Kate comes through for me!

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I had a good lesson with my student, Kate, yesterday. She is the Russian-American girl who rarely smiles. We worked on our "dreamy seventh chord tune," some Blues, and some folk music. We also did McCartney's Blackbird. I can tell she is getting more confident in her playing. Her Blues leads sound really heart-felt. She has been with me for more than two years. We were both wearing masks when our lessons started. An experience she and I share is having been "turned off" by a "too serious" piano teacher when we were younger. She played piano as a little kid, but quit because her Russian teacher was too serious and demanding. I played piano as a kid, but quit when we moved to Chicago and I wound up with an overly-serious German (or something) lady. Yesterday, I introduced Kate to a difficult but doable guitar piece by Alex DeGrassi. It is called Children's Dance. I hope to teach it to her measure by measure. I think she will "get it." I am still improving (over literally years) my interpretation of that tune, and rarely perform it. It is hard. I guess I should end with a question or two. Have you ever had a teacher who "got" you? And inspired you? Have you ever had a teacher who made you never want to take a class in that subject again?