Today, two of my students entertained residents of a senior home in La Verne. They did great performances, and the old lady next to me kept marveling between songs and applause how great the students played. The hours of preparation that the kids put in sure paid off. I felt rewarded as a teacher for telling them things I would’ve been tempted to let slide during practice. I felt privileged to be part of the village of support for each of these two young students of mine.

This first video shows my student Kelsey playing “Primavera” by Ludivico Einaudi. She worked very hard. When I said goodbye to the MTAC secretary/piano teacher/Recital organizer after the recital, she had to mention about Kelsey’s performance — that she did such a solid job and memorized such a long difficult piece for her age. She told me I was doing a great job with this student! It was nice feeling that as a compliment to my teaching. Having that family and parental support probably makes the biggest impact, as children seem to learn self-discipline from their parents. The best part is that she really enjoys playing piano, and practices 45min-1 hour, 7 days a week….So I can’t take much credit.

This next video above shows my student Justus and his mother Jennifer playing “Tres Villancicos”, Spanish Christmas Carols. They make a great mom/son pair! Our lessons have been so packed, productive, filled with epiphanies and laughter. He and his mom are at a level that pushes me to grow as a pianist and teacher. I smiled from ear to ear watching them play this one for the seniors. My only critique from their performance is that they need to make sure everything is set up correctly with the correct pages in place–to avoid flying, lost sheet music. Otherwise, it was great, because they handled the situation gracefully and continued playing like nothing ever happened.

Senior homes are such wonderful venues for student recitals–when kids give a labor of love to people who appreciate it, every wins! Today’s experience at the MTAC Community Outreach Recital makes that case!