Somewhere along the line I got the idea that if I were to be a teacher, I would have to give up my own creative/musical goals for the sake of my students. This could be an issue had my goals been to be a travelling musician, and having to chose to stay in one place so my students could have lessons consistently. But I have always had "small" goals. I want to teach. I want to play for church and I want to be able to do some local gigs. That's about it. So, is it reasonable to assume that teaching means I cannot do the other things? Absolutely not. It's reasonable to accept that I will sometimes have to chose between more practice time and teaching more lessons, but beyond that, I can actually do both.
The issues that have prevented me from playing more "gigs" if you will is not teaching. It has been dealing with injuries and migraines. So as I have been finding ways to prevent migraines and being able to recover from injuries, I should be able to take on some gigs in the coming year. Does that mean my students will be be sacrificed? Absolutely not! It is possible that there will come a time that I will have to reschedule or cancel a few lessons in order to do a gig, but I've structured my life such that my teaching comes first and any playing opportunities will need to fit around my teaching schedule.
So is it reasonable to give up performing to teach? Is it reasonable to give up teaching to perform? Is either a reasonable sacrifice? Do you really have to pick just one?
Comments