I had a fun conversation with a student recently. We were completing the song she had been working on and it was time to move on. That's the nature of lessons. Learn a song, make it shine, move on to the next... We're nearly always working on something new and pushing our abilities forward. It can be both grueling and satisfying. She's fifteen and has been with me for several year. She is actually getting quite good. This is pretty much the only type of lesson she knows. But this time I decided to take advantage of the holiday season.
"Lets take a break from our normal routine and learn some Christmas songs", I said. She smiled and quickly agreed. The problem is that she doesn't have any. I could probably give her one, but sometimes it's fun to search through the books at the store and find the one that you like. I didn't want to deprive her of that. Also, she gets to make all of the artistic decisions and I just help her with the technical side.
The only advice that I gave her is to pick a book of songs that look a touch too easy. The arrangements shouldn't look like lesson material. I constantly see arrangements of Christmas music that is over arranged. They are very busy, technically difficult, and don't really sound that good when completed. I can easily defend these arrangements academically but in my opinion music shouldn't be academic.
I also explained to her that there are only about four weeks until Christmas. In five weeks we will probably stop playing them until next November. "So do you want to spend the next four weeks on one song or several? Besides", I continued, "you've worked hard developing your chops. Let's take some time to have fun and put them to use."
I always try to remember that people don't take lessons so they can practice. They take lessons to learn how to play music. The sign on my wall reads, "Our goal is to play beautiful music beautifully." Our primary reason to practice is to achieve that goal. Occasionally I need to remind my students of that also.