Re: Re: When a student is teaching before they are ready

[unknown-user]

Thank you for your thoughtful posts Carl and Alicia. I just found out
about it this week, and didn’t confront her clearly because it stings a
little and I try to stay detached especially with critical issues. I
did make those hints and I hope it was not taken as socially rude as
Alicia suggested. I really like my student and appreciate her sincerity
in correcting her technique. I’m not entirely clear about feeling a
student belongs to a teacher because I don’t relate to my students in
that way. If one of my students is exploring a skill, and I know a
harpist more experienced than me in that skill, I love to set them up
with a lesson together. It’s rewarding to share professional resources
with students, giving them a chance to network and learn. I do value
respectful behavior between teacher and student.

Since graduating it has become more clear every day the need to let go
of feeling entitled to anything beyond our control. Those of us who
have paid our dues and received diplomas that state we “are entitled to
all the privileges pertaining to this degree” soon realize that life is
a bit more complicated than that. Being trained through the graduate
level often requires investing tens, if not hundreds of thousands of
dollars and all the blood, sweat and tears of our young adult lives. I
spent 16 years in college and grad school, receiving two masters and a
doctorate all in music, and leaving with a boatload of student loans.
Many of my peers have left music by the wayside, but I am thankful to
live in a good area now, and realize it takes time and patience to find
people who can use our skills. I love my little studio of harp
students, and have found a recent opportunity to help it grow. I wish
more people could understand exactly what our years of training allow
us to contribute to students, since it often requires the same number
of years as law school and medical school.