I find that saying "Goodbye" is generally an unpleasant experience. However I will be saying goodbye to two young students in a couple of weeks. They will be graduating from high school and going off to college. They've been my students for nearly ten years and I will be sad to see them go. But this happens nearly every year and I should be used to it by now. I will offer them an invitation to "drop by anytime" and "stay in touch". They may once or twice, but taking guitar lessons with me is a part of their childhood and it's time for them to move on.
Sadder still is learning that my time teaching an adult student has come to an end. His wife sent me an email this week informing me that Tom is going to quit. Tom discovered a couple of years ago that he has Alzheimer's. Continuing guitar lessons has been a part of his strategy for fighting back. I've noticed in recent weeks that it's become far more difficult for him and his frustration level has risen to record heights. The email was not unexpected. However I will check in from time to time.
Tom had been a student locally but then he and his wife decided to move to Jacksonville, Florida. We talked on the phone occasionally and he complained about finding a guitar teacher there. "They're all young guys who are trying to teach me how to play in a band. I'm almost 70 years old. I don't want to play in a band!"
Tom had been studying classical and finger style guitar with me. He didn't want to sing and he didn't want to plug in. He just wanted to play instrumental music for himself and his wife. He toyed with the notion of playing in a recital at some distant time in the future. After two years and five different teachers (I think that was the number) Tom asked if we could try to do it online. Although I had done a few online makeup lessons, I had never attempted regularly scheduled progressive lessons before. But I agreed and he became the first of several online students. I have to say that watching two old men trying to figure out and navigate the technology was kind of humorous.
Because of Tom's patience with me I was able to learn how to teach online. Not just the technology, which really isn't that difficult, but the methodology. Things are done differently to accomplish the same goals. And because of the challenges of Alzheimer's I had to develop new techniques to help Tom. But these methods and techniques will help me teach others and perhaps help lay a foundation for a new generation of online teachers to build on.
I will always have fond memories of my time spent with my graduating high schoolers and I hope their memories of me will be just as pleasant. But soon, I fear, memories of lessons with Tom will be mine alone.