So one of my favorite things as a teacher is being able to bring in guest artists for my students to see. One of the highlights for me is seeing the guest say essentially the same things I have been telling me students (of course they often only believe it when they hear it from someone else...).

Teaching at a university in a rural area it is harder to get our students out to see the bigger picture of the music world, which makes this even more important. It can also be a reality check for us teachers to see how much we are really getting through to the students. Often we can get so caught up in getting students ready for a concert, or hearing them play the same things every week that we can start to miss some of the big pictures issues so it is great to have some fresh eyes and ears come in and check everything out.