By Noelle Reda
My first thought when I heard that I would not have school for a while was how much I was going to miss band and then I wondered if I would still have my lessons at Encore! I take lessons with Lea, who is kind and whenever I have a lesson, I always end up laughing and walking out with a smile on my face. Even if I am stressed about District or honors band auditions she knows exactly what to say to make me feel better and help me focus. She always pushes me in the best way and believes in me. I always want to improve and work my hardest. Every Friday is my favorite day because I know that even if I have a bad day at school I will have my lesson with Lea and I will have fun even if we are doing a lot of theory work.
So, when I heard that I might not have my lessons for a while, I was so sad until I heard that we were doing lessons online! My first online lesson with Lea was this past Friday. At first, I had to get used to the software but everything went pretty smoothly. I had gotten my wisdom teeth out less than a month ago and my jaw started hurting a day before my lesson. I told Lea and she knew exactly what to work on to help me and not hurt my mouth. In my lesson, we worked mainly on scales and how many sharps and flats were in them and then we worked on hearing and seeing if I could identify the notes that she was playing. Five minutes into my lesson it felt like we were in her office in Encore and it was normal. The benefit of having my clarinet lessons online is so I can still work on my music and have guidance on where to improve. It is so important that during this crisis everyone stays healthy and safe which is why it is nice that we have the ability to use the internet to communicate.