
He just couldn't believe that I would teach kids as young as 5. "They won't sit still. And they don't have much of an attention span." Actually they will for a while. Then you give them a short break or two. Do something silly or ask them questions and let them talk for a moment. And then go back to the task. I wasn't going to tell him all of that though. Those are my trade secrets. "By the time my students are 10 or 12", I told him, "they can read music and play complex two and three voice songs."
The best part is that I can talk to them about interpretation and musicianship because they are not afraid to flex their imaginations with me. And occasionally they will even try to do something odd, like turn a 19th century waltz into a heavy metal or jazz piece. They know that I will applaud and encourage their creativity even if I disagree with the results. And I know that we are firmly on the road to beautiful music played beautifully.