"Do You Actually Like that Shit?"

The title of today's rather brief musings comes verbatim from a friend of mine who posed that question to me last night.  He was wondering, in that slightly arrogant but unpretentious way of his, if teaching guitar was really musically satisfying to me.  With the annual rock concert looming on the horizon (i.e., tomorrow), I can unequivocally answer that with an emphatic "yes." 

One of the nice things about being pretentious is that you feel a sort of responsibility to back your mouth up.  In my case, that involves being able to discuss French intellectualism while simultaneously ripping a guitar solo.  Even better than that, though, is the fact that I get paid to teach other people how to rip solos too.  How can that NOT be musically satisfying?  The feeling I get when a student lights up with that "Eureeka!" moment is completely unmatched.  It's the culmination of countless hours of lesson preparation and execution on my part alongside diligent practice on the student's part, and his or her ascension to the next level of musicianship is just the coolest thing ever.  You can actually see the fire inside them burn brighter, and you know you've just created a monster.

Of course, it's not all happy-fun-sunshine-time when teaching.  Let's face it: there are some people who have no business picking up a musical instrument, and they are only there to kill time or because their parents are forcing them to go.  HOWEVER, the flip-side of that down-side is when you actually manage to break through to one of those lunatics and they start to get just how awesome music can be.  When the kid who's hated music and lessons for 3 months all of a sudden improves by leaps and bounds and starts asking for more homework, I feel the same teacher-pride as when the naturals finally master that Bach piece or the bridge from whatever ridiculous prog-metal epic they asked me to transcribe. 

And before you try to out-pretentious me and tell me music students shouldn't be learning prog-metal and instead should be focusing on classical/jazz/theory/technique/whatever stupid thing you think is most important, believe me when I say that music itself is the most important thing that a music teacher should teach.  And that's why this job is so deeply satisfying to me.  If I accomplish absolutely nothing else in my life (perhaps as a result of a tragic lawnmower accident), I know that I've inspired more than a few kids to love and share music.  That isn't an arrogance thing either, just in case you were wondering.  Both kids and parents have approached me and thanked me for bringing music into their lives, and unlike most other times I say this phrase, I can honestly say it was both my pleasure and privilege to do so.