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 “hall passes” labeled ‘avid theorist’, ‘outstanding improviser’, and ‘prodigal composer’. These “hall passes” would allow all my students to wander the halls and 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.