On Being Active

Getting back to my teaching philosophy of sorts and the acronym that spells out important values to me, A is the initial of the second word – and it stands for being “Active.”

To me, this means a whole lot of things… Being active in obvious ways is important – physically being one, and mental stimulation, another. Also, being actively involved in one’s community is something I strongly encourage, as well.

In my own world I am working to get physically active again. The warmer temps definitely help that – thank goodness for the sun! I love getting outside for walks and bike rides. I hope to get some good mileage in again, this year.

I’m limited in what I can participate in, musically, right now – but as I’m writing this, I could still sign myself up for some keyboard/vocal things. That would be good for me. I need to keep myself in check, here.

I used to be extraordinarily involved with volunteer engagements, to the extreme. These days I’ve put that on hold until I work through some current medical/dental challenges… I do plan to get back to being involved with my local community.

How can youths, students be active? From a musician perspective, I encourage them to ask music directors at their schools and churches for playing opportunities. Hold family recitals now and then, at home – asking immediate family (or beyond) to sit down and listen to some recent music students have been working on. Occasionally my student recitals have been held at nursing homes – although that’s become tougher and tougher to do, especially since COVID.

Private instruction is completely individualized. It is up to the student alone, to decide how he or she would like to move forward – and how much he or she would like to practice and follow through on assignments, etc. The same can be said about activity… It’s a self-guided thing, requiring self-motivation. What might you be able to accomplish, if left to your own devices?