Whoopsie!
I always love it when my husband mentions my desire for more private students in our family prayers because that's when it seems that students start falling from the rafters.
Earlier this week, I received a phone call from a woman who wanted her 9 year old little girl to start taking lessons. They had found an awesome deal on a violin, so they pounced on it and now they were in need of a teacher. How perfect. It was even more perfect when they wanted to start the next day.
Well... the lesson was scheduled for 4:30 and at 3:58, I received another call from her. "I'm SO lost!" she exclaimed. "How did you say you get to your house again?"
After I hung up the phone I turned to my husband and said, "Uhhh.... why is she almost here and it's only 4:00?" Well, turns out she had a feeling she was going to get lost and so she allowed for extra commuting time. A LOT of extra commuting time. I was willing to overlook her arriving that early because I didn't have any other students scheduled for that time. No biggie, overall.
She arrived with 2 little girls in tow, and explained upon entering my apartment that she might have said her daughter was 9, but she was really 7 years old. Apparently, she was at the softball game of her 9 year old while calling me, so she got the two mixed up. I let that slide, as well, despite the clause in my studio policy that states that any children under the age of 8 must have a previously set up "trial lesson" before starting. Oh, well. I can overlook that, too. Mistakes happen.
I asked the 7 year old to put her case down so we could get the violin out and tuned. Well.... As soon as I looked at it, I thought "Hmmmm.... That is one BIG case. That's odd." I decided that perhaps they purchased a full sized violin instead of a 1/2 or 3/4 size. I could probably overlook that and still teach her even with an over-sized violin.
I popped open the case and said, "Um.... where did you say you got your violin again?" She explained that someone they knew had one for only $20 so they thought it was a killer-good deal. "Well," I replied, "I don't know how to tell you this, but.... this is a viola."
The mother looked at me blankly for a few seconds and then said, "Can't you still teach her?" I laughed a little and then tried to explain that no, I couldn't. I showed them the difference in size alone between her viola and my violin and then the light seemed to come on in her head.
"No wonder your head looked so tiny next to it!" she said to her daughter.
As they were leaving, I chose not to burden them with the fact that the full-sized viola wouldn't work even if they DID decide to keep it and find her a viola teacher because the instrument itself is roughly as big as her daughter's entire body.
I'll leave that for the viola teacher.
Earlier this week, I received a phone call from a woman who wanted her 9 year old little girl to start taking lessons. They had found an awesome deal on a violin, so they pounced on it and now they were in need of a teacher. How perfect. It was even more perfect when they wanted to start the next day.
Well... the lesson was scheduled for 4:30 and at 3:58, I received another call from her. "I'm SO lost!" she exclaimed. "How did you say you get to your house again?"
After I hung up the phone I turned to my husband and said, "Uhhh.... why is she almost here and it's only 4:00?" Well, turns out she had a feeling she was going to get lost and so she allowed for extra commuting time. A LOT of extra commuting time. I was willing to overlook her arriving that early because I didn't have any other students scheduled for that time. No biggie, overall.
She arrived with 2 little girls in tow, and explained upon entering my apartment that she might have said her daughter was 9, but she was really 7 years old. Apparently, she was at the softball game of her 9 year old while calling me, so she got the two mixed up. I let that slide, as well, despite the clause in my studio policy that states that any children under the age of 8 must have a previously set up "trial lesson" before starting. Oh, well. I can overlook that, too. Mistakes happen.
I asked the 7 year old to put her case down so we could get the violin out and tuned. Well.... As soon as I looked at it, I thought "Hmmmm.... That is one BIG case. That's odd." I decided that perhaps they purchased a full sized violin instead of a 1/2 or 3/4 size. I could probably overlook that and still teach her even with an over-sized violin.
I popped open the case and said, "Um.... where did you say you got your violin again?" She explained that someone they knew had one for only $20 so they thought it was a killer-good deal. "Well," I replied, "I don't know how to tell you this, but.... this is a viola."
The mother looked at me blankly for a few seconds and then said, "Can't you still teach her?" I laughed a little and then tried to explain that no, I couldn't. I showed them the difference in size alone between her viola and my violin and then the light seemed to come on in her head.
"No wonder your head looked so tiny next to it!" she said to her daughter.
As they were leaving, I chose not to burden them with the fact that the full-sized viola wouldn't work even if they DID decide to keep it and find her a viola teacher because the instrument itself is roughly as big as her daughter's entire body.
I'll leave that for the viola teacher.
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