"I can be patient.....for a minute." My wife and family agree that I should have this printed on a tee shirt. I am easily frustrated and quick to anger over little things. I always have been and I don't know how to change. Except when I teach. My students, or their parents, often remark on how patient I am.
I don't understand the difference except that my impatience usually refers to some mistake that I've made or something that's gone wrong. In the studio my responsibility is to my students and it falls to me to help them overcome the difficulties. Most of the time they are frustrated because they don't understand what is going wrong but I do and I can explain it to them.
However my patience in the studio can also be a facade. When I get a student who misbehaves and is rude to me I have a difficult time not being rude back. At some point they need to understand that being rude is unacceptable. Either their parents or I will explain it to them. I also get a little angry when they consistently don't practice and/or regularly forget their music. Every student can fall into this category occasionally, but when it becomes normal I get a little frustrated. But I remind myself that there are still things to learn and perhaps I can try to find a way to motivate them. This may be a way for them to tell me that they are bored and need to work on something else.
I'm old enough that I'm now teaching the children of the kids I taught thirty years ago. One such parent recalled that I got angry when I had showed him how to do something multiple times and he still didn't get it. All these years he thought I was angry with him. I apologized and explained that such moments do make me angry, but at myself and my own limitations, not at my students. Impatience comes with a price.
However, patience has rewards. I remember lessons with certain students that seemed to last for hours even though the clock said it was the standard 30 minutes. These were emotion filled and high energy lessons that I would often dread. But over time things changed. Many of these students became fine musicians. It's not just that they changed, but so did I. Somehow I learned how to teach them in a style that they could respond to and then the lessons seemed to be over before they began. We had fun.
I also need to remind myself that they are often being very patient with me too. There are certain things they need to learn that are difficult and breed frustration like a stagnant pond breeds mosquitoes. I sooth and cajole and celebrate every little victory with a whoop and a holler. There is little fun in the process but great joy in the success and their faith in me is restored. Patience is a virtue. Painful, but a virtue.