Maybe I AM doing something right

I am my harshest critic. I hold myself to high standards and can be pretty hard on myself when I don't do things right or when I fail. In this "beginning my career" phase of my life, I'm especially critical of myself. Do I even know what I'm talking about? Am I doing things right? Will the things I'm teaching my students help them at all or is it just a bunch of gibberish to them?

I got some positive confirmation this week. I did voice checks of my students at the beginning of the year and told them that we would do voice checks again after Christmas. So, this week was spent listening to student after student to see what changes, if any, have taken place in their voices since August. To be honest, I was surprised. Nearly every student had increased their range in both directions by almost a third. A small handful of students even seemed to open up hidden parts of their voice previously off limits to them. They have all gained confidence since the last time they sang by themselves. This could be a natural progression of the adolescent changing voice, or it could be the results of a semester in choir practicing proper vocal technique. I like to think it's a little bit of both.