TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

My greatest wish for my students is that they can truly and freely use the language of music, and in doing so, communicate all the subtle colors of the human condition. To attain this goal, my teaching is guided by the principles of adaptability, meaning, and synthesis.

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I adapt to each student’s individual needs by starting from where they are and guiding them to reach where they need to go. For example, my graduate-level keyboard skills class at McGill University consisted of music theory and conducting majors hailing from a wide range of keyboard experiences. I turned the gap in keyboard proficiency within the class from a possible obstacle into an opportunity by crafting assignments at two different levels that were linked by common musical examples. As well, I assigned team scavenger hunts, duets, and improvisation-based activities to engage all my students, while also allowing room for individual growth and discovery.

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I encourage the search for meaning, so that notes can enter not just the ears, but also the hearts of those listening. For instance, I ask my piano students at BNBU to play harmonic reductions of their pieces, so that they become more sensitive to the tensions and resolutions in the music. I teach them taste by introducing them to the recordings of great conductors, singers, and other instrumentalists, so that their sound world expands beyond that of the piano. I challenge them to reach within themselves and to draw inspiration from other disciplines, so that they may communicate something uniquely insightful.

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Last, I promote the synthesis of theory and performance. Music is actually a language, and as such, consists of the same four modalities of communication as any other human language. Music analysis is like reading comprehension, musicianship is like listening comprehension, music composition is like writing, and improvisation is like speaking. The more interaction that goes on in one's brain between the different modalities, the stronger the musician has mastery over the language of music as a whole. Therefore, in both my classroom and private teaching, I engage my students in multiple modalities at once through activities that involve score reading (reading to speaking), playing by ear (listening to speaking), transcription/dictation (listening to writing), and arranging (reading to writing). All the while, I ensure that my students do not lose sight of the end goal of each skill: communication.

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Altogether, by combining adaptability, meaning, and synthesis in my teaching, my students gain the freedom to express their imaginations, as musicians, artists, and most of all, human beings.