Jazz Workshop in Daugavpils

I guess I can call the year 2014 a year of new experiences – I have lived in another country, learned how to ride a wheel chair, how to use crutches, won a Grand-Prix  and now this one – I had given a workshop. Yes, I tought children to sing jazz and that was awesome!

That was my first workshop in music. I have given private lessons, worked as a teacher in a school and in summer camps, but this one time thing was my first. And it was a very unusual and interesting experience, I loved it. First of all the kids were amazing, they were trying so hard to do their best and to kill that feeling that they are being judged, they did a good job. There were also some grownups and I honestly can’t say who was more afraid – the kids or the big ones. Or me. Yes, I was scared, isn’t that ridiculous?

Anyway, I am not sure if I have a lot to say about it, that was a very precious experience. Teaching is a very important part of life and you don’t have to be a teacher in a formal meaning of the word – everybody is teaching everyone constantly, but when you choose to do this on your own, it becomes something very different from what you’ve been through before. First of all, teaching helps you to put everything you know into a system, and that helps sorting out your knowledge – you can see the blind spots right away.

Secondly – teaching is communicating, you have to know how to talk to people, make them understand the point of what you are saying without making them feel scared, confused, ashamed or something like that. And you have to be careful, people are fragile. Sometimes they don’t want to show it, but they are.  So you have to deal with the fear.

And the last, but not least important, you have to be patient and pay a lot of attention to what you see and hear and be able to analyze the “Intel” you get.  Noticing what the student does wrong is very important, but also pointing out the good stuff helps to motivate a lot. A teacher has to be a magician – the right proportion of compliments and critics is like fairy dust that can do miracles :)

Here are some pictures of how it was!