We acknowledge the value of the long climb. The value of the 15 years of work together. The student, the teacher the parent.

But what of the opposite?

The one time lesson. The one time master-class. The substitute. The trade. The trial.

In the summer of 2022 I had more one-time experiences than I’d ever had before. I led one-time play-ins at the Ithaca Institute. I offered one-time lessons to traveling teachers at Ithaca Talent Education. I traded one-time lessons with another teacher.

It struck me after this experience, in conversation with some delighted students and their families, just how nourishing these one time lessons can be.

Why do they feel so nourishing?

A one time lesson relieves the teacher, the student, and the parent the responsibility to pick up and carry on past threads of work. There is no obligation to the past. There is no promise to the future. The lesson just is. 

There is an honesty to the lesson.

The teacher simply says what they see. They don’t hold anything back because they don’t know anything needs to be held back. The student is free to move, and play, and struggle because their playing is not levied against the backdrop of where they were before.

The lesson is also hyper memorable. New teacher, new place, new ideas, new games. There is an element of fuzzy mystery–you don’t know how any of it is going to go– that alights the mind. The brain is sharp. The memories are clear.

Should we treat every lesson as the first lesson?

No. That’s not the point. The one-time lesson has its own value as a one-time lesson.

The long climb has its own value, too.

The imperative is to offer these one-timers to our own studios as often as manageable. Workshops, trades, substitutes. Send students to institutes. Send students to summer festivals. Set up opportunities for them to have an honest, true, memorable and dynamic one-time experience.

Go in both directions at the same time. One-time and long-term. Avoid the simmering, mediocre middle.