I was a bit of a hard ass today at Guitar Center.

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Wednesday is "kid day" for The Horse at Guitar Center.. As a bit of a rebel, and a Dave Brubeck fan, I encourage my kid students to be "creative," and to generate their own "compositions," in addition to reading and playing the notes others have written. But when my favorite young "rebel" students came in today, I had the whip out. Alee, my 7 1/2-year-old, had to play some scales, and to work on Fur Elise. I let her be creative, by playing "pretty thirds," but I demanded that she use the right fingers when she played her pretty thirds. Zane, who is six, had gum in his mouth. I told him not to touch his mouth, and not to squirt gum out of his mouth when he played. I got him to focus, and wrote a song for him, which he read and played. But I told him "No gum next lesson" in front of his daddy. Jonathan came through for me. He is eight, and can almost play the first part of Beethoven's Fur Elise all the way through. So did Jeanette, my adult guitar student with whom I am working out many songs. Can you believe I was a hard ass music teacher today?