Most people have that one teacher that they will never forget. A teacher who taught them to believe in themselves and helped them find their path, to lead them where that teacher knew they were meant to go.  For me, that was my elementary school music teacher. He started off as my second grade music teacher, and even though second grade seems pretty young to have your favorite teacher in the world, he will always be mine. 

We did fun and easy things in our elementary school music classes: playing the xylophone, playing the recorder, learning about new instruments. It was my favorite part of the day. It was the time when all of my fears went away.  Music was a safe space for me. The feeling of the different chords and beats always fascinated my young mind. I never knew what was going to come next in a song, or if the key was suddenly going to change from C to G Major. That was something that always kept me on the edge of my seat, blocking everything else in the world out, allowing me to only focus on that moment in time. 

School didn’t come easy to me, but music did. And I think my favorite teacher could tell. I was always engaged in my music class, doing my best to learn each new instrument and song (singing was my favorite part), but every time that class was over, I felt the light that I had gained in that short hour disappear from myself. And he saw that. 

When fourth grade rolled around, I had to choose between the chorus and the band. Everyone I talked to said that choir wasn’t any fun, and even though, in my heart, that was what I wanted, I listened to my friends and joined the band. 

But later that day, during my math class, my favorite teacher had asked to talk to me. “I want you to join the choir,” he told me. “I wanted to, but everyone told me not to,” I responded back. “But what do you want to do?” 

“I don’t know,” I responded honestly. 

He stood there for a moment, looking down at me, and  then responded back for the last time, “I want you to come to choir rehearsal for one day, and if you don’t like it, then you can go back to the band.” I smiled and nodded. I liked that idea. 

Since that day, choir has been my favorite thing that I’ve been a part of. My favorite teacher changed my life by taking me out of my classroom that day and making sure I followed my passion, and teaching me to follow my own voice rather than the voice of others. He wanted me to follow the love for music that he knew I had. He was the one who saw the light that nobody else saw. 

And as I said earlier, for me, school was hard and music was not. It was the path that I would enjoy. My favorite teacher was the one who brought my passion to life. And now, I want to be that favorite teacher to someone else who needs it. To a lot of people, music is not important and or necessary, but to me, music is the thing that made me the happiest during school and I want to create that happiness, that light, for someone else. I want to be a teacher who can create a safe space for their students, who can teach them to believe in themselves and can help them find their own paths like my favorite teacher did for me.