I was better as a child psychologist than as a music teacher with my last student last night.

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I had a longish day at Guitar Center yesterday. I worked from 1:30 to 9 PM and was pooped by the time I got home. My 16-year-old bass student was a pleasure as always. I even printed something out for her that ties Miles Davis's jazz music in with the Grateful Dead's music. She and I are working on the bass lines to two Miles Davis tunes and one Grateful Dead tune. My last student was a 5-year-old boy named Isaac who is learning ukulele. I've been able to teach him a C-chord, a C7 chord (we call it our dreamy chord), and the A-minor chord. But at a certain point he becomes five, and wants to talk about the foam padding on the walls (acoustic tiles to dampen sound). We spend minutes of our half-an-hour just chatting. Last night I tried something new. I got him to sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with me in G. Then we went to G7, and I started singing about being on a boat in a lake, with ducks all around me, etc. I then said "your turn!" It worked! He started playing the G7 and singing about things that make him happy and relaxed, just as my Tuesday 5-year-old student, Alee, does. Finally we got to A-minor, a "sad" chord. I sang about Kitty being hungry, and me being tired by the end of the evening. I then said, "Your turn." He started singing about a bully at his preschool,who makes him sad. He kept going, and I just played an A-minor chord on my guitar and listened closely to him. Then we migrated to a piano room, and I taught him Mary Had a Little Lamb on piano. I still believe that piano is the best first instrument for kids. When our lesson was over, he and I showed his daddy what we had done on uke together. I mentioned that "we" had "written" a song about a "bully" at his school. He told his daddy who the bully was. This freed his daddy and him up to talk about bullies. His dad told me that the kid was "bigger and older and tended to be mean to other kids." After that, the kid and I colored on the kid coloring table outside. The child had told me that he wants to be "an architect" when he grows up, so I started drawing a house. I thought out loud about "my big windows to see the deer in my yard," and then asked him to add to my house. He drew a really nice room, and then drew some stairs to my part of the house. I said my Auntie is really old. She needs a railing. Can you draw one?" He did! So now the kid and I have a good "talking" and "singing" relationship. I hope I can use that to help him "focus" on his ukulele and piano music. Given that his age is five, I'm fine if he focuses on singing. Our voice is an instrument that we have with us at all times.