Teaching Philosophy

For most students, learning to play an instrument can be a very personal activity that effects their academic, social, emotional, philosophical and even spiritual development. As a piano instructor in my local community, my educational goals for all of my students are to teach them to play their instrument with a comprehensive and artistic understanding of music.

Music is not just a compilation of notes and techniques blended together. Every piece of repertoire comes from an era with a specific worldview that inescapably influences the music directly and indirectly. This being the case, I find it very important to teach my students the various characteristics of each musical time period through the unique articulations and styles of the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, and Contemporary periods. Learning these styles serves as an educational starting point in a student’s musical proficiency and increases a student’s appreciation and understanding of music’s role in our culture.

From this cultural perspective, I also include formal studies in theory and ear training to help students develop an awareness of the structure and direction of each piece that they study. Ear training and theory also provide a way for students to learn the concept of tonality, which opens the door for creativity in composition, improvisation, transposition and harmonization. These skills, along with sight reading, also equip students for the possibilities that music can provide for involvement in their personal communities (church, school, friends…).

To help students become comfortable with putting their musical talents to good use, recitals are held twice per year. This is a time when students are able to present their pieces memorized with all of the polished attributes of an artistic and expressive performance – articulation, pitch, technique, rhythm, dynamics, pedaling, historical style, phrasing, personal interpretation, maintaining the mood and channeling stage anxiety in the right direction. These attributes are the key to a musically mature and artistically expressive performance. Therefore, recitals also offer landmarks and goals in each student’s performance skills. But, ultimately, my goals for these recitals are to provide an opportunity for my students, their friends, and their relatives to enjoy a meaningful musical program – just as if they were going to concert.

Every lesson is geared to prepare students for these performances along with other optional performance competitions and examinations. My approach to teaching is geared toward engaging the student to personally and independently grasp all of the concepts taught. I believe that coming from a more relational approach sets the tone for an impactful and lively experience for both the teacher and the student. Also, rather than teaching a student how to play a specific piece with its specific requirements, I feel that my students greatly benefit from learning the underlying concepts that lead musicians to pursue music independently.

When it comes to the physical application of concepts learned, a healthful piano technique is on my priority list. As an individual who has personally experienced some of the challenges of practice-related injuries, I am very much in favor of the Taubman Method for technique. Here are a few points of the Taubman Method that I highly encourage:

1. Moving the forearm and hand as a unit through the use of rotation.
2. Avoiding twisting at the wrist.
3. Maintaining a natural hand position (no curling or over-flattening).
4. Proper positioning at the piano with forearm parallel to the keyboard. This keeps the wrist from sagging or propping up too high.
5. Using gravity instead of extra muscular effort to achieve bigger sounds.

 

When learning to play the piano, there is no way around it – practice, practice, practice. While practicing may not be on a student’s priority list every day, there is something very rewarding about completing the study of a piece after much hard work. The principles of hard work and diligence that a student learns while playing the piano is invaluable for life’s many ups and downs. Therefore, I try to cultivate in the student a hard work ethic through consistent, daily practicing while giving them tips to make the most of their practice for greater progress in a short amount of time.  I also try to demonstrate to students that practicing can be a fun and enjoyable experience when approached in the correct way.

The Lord has created every child with specific gifts and abilities. Because of this, each student will show more or less progress in certain areas of musicianship at different points in time. What may come easy to one student may not come easy to another (and vice versa). At Faith Christian Music Studio, I attempt to pay attention to students’ strengths and weaknesses for the purpose of developing their personal musical capabilities.