Teaching in a Pandemic
This Is Difficult.
Truthfully, it could be a lot harder, and I feel so fortunate that I’ve been able to continue teaching. I know that is not the case for all private lesson teachers; there are likely some who still have not regained their previous studio strength. I do not mean to minimize anyone else’s struggle, but it’s important for me to vent as well. Here’s my story.
What Happened
My former teacher, Dr. Jan Berry Baker, sent me a very thoughtful Christmas card (and I loved it!). In it was one of the first assignments I completed as her graduate student - a rundown of who I was, what music I liked, what I wanted to achieve, that sort of thing. In that assignment (dated 2014) I said that within 5 years, I wanted a vibrant saxophone studio of 50+ students. I achieved that studio in Fall of 2019. Then 2020 happened, and by the time April came around my 50 student roster had dropped to 20.
What 2014 Reese didn’t know is that 2016 Reese has a wife and son to support, so that 50 student number is far less arbitrary than when I set that goal for myself. Economic stimulus certainly helped me get through that time financially, and I’ve almost completely rebounded here in the Spring of 2021. But we’re still online. I still don’t see or hear my students, not really. When you sit behind that screen, there’s no social energy to feed off of. I have to do physical therapy because my back is so out of whack from just sitting. Like I said, this is hard.
Why It’s OK
The Spring semester has already thrown me a few curveballs. I’m sick (not COVID thankfully) so I missed the first day of my college teaching and had to Zoom (again grateful I could, but not nearly the same), I’ve lost a family member, and every day it seems I hear about someone I knew, or someone with 1 or 2 degrees of separation, who has passed from COVID. The country is very unstable right now, Inauguration Day is tomorrow, and I’m hoping and praying that it goes off without a hitch. Long term, I worry about raising a child in this environment. But something happened today.
One of my students is a beginner on their instrument, and like many beginners, they struggle with rhythm and playing in time with a metronome. Between their band director, myself, and their parents, this student has been been motivated and they are working HARD. A week ago they could not count out loud with the metronome, let alone play. We drilled and drilled for what seemed like forever to no avail. This week, we drilled rhythm again and guess what? They. Finally. Nailed. It.
Now that is a relatively small and perhaps unremarkable thing in the grand scheme of the world. But when I excitedly praised them on finally getting it right after all that hard work, their face lit up with excitement and joy. And we were able to work on about twice as much music as the last week.
TL;DR
I almost cancelled that lesson. I’m sick and rapidly losing my voice, so I could have used the vocal rest. But I decided to push through, and I’m so glad I did. When we invest ourselves in other people, we find purpose and discover a passion for community. It doesn’t always immediately pay off, but if there is a teacher reading this know this - your voice matters, even digitally. You may not know it yet, you might not know for a while, but it does. Keep. Going.