There is a moment, about a week before recital, when I sit across from a student as they play with confidence a piece they had haltingly stumbled through just a few weeks prior and I think: look at you. You did it. You showed up week after week, sat at the piano, picked up the guitar, sang into the mirror, and now you can bring something into the world that is uniquely yours. It fills me with pride.

To the parents: thank you. For the encouragement, for waiting in the parking lot and the school kitchenette. Most of all, for giving your children the joyous gift of music. Beethoven called joy the "bright spark of divinity." I do not take lightly the privilege of guarding that spark — of fanning it into flame, to burn brightly in your homes and in their hearts.

Deo gratias.