4 posts tagged “piano”

Must.
Finish.
足跡.

Then I can sleep.
Man, what a day. I honestly can't wait until it's Sunday.
Tomorrow (er, I guess it's actually today) I have two presentations. One in Discourse with Saeko at 8:00am (WHO THE HELL MADE THAT TIME, SERIOUSLY) and another with Claire at 1:00 about children and literacy; our topic is Pictures tell stories. It's interesting. I got some kids to draw pictures for me, haha.

So piano.
Sara might be stopping. It's not because of me or anything, her mum says she's having a devil of a time getting her to practice. But, when they say they'll get rid of the keyboard, she doesn't want it to go and says she wants to learn it. She does really well in lessons. I told her mum maybe the half hour is too long, or maybe it's just her age. That if they want, they could wait a year or so, or we can just take it one step at a time like we are now. She doesn't want to push Sara and have her resent it or hate piano, and I totally agree. It's better to have her stop and wait and see if an interest in it comes back than to force her to do it; especially because she's only five.

Chayan. Aww, he's so sweet. For his speech last week, he made it to the gym. Then he competed in the gym, and made it to the legion!! So he gets to say his speech with kids from other schools in a competition! I hope he does well. He also said to me today, "Can I give you a hug?" (Out of NO where).

Whitney. zOmg they bought a piano and it's so pretty. We just got four new pianos in, and Whitney's family bought one. They're uprights, black, Yamaha, gorgeous. (Maybe I just like them because they're so shiny). We didn't do as many songs today as normal, but that's kind of good. We need to slow down a bit to make sure she gets everything. I'm pretty sure she'll be able to do her grade one exam in June, but I don't want to force her into anything she's not ready for. But she's still doing so well, her note reading is amazing!

Alisha, was silly as ever today. She's a really sweet girl. She's trying really hard, and her songs are getting better every week. That's all I can ask for, because as long as she tries I'm happy. And I tell her that, because I don't want her to think zomg, I'm going to piano I have to play this perfectly because that just makes kids frustrated (at least, it would DEFINITELY make her frustrated and upset).　But, the point here is I can see that she's improving every week and I'm proud.

Okay.
Exhausted.
In five hours, I will be at school doing my presentation and I have yet to sleep.
Bad idea. I know.
Especially because tomorrow is one hell of a long day.

Wish me luckー＼(^^＼)(/^^)/
オヤスミ (*~￢~*)/。・:*:・゜★,。・:*:・゜☆

I'm seriously cold.
Okay, so granted it doesn't help that I'm sitting in a concrete hallway with my back against the window while it's snowing outside, without my jacket on; but regardless. It's freaking cold. And since the "bench" I'm sitting on is nothing more than a block of concrete with a carpeted top, my ass is beginning to seriously ache. So is my back.

And [/complaining].

So! Last night.
Bev called me on Wednesday night to see if I could start at 3:30; and because I have no class on Thursdays that wasn't a problem. I didn't really know why they wanted me to start so early; I wasn't sure if there was a student coming or if they wanted me to get some of the desk stuff done because there's a lot of typing to do still (AND, we still use an old ghetto typewriter -- no word of a lie. There are kids who come in and have NO idea what it is, haha). I checked the book, and I didn't see anyone's name but then it turned out I had Sonya first. I've taught her a couple of times and she's a really nice girl. She's in grade seven piano, and I love the waltz that she's learning . . . I might have to find it and play it myself.

After Sonya I had Whitney; she usually comes later but they were going to see a piano last night so they had to come earlier. SHE MIGHT BE GETTING A PIANO. How exciting is that!? As I've mentioned NUMEROUS times, she just started her lessons in October. We've been through three books and we just started grade one last night. She's just flying through it; we did seven new songs! SEVEN. And she gets them easily, it's not that I'm pushing her, she keeps wanting to do more. Then her mum said they were thinking of maybe doing hour lessons. . . I'm really glad she loves piano this much! ♡

Then, I had my new little one, Sara. Her mum came this time so I got to meet her and she sat in on the lesson. Usually that makes me really nervous, because it's just hard having someone watch over your shoulder. But she just sat at the back of the room (not that they're big, mind you) and watched and listened. Then after I explained to her everything Sara and I had done so that they could practice at home. She seems to be really into working with Sara and helping her out, so that's awesome. It's always refreshing to see parents that are involved with the activities their little ones are doing. ^^ Especially at that age.

At six thirty, Alisha came. We've decided to do triads one week and scales the next; plus C formula every single week. Then we get a little more time to play songs. [Note to self → we did triads this week]. We worked on Village Dance, which is one of the studies she has to do on the exam. She CAN do it, but she often refuses to actually READ the music. But this week we got through the hard parts and although she slows down to make sure it's right, she has the right notes now! ｨｪ‐ｨ v(´▽`v)))))).......((((((v´▽`)v ｨｪ‐ｨ I can tell that she's actually working very hard on it at home; she plays it three times a day, so I'm really proud of her for working so hard!!

I also had Jenn, Joshua and Bindu (all who are not my students, they came for makeup lessons) and they're all really nice kids too. I didn't get to teach Mr. Chayan, because he came at eight instead of his normal time, and I already had Bindu for an hour so Val took him for the evening. He was totally fine with it, because he likes Val and it gives him a chance to kind of show off to someone else. He really is a little performer, haha.

I felt so bad for Bindu; she missed a few lessons and had to catch up so in the course of an hour we had to go through the important stuff she's done plus learn two new songs hands together which is really a lot of work where she is right now. But she did awesome～! ^^ And poor Josh, haha. I . . . don't think he really wants to be playing piano but he wanted to take a break from guitar. Once he gets going, he's fine but he doesn't practice much. Really nice boy though. With Jenn, we did Turkey in the Straw which was therefore stuck in my head for the rest of the night. (＠Д＠;　

That was pretty much it. Then I had my lesson which was painful.
Bev kept telling me not to say 'sorry' in my songs, haha. I just feel bad she has to sit there and endure all the incorrectedness. Although I guess I COULD practice more. (;~〓~) アセアセ

I finally got some sense, and put my coat behind my back.
It's a LOT warmer now.

Sadly, I had no dreams about anyone gorgeous last night. T_T
That makes me sad. Yanyan thinks there must be a rating on my dreams, that's why I never get anything good. Hahaha. I wonder though. . . .

I keep thinking, what if I meet someone on mixi from 愛知県 who knows him?
I realize, I do need to stop thinking about him (it's better though, I can listen to their songs without crying most of the time and make it through whole songs now!), but he's still stuck there.

I guess, I feel like there's still hope.
Even though there isn't and there never was.

( ´△｀)アァ-　I don't feel like going to class. (Shocking, I know).

I got my new student today!
.
.
.
I really make it sound like I'm actually getting something; like a prize or a puppy. (^_^;)
Anyways, she's at 4:30 and her name is Sara. That's all I knew about her before she arrived. I got to work at 4:00, because I wasn't sure if I had a student at 4:00 this week and if I have a new student at 4:30, it's good to be early so that I can be ready when they come.

They came at about ten after, and it turns out she's five. FIVE. How cute is that!? And she JUST turned five on the 1st of the month. She's in school, but in Montessori school at the moment. Her dad said she'd be starting kindergarten next September.

So usually, young kids, especially girls, are shy when they come to piano lessons for the first time. I mean, it's a whole new environment and you're being taught by this person you've never met before, not to mention there's no one else in your class. But Sara, is hilarious! She's SO friendly and really talkative but she also is amazing at sitting there and listening. I have NO idea how much she'll remember by next week, but at least she's being introduced to it and if we do one song per week, that should be fine.

We did a lot today in her first lesson, so now I'm worried it was too much. But, we'll see what happens next week and then I can adjust accordingly. We started by finding Middle C, then found all the groups of two black keys, and all the groups of three black keys. Then we learned where C, D, E, F and B are on the keyboard. And named them after animals. I let her choose the animals, because that makes more sense, so we have Cat, Dog, Elephant, Fish and Butterfly.

Anyways, I'm getting carried away describing that all. At one point I had to run out to the desk and grab my pencil, because I left it there by accident and she comes out of the room behind me and goes, "Can I ask you something?" So of course I say sure, and she goes, "Well, I really have to go the washroom!" Haha. So I took her, and she was telling me about how when she sits for a long time, she always has to go to the washroom and how about the washroom at school has a kitchen in it. [/random].

She also said to me, "When we're done, can I do things my way?" Okay so I wasn't 100% sure what that meant, but I figured of course that she just wanted to play the song by herself. Well, I explained what we did to her dad and then she wanted to go back in and try things 'her' way, so we went to the piano, and she tried running her hands up the keys. You know, like they do in songs to make it sound all spiffy? If you've ever tried to do it, it's actually VERY hard, because your hands get stuck, as did hers. She only made it a couple of keys. So, I told her to cover her hand with her sleeve, and try again. That worked and she was happy, haha.

I'm really glad to have a new student. And I'm really glad with the progress Chayan and Whitney are making. Chayan, I need to find something else for. Like another new book so he doesn't get bored. We're almost done the book we're in now, and I want to get him a book with songs he might actually know; like movie songs and stuff. Whitney, next week will complete the last song in the Preliminary book. She'll have done the whole Preliminary grade, which is two books and a Christmas book in four months. That's pretty damn good. And, she's excited to play scales. O_O

Now, Ms. Alisha, is such a sweet and funny girl. But, she doesn't practice enough. And, when she does practice she doesn't use the books, so she doesn't look at the music. It's really amazing how fast she memorizes things, but at the same time half the time she's memorizing it wrong. In lessons, I cover her hands with a book so she's forced to read the music, but I can't do that at her house. Obviously. But we did a new song today, hands separately; it's easy and it went well. I wanted to give her something new so she has something and so she doesn't get frustrated with the other songs that she has to work on. I thought if we at least did something new and easier, then at least she could go home and look forward to practicing something because she could see that she could do it.

Does that make ANY sense?

I know I talk a lot about my kids. But I really enjoy teaching piano. I wish I had more students, but I'm also really happy with the few I have now. ^^

ALSO.
This Saturday, I'll be teaching the Japanese class! Hiroko gave me a list of things to go over, (including time and 挨拶) so I'm trying to think of some games and stuff we can do so that the kids can use some of their energy and have some fun. I was thinking for 挨拶, after we go over them all we can play handshake murder. Because you have to walk around and greet someone so it gives everyone a chance to practice without feeling singled out.

Anyone have any idea for time games? Or SOME kind of game-ish thing that I could incorporate time into?
I also don't know if I should do a worksheet for homework or not. . .

On a closing note,
I think that I think I'm closer to a lot of people than I really am.
You know, that kid who was always around and they thought you were like ZOMG BFF but you really weren't?
Yeah.
I think I'm kind of like that sometimes with some people.
I guess, because I want to be close to them. Or something.
Maybe I'm over-thinking again.

I have to leave to go to school in about four minutes...
Well, maybe ten. But I hate being late for the bus because I get worried it's going to leave without me, haha. And if I'm late for class, I won't go. Because I hate being late and I hate walking in late. For anything. Like, the one time I went with Matty and Wouter to a live and Wouter made us late, I was so anxious. AND I missed half of Baccarat! T_T

Anyways. That's not what I intended to write about.
I wanted to write about work.
Last night, was my first day back in two weeks, because when Nels was here I wasn't about to ditch her to teach my kids, when someone could fill in for me, haha. Right now, I'm only working on Thursdays, but I think Monday might become my other day. I think they want me to work on Saturdays, but I can't now because I have to go to Japanese class and volunteer until March when I'll take the class over.

All my kids came (yay!) and I taught some make up lessons as well (that's if I kid misses their lesson, they come a different time in the week to make it up so they don't fall behind). I missed my kids though, Chayan said he missed me and was glad I was back, haha. His songs, as always were really good. I'm proud of him, he practices a lot and does really well. Whitney, got a keyboard for Christmas, which is way exciting! I'm always impressed with how good she's doing! She's only been taking lessons since the middle of October, and already we're almost done two books. She's just flying through; we do usually about four songs per lesson! Then I had Alisha for an hour as well. She kills me, she's such a funny kid. She told me that the wallpaper in the room was unbearable, hahaha. She's nine. Alisha's two songs were also MUCH better! The one she likes (Fandango) is getting really good! I'm proud of her too, we've been working on it for a long time.

Ahh, my time is up.
I have to go or I'll be late for the bus, and I have to be there early because I have NO freaking clue where this classroom is. -_-'