After teaching two tai chi classes last week, I was flying high. Emotionally, physically, psychologically I felt great. Why? Was it because I was a brilliant teacher and communicated everything clearly and flawlessly? Was it because the students immediately caught on to everything I demonstrated and repeated it without errors? Absolutely not. I was not the flawless teacher and they were not the flawless students. But we were open to each other. I observed and listened to what they needed, and they did their best to refine their moves in the way I asked. Maybe we weren't flawless, but we were perfect in the sense that we all brought exactly what was needed to the situation.
There is an energy connection that takes place when teachers and students bring their best to the learning situation. As I talked with a friend about this connection, she said, "I think that teaching and learning are sacred, and when approached that way, magical things happen." I couldn't have said it better. Magic happened that day in class, and I've seen it hundreds of times in voice lessons. But it's not there for every lesson, so I decided to see what I could do to bring that magic into play more often.
The key is to make it a sacred and holy experience. (This is where I scare a few people off. Be patient and keep reading. I promise I don't make my kids pray during lessons). When I used to teach class voice, we discussed the 6 areas of health--Social, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Spiritual. Some students would panic at that last one. "You want me to be all churchy?" No. When looking at the spiritual as part of your health, I define it as having an understanding of who you are, and what your purpose is. For some that will involve organized religion. For other it will not. I want to use sacred and holy in a similar way here.
From Merriam-Webster, I would like to use these two definitions for this discussion of sacred.
entitled to reverence and respectWhen I treat my students with respect, when I approach the art form with reverence and respect and teach my students of its value and importance, I am making voice lessons or tai chi classes a sacred experience. Sacred can also refer to anything related to the divine or the temple of the divine. As a teacher I can recognize the divine in all my students. When I see them as the truly great beings that they really are, I make voice lessons or tai chi classes sacred experiences.
highly valued and important
I love this definition of holy from the Wikipedia article on "sacred". Holy is health, completeness, happiness, wholeness. It's everything that I want for myself and my students.
So how can I daily approach my teaching to make sure that it is a sacred and holy thing? To make sure that the magic happens?
1. It begins with my attitude. I have to approach each lesson as an opportunity for me to learn more about that student and the unique properties of his or her voice. When I am engaged as a learner, I am a better teacher. I've long since given up the idea that the teacher knows everything and the student knows nothing. (I would have learned a lot more from my teachers if I had abandoned that idea years ago). We are never solidly in one role or the other.
2. I am the expert on voices in general, but the student in front of me is the expert on that particular voice. They live with it 24/7. Asking questions about how it sounded or felt to them makes them a part of the process. Asking what they think they need to work on let's them feel like that are tackling the big issues and moving forward. And sometimes, their request works as a springboard into other approaches to technique and interpretation. I am a guide, not a dictator.
More love. More learning. More magic.
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