Words That Make Me Happy to Hear

The New Year has begun, and I find myself reading note as if to make up for lost time.
Then I realized that a project article I had been thinking, "I'll write it when I have time!" was due today. I hurriedly started preparing to write it. Yay.

I tried to think of words that would make me happy, but nothing specific came to mind. Rather than words that make me happy to hear, I often hear words that make me feel "relieved." Even when I hear feedback about my performance or comments on my cooking, the feeling I honestly get is one of "relief."

What are the words that I purely feel "happy" to hear?

At that moment, I suddenly thought of the students in the vocal lessons I teach.

My lessons are by no means strict with students, but they aren't easy either. There is a song in the standard jazz repertoire called "Pick yourself up." The lyrics go like this:

"When your chin hits the ground, stand up, brush yourself off, and start all over again. Even if you fail, don't lose your confidence; stand up, brush yourself off, yes, one more time."

That is what it says. Even if they can't quite get the English pronunciation, even if they can't quite grasp the phrases I suggest, and even if they can't get the fine rhythm at all, I repeat with them over and over again, "Yes, one more time from the beginning." There are days when they can't do it that day, but if they let it rest, they can sometimes do it surprisingly smoothly. Even if it seems like they are stuck, the training repeated over and over is absorbed without them realizing it. I gently spur them on when they get lazy with the feeling of "it's okay if the pitch is a little off..." and make them focus on their own sound. Before they know it, it becomes normal for them to pay attention even to the fine details of the sound.

The student and I work together to finish a song.
I suggest a completely different *fake to each student. I forget the fakes I create on the spot, but the students remember them well and learn the fakes I made as their own singing. When I listen to the finished song again, it sometimes turns out to be really cool. If I ask a student, "Did you change this fake a little yourself?"

They reply,No, I sang it exactly as you taught me, teacher..

Isn't that a bit happy? The fact that the student is satisfied with my fake, and the fact that it was actually a pretty good fake when I listened to it objectively, all of it makes me happy.

My students perform live and participate in sessions, working hard and facing jazz head-on. That sight is both very reliable and cute. (Even if they are around my parents' age) to me, they are all like beloved children.

From those students, I sometimes hear these words.

"Teacher, the other day, my session friends complimented me, saying my singing has improved."

When I hear these words, "Everyone complimented me and said I got better," I feel so happy that I want to high-five everyone walking on the street. I even feel like running a lap around the stadium with a national flag on my back. Is there any happiness with a higher purity than this? It makes me much, much happier than being complimented myself.

The student is growing. The people around them are recognizing it.
For me, there is nothing happier than this.

This is the "words that make me super happy to hear" for me.

And so, seeing my students learn to enjoy music is, for me, a source of great joy and excitement.

#ThisIsTheWordThatMakesMeSuperHappyToHear #ImHappyEvenIfTheyCallMeFunny