Teaching Statement
As a private music instructor I have four primary goals: first, lessons will be empowering; second, students will develop a resolve to a particular pedagogical method; third, to achieve musical autonomy students will develop an intuitive musical ear that will enable him/her to make decisions, and finally, music will be incorporated holistically into the student’s life.
Empowerment
I attempt to conduct lessons so that every lesson moves my students through the material with a feeling of empowerment. I believe that everyone has the ability to make music. In fact, there is an abundance of research out there concerning the universality of music. Many features of music are universal, as well as, apparently, innate. All societies have music: all sing lullaby-like songs to their infants, and most produce tonal music. However, even though music is universal, its source is unique in each of us. Therefore, as a teacher I approach each student’s needs differently. Empowerment is tricky because it deals with the psychology of self-confidence, ego, and feelings of self-worth -”I am not good enough to play in-front of people.” Granted there are things one must understand and tools one must have to be able to play or write music. Given those tools, I believe that everyone has the ability to create unique and beautiful music. Honoring this I have integrated two recitals per year into the academic calendar at which each student performs one or two pieces that we have worked on during the semester. (Of course if someone is really petrified by this I don’t insist that they participate, but the majority of the students rise to the occasion). By holding the recital on the last week of the semester, students develop a sense of purpose for each lesson and focus to the semester experience. The performance is a remarkable goal to achieve. I have seen significant growth culminated at the recital: it is the proudest moment of the semester.
Resolve
I hope my students will develop a lifelong learning attitude, consistently evaluating their progress and reflecting on how to improve their abilities. Learning an instrument and the language of music takes time. From an educational perspective it is a process, and as my favorite college professor used to say, “You must trust the process.” As fluency is built, I will impress upon the student the value of making his or her own musical decisions. Right from the beginning I would love to hand my students a set of keys labeled ‘avid theorist’, ‘outstanding improviser’, and ‘prodigal composer’. These keys would open all the doors and empower my students to go anywhere in their musical lives. However, I can only give students’ physical exercises, examples and theoretical ideas to become competent. With these I believe that everyone has the ability to set their own goals and take the necessary measures to meet them. By cultivating their own values and nurturing their own intellectual curiosities, each student will eventually be able to learn by their own design.
Musical autonomy
To become musically autonomous one needs to have absorbed music on a deep, sub-conscious level. A long time ago a teacher of mine said, “The real instrument is here,” as he pointed to his ear. I now understand what he meant. Once we get past the physicality of playing a stringed instrument (which is not to be underestimated, nor is it insurmountable) the language of music becomes our final goal. There are only 12 notes and a finite number of chords and progressions. We work at training the ear to hear the differences and to understand the relationships from one note/chord to the next. I associate it with learning another language. I have learned Portuguese and Spanish and traveled to countries that speak only these languages. While I was preparing for my journeys, taking lessons and practicing, I thought that I was going to be able to communicate. However, when I arrived in Brazil and the Dominican Republic I realized that I was unable to communicate. Confined to my limited vocabulary and my memorized “common sentences”, I had no way to think and interact on the spot. But what I had the hardest time with was hearing what people were saying. No one had taught me how to really listen: I could not tell where one word ended and another began. People either spoke too fast for me or the different regional dialects threw me off. But I gradually learned to hear the words, then the sentences, and then the ideas. I learned to improvise – to come up with new ways of speaking on the spot. These are the same things musicians are working on: developing a strong musical ear -understanding the underlying structure of melody, chords, and rhythm – all to be able to communicate with other musicians. Understanding all of this reduces dependence on written music and helps to make it become a more natural, spontaneous and autonomous activity.
Holistic Approach
At times I am amazed at the degree to which students can learn and grow through their musical pursuits. I have seen music open doors in students’ lives – socially, academically, psychologically, and professionally. Learning music can be a positive force in one’s life beyond the time spent actually playing an instrument because music has the power to engage the whole personality – talents, quirks, limitations, and all. In lessons I look for ways that music can be integrated more fully into students’ lives, such as identifying the best ways to incorporate practicing into one’s other commitments, learning how to channel one’s emotions and life experiences into music, helping find settings to play and practice music with other people, and relating the musical learning process to other areas of experiences like sports, careers, or languages.