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Pija Hocevar

BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Part 10

After successfully completing my post-graduate studies, with many new ideas and increased motivation, I focused all my attention on the development of children, their playing and spreading the love of music in general. The results, this time, started to appear much more obviously than at the beginning of my teaching, but most importantly – the children and I enjoyed each other’s company, even if we were not always comfortable. But we persevered, fought and achieved our goals with good will.
 
Teaching is a mutual learning experience and we can really gain a lot if we have an open mind. I can say that my teaching has always been based on openness, acceptance and motivation. Of course, all this comes from my own experience and from the desire to give “my own” children a better, healthier starting point for the future, but above all to instil a deep love for music, education and to cultivate an open mind.
So today I am proud to say that I have successfully “hooked” to music more than 60 students, whom I have mentored. Many of them are still involved in music in one way or another after finishing music school and continue to develop their creativity, their abilities and their talents. Some, fortunately few, have probably sold their flute because, despite my efforts, we have not been able to create a path together that they can follow. So I wish and hope that they have found their own, other path, which they are now happily walking.

But because I love to learn and am used to making the most of my time, I added a year of studying Willems and later a year of Steiner pedagogy, while teaching. What great people, Edgar Willems and Rudolf Steiner, and their methodology, worthy of emulation.


Even between these studies, there was musical enrichment. I started with jazz singing lessons, in which I was inspired by the wonderful Maja Bevc.
After the very first performance, I felt that life wanted to take me somewhere else. The feeling during and after the performance was fantastic, and I was able to use plenty of make-up, because with the flute you are simply limited. 😉
The idea of studying jazz singing abroad was growing inside me, as the original compositions and lyrics had been flying out of me since that performance, but the realisation of this idea was pushed aside due to a new job, and a year later due to actually moving abroad and facing a new reality…

Slovenia is my home, my source and my wellspring, but I have felt for a long time that it would not be my final destination. So, in the summer of 2020, through a series of coincidences, I left Slovenia and made my second home in Switzerland.
 
As I said before, life always finds a way to be in balance, there are + and -, because without bad days there are no good days and without (completed) challenges there is no new knowledge and experience.
 
After a year of teaching at the Swiss International Music School, our paths diverged and I started my own music studio, Pija Hočevar Music – Studio – yes, I know, it’s a long name, but that’s what Switzerland requires. 🙂
So, at the moment, all my efforts are focused on the development of my studio and although it takes a lot of time, energy and perseverance, I can say that I have never enjoyed my profession so much!

With this note, I conclude Chapter 1 of my musical journey, of which the flute is the central element. No one knows what the future will bring, but we can influence it – by following what lights a fire in us and puts a smile on our face, and we can do this with sincerity, hard work and perseverance, and a lot of patience. It has always been and still is true: “Whatever you put your energy into, comes true. Sooner or later.”

Thank you for following the stories in Chapter 1 and I hope that I have encouraged and motivated you, or maybe even “made you angry” a little bit, all with good intentions and the wish that as many people as possible will follow themselves in the future and dare to make their dreams come true.
 
Let me conclude…

 
Sincere gratitude goes to:
• my family,
• my teachers,
• Rotary Club Novo mesto & Leon Štukelj Foundation,
• my relatives, friends and visitors of my concerts,
• my pupils and their parents,
 
because you’ve helped me get to where I am now, and from where I can go even higher and further.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, truly.

End of Chapter 1. 💛