I carried weight with your students at Hartt for the Tango SaxLab project we created. I could tell because they really delivered in performance. For me, teaching is an act of love. It feels like I’m giving students my arm and then hoping they do something with it. Not only did they deliver the technical aspects I offered, but they shared the love. It’s deeper.
Some students didn’t know they could deliver, but they did. All of them. I felt great tonight. But this morning, I was worried. My ability to carry weight waxes and wanes. I like to think my passion came through, not only my knowledge. I like to think they took a breath of that, and that they were able to breathe my passion.
I have been influential with my own students over the years. However, I have had to work to establish boundaries. I was treating my students as my own children, giving them so much. I have had to learn to detach and find better balance. In a few situations I felt used and betrayed and then really struggled with the losses that resulted.
I give because to me, teaching is an act of love. Performing can be very selfish, but you can’t do that in teaching. It took me ten years to develop a sound concept on soprano. I can share it with a student in five minutes. That’s love.
