You’ll need to get used to this theme of Full Circle. As I move toward my final year of teaching at Laurier (yes, I turned 65. It’s a thing), I find myself reflecting more and more on my teaching life, the students who have enriched it and their many paths and intersections with my own journey. Almost every day there are epiphanies, “aha” moments and recollections of lessons learned. Often I am gifted with the return of a student to my midst to bring a lesson to me. What an honour!
A couple of weeks ago, Sarah Stapleton (who has been mentioned previously in this space), now a candidate in Laurier’s Community Music PhD program, returned to my class to do a songwriting workshop. Since her graduation in 2021, Sarah has garnered not one, but TWO Masters degrees, one in Education from OISE and one in therapeutic counselling. A gifted educator and facilitator, as well as a published songwriter herself, Sarah walked us all through the basic steps of songwriting. Her humour, empathy and humility were all on display in this session, and she really captivated the students. A roomful of voice students from two studios, ranging from 18 year old fresh(wo)men to 26+ year old 4th years, some of whom had absolutely no idea about songwriting and some of whom had a fair bit of experience, were all brought together in this common purpose. Sarah has such a gift for demystifying learning, and she can meet every student where they are. Within minutes, Sarah had us all laughing and creating. Even Jennie Such and I came up with a song lyric based on the prompt of “revenge” (does this say something about us?) called “Even Steven” (don’t be looking for this on the Billboard Top 100 any time soon).
Although I think some may have been initially skeptical about songwriting in the voice studio, Sarah reminded us that once upon a time, most if not all musicians were composers. And since singers ideally use their body and full self to sing, what better way to express that than to write one’s own songs?
As I watched Sarah work with us all, I was full of pride and gratitude. Pride to see how far she had come–as a teacher we are often privy to the many bumps in the road our students experience and overcome–and gratitude for the important relationship of mutual respect we have built over these many years. It was a Full Circle moment to have her back in my classroom, facilitating and leading ME. This Valentine’s Day, I send this out to Sarah who has been a wholehearted guiding light in our work together as researchers, teachers and learners. She is a constant inspiration and one of the kindest human beings I know. And she was my student. ♥