My daughter and I were texting about important logistical stuff yesterday when I suddenly realized that I had to leave to go teach. “Gotta go teach!”, I typed. “Have fun!”, she replied.

“Hmmm”, I thought. “Will they have practiced?” Then I reminded myself that I do enjoy teaching very much and having fun is a policy not an occurrence.

On Mondays, I teach 30 minute classes of mostly 6-8 students at a time for a free music school. I don’t get a lot of time for one on one with the students. Every once in a while, I plan a week where I  go around to everybody individually for mini lessons. This was one of those weeks.

The students are all working on holiday music and they were excited to share their pieces and get some personal attention. We adjusted fingerings, worked on trouble spots, played together, and laughed together. About half of the students had mastered their piece(s) and were ready to start new ones. I got to know each student better and they got to know me better.

We had fun!

One of my high school students was playing Still, Still, Still and had a horrible case of pedal hic-cups. Her partner was absent so we worked for most of the lesson on timing the pedal until she could practice it well on her own. Then she said, “The pedal on my piano at home is broken so I never use it.” We looked at each other and laughed uproariously. The pedal is getting fixed this week.

To me, fun isn’t about cute activities, or joking, or cheerleading during lessons. Fun is about mutual respect—doing something together that you both love and making that something better than it was before. Fun is about a positive attitude and the ability to laugh. Fun is about discovering what you can do and doing it with others. Fun is about dispelling tension.

Fun is a policy.

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