What I Like About My Instructor!

Nancy England (Cello)

Jessie Pounds writes:

I was riding in the car with two of my friends when the subject of rowing came up. Both of my friends that were in the car, plus several of my other friends, are involved with the Oak Ridge Rowing Association, so rowing tends to be a big topic of conversation. I had begun to drift out of the conversation when one of my friends turned to me.

"Let me get this straight," she said, "You decided not to do rowing because it would interfere with your cello lesson?" Her voice was incredulous.

I nodded as my other friend said, "That's right," and both of them looked at one another.

Finally, my first friend said "I can understand not doing rowing because you had dance or another sport, but cello lessons?"

Yes, my friends were speaking the truth. I had decided not to participate in rowing because one of the three weekly practices was at the same time as my cello lesson. Both of my friends played musical instruments in the band or the orchestra, but they had both given up on private lessons as "boring" or "not any fun". Needless to say neither of these friends had been taking lessons from Nancy England.

I admit that I did not have very high expectations of what private cello lessons would be like when I started with Nancy England. My mother insisted I take cello lessons over the summer, even though I had thoroughly disliked the lessons I had the previous summer from a Knoxville instructor. I found, however, that I came home from Cello lessons feeling really upbeat, which surprised me. I had wanted cello lessons because my playing could stand a lot of improvement, but what I hadn't been expecting was how much fun I had at cello lessons. My instructor helped me pick out cello music that was at my ability level, but also really fun to play. I often came home humming my music, because I still wanted to keep hearing it, even on the ride home. When I make a mistake, my instructor never makes me feel that I have a chronic failure-to-play-cello disease, or says "Somebody hasn't been practicing" while looking at me with dark menacing eyes. When I make a mistake, or we find a bad habit, we just work at it until it's fixed. Somehow this way I always seem to get better.

As well as been a great music teacher, Nancy England is a really great person to be around. She has a tremendous positive spirit, even when awful things happen, like when her husband had a stroke or when she suffered a back injury after falling off the roof. She also has a wonderfully corny sense of humor. I am likewise gifted, so we always crack each other up during lessons. She always has lots of great stories to tell, most pertaining to music like her many conductor stories, but some about her travels to places like Germany and the Middle East in which she always has to imitate the accents. If you have yet to meet her, make it a high priority.

My friends go to rowing because it provides them with exercise, challenges to meet, and lets them hang out with really cool people. Cello lessons don't provide allot of exercise, (except that my hand always feels like its about to fall off!) but with Ms. England, I am always challenged to play my best, hold my bow correctly, and get that rhythm or pitch exactly right. Cello lessons are also a place to hang out with really cool people, or at least one really cool person, my instructor. So anyway, sorry amigos, but unless she stops teaching, I'm not gonna be at the boat house on Wednesday afternoons.