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MY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Of primary importance from my days playing with the SFSO, I learned there
isn't just one way to reach greatness. Week after week, superstars
played great music in their own unique ways. In my teaching I work
at helping
my students develop a solid foundation of techniques, musical understanding,
and music appreciation.
There are an infinite number of roads
to follow, dictated by my students’ individual needs. It
is one of my great teaching loves to sleuth out what motivates
and excites a boy
or girl (or
an adult!) to succeed. I expend much effort in confirming my students’ gifts,
encouraging and supporting their strengths. My students’ ages at
this writing range from 5-65. Generally, I work one-on-one but sometimes
teaching a parent and child together works fantastically. On rare occasion,
close friends or a husband and wife want to share lessons. This can work
too! I love to be open to new ideas in teaching.
GETTING A STUDENT STARTED
When I teach students for their first year of music lessons, it's crucial
for me to help them become aware of the musical sounds they create,
to develop their ear for music. This is the hardest work a teacher
ever does! It requires massive patience, good spirits, a sense of exploration
and fun. Developing your ear or your child's is absolutely essential if you're
going to enjoy making music throughout life. Parents can provide a rich
home environment by playing CDs, tapes, and videos of great musicians
as my mother did. Parents can also walk-the-talk by learning to play
an instrument themselves. I promise you that your kids will love for
you to try to make music with them! My mom (on piano) and dad (he loved
clarinet) never became very good at playing music, but I loved to hear
them try! WHAT WE USE AT LESSONS
I believe that variety is important, so I encourage my students to play
from a number of music books. On strings, beginners start out with
a book of popular Suzuki pieces that they learn with the help of a
CD and with a technique builder, also with a CD. In the early going
I teach my students pieces without the sheet music but concurrently
help them to learn to read music. On piano, I help my students to become
comfortable with the keyboard, learning simple tunes, and reading first
notes from their music books. We learn pieces, theory, and even write
a few original tunes in the first few months. What an exciting moment
the first time they play a piece using both hands and reading both
clefs!
For me, the most rewarding
time is when a student’s abilities
allows us to play duets (and trios with a
participating parent). It's like a miracle to see the smiles of joy after
such accomplishment! A NATURAL APPROACH
It's important to learn music in a way that makes it all seem totally
natural. I blend theory and technique study into our regular lesson
time as we practice our fun pieces. My students quickly learn to recognize
all the signs, notes, and terms in their music as I point things out
and ask them questions. I encourage students to take a new piece of
music and examine it closely. They learn to recognize a lot about it
before they play their first note! The clef(s), key signature, time
signature, tempo indication(s), dynamics, phrasing, accidentals, repeat
signs, what looks easy and what looks hard. A student is halfway home
to learning a piece before they play the first note.
I help my students develop
good practice habits, to practice slowly at first. Then I encourage
them to let loose with their energies and
emotions. Music making isn't just about making beautiful sounds; it's
also about expressing deep feelings. So we develop our technical skills
to the highest levels as a vehicle to express every nuance of our emotions.
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During
lessons, my students play for me a lot. And I respond. First I praise
and praise and praise. "You did this
great, and this was really good, and this really moved me! Well, now over
here we had a little problem, right?" My students trust me because
I'm always honest about what isn't at a top level. But never do the problems
become as important as the SUCCESS. One measure of success is my students’ performances
on recitals.
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THE RECITALS
We do 2 recitals a year at my house to standing-room-only crowds. My
students prepare for a recital for the preceding 6 weeks at their lessons.
We practice everything: I applaud, they bow, they recite their speech,
and they play their piece through. As the weeks pass, my job becomes
less of critique and more of encouraging. Students tend to be too hard
on themselves! I keep them focused on success and the beauty of their
playing. Oh, how proud their parents and I am of them when they play
on the recital and do great! It's rare for one of my students to not
perform at or above their level in performance.
There are also other performing opportunities for my students in the
Santa Rosa area including competitions and community musical outreach
concerts. I encourage my students to perform and compete as often as
they can, reminding them that winning is secondary, that the goal is
always to play well, to feel good about yourself, to work hard and do
your personal best.
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