Summer 2007

    There are often two separate lives lead by artists, writers and musicians.  If only it were as exciting as a spy.  Alas, the two are perhaps in a more mundane way just ass challenging.  There is a delicate balance between performing and teaching.

    As some of the students here at the studio graduate and go on to college and university, many are taking their harps, keyboards and drums with them.  A handful, I am proud to say will even study music and to make ends meet teach in their new apartments, passing on their knowledge of music.  To them, I have tried to stress the importance of keeping their balance.

    Music is a gift.  Not everyone can play it.  Not everyone can share it.  If one can do either, its to be encouraged.  Somewhere along the way, many performers find that teaching is very rewarding.  

    Last winter, I was talking to a pianist from Japan.  She had been performing and touring for over two years and wanted some time at home with her husband.  To keep her income steady, she agreed to teach.  In the year she spent teaching, she had not performed, not once.  Dedicated to her students, she poured her heart into making sure that her studio and her curriculum met the unique needs of each pupil.  Her students were all doing well but she found herself blue.  

     This month, I caught up to this colleague.  She had taken some time off over the summer to go back to performing.  Beaming, she was happy and passionate in her playing.  When I spoke with her after the concert, she explained that she had worked out a schedule with her students.  She travels and performs during the summer months, which is just enough time to make her concert schedule challenging but not grueling.  When the school year is back in swing, she returns home and opens the studio to her students.  

    Finding a balance is the key, she said.  I have tried to take her advice to heart and pass it along to graduates leaving the studio here on venture on into music careers of their own.  Perform when you can, teach and pass along what you've learned.  Take care of yourself.  Keep music alive.

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