A story about a very young student, from 2015

Still thinking about my first encounter with a new student and his dad. Little boy is not even 3.5 years old. Dad is big, friendly, outgoing guy.

I walked up to my group class, and there was a tiny kid crying and struggling to get out of his dad's reach as his dad was trying to pick him up. The boy was so small, that I figured he was the little brother of one of the kids in my class. Turns out that he is one of the students in my class. First thing his dad says: "I just think he's too little. He doesn't want to come in." I said that they should just watch from the window, and if he wanted to come in part way through the class, that was ok.

About 10 minutes into the class, they came in and he sat on his dad's lap. He watched everything we did. At the end of the class, as the other kids packed up their violins, he took a slow jog around the room, smiling at everyone and watching them with their cases.

Then it was time for his 15 minute private lesson. Again, his dad was thinking they shouldn't even try. I said we could just go up to the studio and talk and see how he did. So, leaving the door open, because he wasn't immediately sure that he wanted to come in, we had a little lesson.

It took about 30 seconds for him to come all the way in and sit next to me. His dad kept saying "he's so shy, maybe this is too much for him right now."

I let him pluck the strings on the violin. As he plucked each one once, I said "elephants, ants, dirt, ground" to remind him of the song we'd learned in group class. He smiled and giggled, and then started over with E again. He plucked three steady Es, and waited while I sang "stepping on the" and plucked three steady As, and waited again. We did the whole song just perfectly. He giggled and toddled around the room a bit.

His dad was gobsmacked. With no encouragement, he just played the song. What a sponge!

And we ended the lesson with the little boy having a little conversation with me. His dad had to interpret most of it for me, because much of it was nearly unintelligible. I have to laugh, because his dad said that it was amazing that the little boy was speaking in his clear speech--usually he mumbles when he's around someone new. haha!

I just love how much expectation the father had for the lessons to not work. And yet, the little boy, given the chance, showed us both that he is ready!