TEACHING

Through reflecting on my own personal experience I found that I am extremely passionate about Social Emotional Learning (SEL), Equity and Access in music education, and how we, as teachers, should do our best to serve our students.

As music educators, we must recognize that poverty is a serious issue, and that some students are unable to attend the classes that we teach. When it comes to music education, children growing up in poverty often have their voices silenced and may not feel deserving of programs and resources. I want to empower my students, and allow them to explore their emotions and provide them outlets to express themselves. I want them to explore their inner world, create clear ties with works of art, and develop new views of themselves and their environment. Most importantly I want them to be heard and prioritized.

As a teacher it is my responsibility to set up a safe classroom environment that allows the students to feel welcomed, so that we are able to discuss topics of social justice, diversity and inclusion of cultures from around the world. In my opinion, a classroom can not function unless there is a certain level of trust between the students and the teacher. With that being said, I strongly believe that we must be aware of who we are in relation to our students to avoid perpetuating an entrenched power dynamic in the classroom. The political nature of music education is inherent due to ‘who’ is teaching and ‘who’ is learning, which is why it is important to get to know our students. The politics that go along with music education are intrinsic to the practice itself through course material and general stereotypes instilled into our society.

My teaching style is a hybrid of the aesthetic and praxial approach. I think that performing and experiencing music as both a listener and player is essential when learning music. Music making can hold utilitarian values outside of the music room, allowing the possibility for a more unified and wholistic education. By supporting and helping our students create their own music, we are letting them experience the basic beauty of music itself. At the same time, making music and creating is extremely important, but knowing context, history and background is just as important. We can provide our students with the cultural and historical backgrounds of the music that they are working on, so that it opens up a new lens. It allows our students to approach music in a more contextual way. By providing both the aesthetic and contextual approach, we are providing more diverse tools for our students to connect to the music. I envision myself as a teacher using a hybrid method that incorporates several different teaching philosophies, since each approach has something unique to offer.