Interlude: Why I Teach

I just had the best conversation ever with a former student. This girl is an international student form China who was in my Music 101 class last semester. We had several opportunities for students to share their musical talents over the course of the semester and she jumped on every chance, eager to share Chinese traditional music with the class. She played the hulusi, a type of free reed instrument with a beautifully smooth tone. She was a very enthusiastic student, and did very well in the class.

I ran into her today on my way out of one of the many campus coffee shops. She stopped me and we exchanged a few pleasantries, but she seemed like she was bursting to tell me something. She finally told me that she and some of her friends had gotten together and formed a Chinese music ensemble, and had already performed three times! She said she really missed music class, and was going to try taking instrument lessons next semester. She said she loved music so much and really wanted a way to keep up with it outside of class. I gave her profuse congratulations on taking the initiative to form the ensemble and getting performances together so quickly, told her who she could talk to about music lessons, and told her that I'd love to come to a performance sometime. I'm thinking about composing a piece for their ensemble so they could play on one of the big university concerts. That would be awesome.

I walked away from that conversation grinning like a fool and feeling great about life. Moments like that are why I love teaching.