Yesterday I spent 15 minutes (when I could have been eating dinner between lessons) recording the obligato part to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star for one of my students. I often play that part while a student plays the Twinkle theme. It's been hard to get this student to practice and as a result I've been wondering whether I should keep her, and certainly wondering whether I should be spending dinner time recording an MP3 for her. But I did. And e-mailed it to her.
Tonight after my last lesson I went downtown to get some groceries and stopped by her house to drop off something that had been left behind after her lesson. She met me at the door and asked me to come in for a minute because she couldn't figure out this one note in the piece. I'm not sure whether the rest of the family was out or asleep, but there was something so fun about this little girl standing in the kitchen trying to work out the notes to the Twinkle obligato. It's a little beyond her reach technique-wise, but I gave her a couple of hints and could tell that the next time I see her (after the holidays) I bet she'll know it cold. I don't think teaching gets any better than that.