Christmas in November and Brain Farts

One of my little teaching secrets - which I'm not sure I can call a secret, since it's on the internet and free to all - is this guy's website.  Over the past few years, I have come to know the selection of music at this site very well and it's a great place to find easy pieces to use as supplements to my usual method books.  Perhaps I rely a little too much on this website . . . 

         This past weekend, I taught some extra lessons to make up for lessons we'll miss at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and to help prepare for the recital.  One student, who is taking off a few weeks around Thanksgiving, had an extra-long lessons, so I decided it was a good time to learn a Christmas carol, since I won't be seeing her as much in early December, when I would normally teach carols.  I brought her Deck the Halls and she learned it in record time; I almost ran out of things to teach to fill up the hour lesson.  

        When I came back for our regular lesson this week, her mom said to me, "Deck the Halls, yeah, she learned that last year."  I had printed out the same exact song, from my favorite website, and taught it to her last year.  No wonder it was so easy for her to learn!  So I said to my student,  "I'll bring you a new Christmas song next week," which she took to mean,  "you're not allowed to play this one anymore."  

        Not to worry, Claire, you may still play Deck the Halls - and it sounds so good when you play it!  But there's no rule about how many Christmas songs you're allowed to play.  I probably play 50 different Carols, so I think you can manage 2 this year.