Teaching and Learning

I came to the realization a few days ago that the only concepts I remember from the 4 semesters of music theory I took in college are the ones that I am putting to use right now. For example, I can only clearly recall chord theory that I currently use in playing on our worship band. Things like major sevenths, secondary dominants, or transposition are still clear in my mind. But I don't remember a thing from set theory and all that strange contemporary stuff.

I also remember the things I teach. I've been teaching piano for 6 years now. It's amazing how teaching really solidifies knowledge. When I have to actually spit back out the concepts that I learned passively, it takes twice as much brain power and creativity to explain it in a clear way that young students can understand. But when I do that, I remember it for so much longer.

It just occurred to me that it might be a good idea to have my students teach sometimes instead of always being the learner. It would kill two birds with one stone: they learn the material well, and it won't be as boring. That should work well with my Latin students...

Even if one never becomes a teacher in the professional sense, learning and teaching should always go hand in hand.