An Elegy For a Piano Teacher

She’s rolled up with patience dedication and faith in the Lord; her strictness punctuated a shared vision that focused on learning acquisition. Her punctuality, precision, and determination to teach her pupils with discipline and right focusing; as a rule of thumb she always obeyed made the essence of what music means to all. Rain or shine she’s there in her cubicle waiting for her pupils scheduled to take their lessons; those Hanon exercises, arpeggios, and other finger articulations would lead off in concentration or warm-up in every lesson. Perhaps she’s a scarecrow to some who hadn’t known her; but she’d a listening heart described as a story line; with depth and assurance that no one is denied, along with other slow learners who coped with perseverance. Truly, her endless word to slow down in every measure, her technique that entailed so much discipline and correction through memory lane I still remember a constant repetition; her affinity for perfection that requires discipline and proportion. She’s a teacher keenly aware of her pupils’ emotions, her generosity explained either in time or learning a score; as a sign and meaning to pedagogical association with thriving efforts to play the music with technique and precision. She’s held in the affectionate memory of her pupils, their collective thoughts about her fittingly honored her a woman like her with a horizon of meaning to everyone a true Filipino educator with a glowing torch in her soul and her music sustained my vocation to go on. Its magical link to depth and soul of human expression, its beauty and inspiration that kept me to deepen my own calling; to make piano sing in the balance of emotion, technique and celebration a way to experience Him with wonders and beauty – limitless world. Maraming salamat , Maestra Marina M Diokno! I really missed you; I really treasured whatever you taught me; your strong affinity for virtuousity, allegato and sostenuto, indeed, a memory lane suffused with gratitude and threads of appreciation.