Keep calm and carry on

Glad I listened to the Learning Strategies Anxiety-Free CD this morning.

I had two things on my mind: the gardener, and the music lesson I was due to give in the afternoon.

Both went well.

I even managed to do a bit of tidying up in the backyard (at 7 in the morning!): pruning the grapevine, removing the cobwebby fairy lights, sweeping the dead leaves - hubby was impressed.

Had a consult with gardener on how to get rid of the grass in the backyard so we can reclaim some play space for the kids.

The most ex but effective method is to kill the grass and pave over it - that'll cost thousand$$$.

The cheapest is to kill the grass and lay mulch over it. But the weeds will come back.

Spraying the grass has to be done in stages, and he recommends I keep Scottie away from the area for 24 hours.

Quote for killing the grass: $120.

Due to a miscomm, my keyboard student didn't turn up till an hour and a half after the scheduled time.

Amazingly, I not only kept my composure (I get antsy when my schedule's off) but even managed to practise some worship songs and to work on a couple of songs I'd written, based on Acts 4 and 17 respectively.

Funnily, though the days leading up to the lesson had been slightly fraught (what will I teach? how much should I teach?), it actually went quite well. I felt comfortable and competent talking about note values, key signatures, note reading, chord formation. At one point, I even openly acknowledged that I didn't understand why a chord was called 1-3-5 when the number of semitones didn't add up. (Eventually I did get it, and I hope my student did too!)

The most valuable thing I learned was to let the student lead the way.

Mine enjoys experimenting on the keyboard, so I introduced her to the C major scale, and explained how finger exercises help with dexterity.

She particularly wanted to know how long it would take before she could read a note sequence.

So I let her have a go at Yankee Doodle...and she figured it out!

Scott the Piano Guy, I owe you one. :-)