Like many teachers, I want to be a teacher because of the wonderful teachers, educators, and professors that poured into me and shaped me into the human I am today. My best teachers made me believe in myself, saw that I was more capable than I ever dreamed, and challenged me to work harder than I imagined possible. I aim to return that dedication to my students.

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     My teaching philosophy is shaped by viewing a career as a path. I am farther along on this path than my students and I have seen my colleagues take other different, yet successful paths. As a teacher, I meet students wherever they are at on their journey and I help them understand the directions and terrain ahead on that path. I orient students on their path and redirect students when they stray from the path they choose. Most importantly, my job is to shape these students into the type of person capable of arriving at their desired destination.

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     As someone who primarily teaches future educators and performers, it is important to help students learn how to improve and develop skills, not just demand progress. This skill helps future educators to understand the learning process and helps future performers hone their craft so they can learn music on their own. Students need to learn how to accurately analyze, reflect, and shape their thinking in order to achieve their goals. That journey often includes a lot of failure. I help students grow in their ability to deal with failure by clarifying their identity as a musician is not tied to their worth as a person and viewing failures,, both small and large, as growing opportunities. By reframing their perspective, students learn that failure is a requisite part of the growing process and begin to embrace it. One of the blessings of an applied professor is to shape students over several years and I encourage my students to become the best versions of themselves by helping them understand failure as a necessary process in developing skills.

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     My primary goal in lessons is to push students to become well rounded musicians which includes listening, analyzing, and learning to discuss music as a professional. Lessons in my studio include listening to recordings, discussing how the performer’s interpretation or technique differs from the students’, and reflecting on how they can strive to perform more like the professional’s recording. Part of developing a well-rounded musician includes understanding brass pedagogy, curated by fundamental exercises and method books. 

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     Lessons with me often include teaching by ‘copycat’ or ‘lead by example’. I ask students to copy me with regularity whether it’s simple warm-up exercises, scales, methods, excerpts, or solos. The students learn by hearing me play, attempting to play like me, and reflect on how to alter their playing in order to sound like me in addition to me explaining why their incorrect technique leads to poor playing. Additionally, I play alongside students often in order for them to get real-time feedback on what professional musicianship sounds like. In a lesson, students play fundamental exercises, scales, duets, assigned etudes from Arban’s Complete Method, Bordogni’s Vocalises (or various other methods), and solo literature. Sequencing the lesson this way teaches the basics of brass playing in every lesson and progressively applies the basics in more challenging repertoire. Addressing fundamentals without musical context feel empty to students; solo repertoire can serve both as an assessment tool for instructors but also provide valuable context to understand the importance of fundamental deficiencies for students. 

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     In summary, I am a student-focused educator who meets students where they are, orients them in the direction of a professional, and teaches them how to walk on the path to their desired career successes. My role as a teacher is to help students find their success, not impart my own version of success on their lives. My demeanor in lessons is encouraging, yet firm. High standards are the reality of being a professional musician, especially as a performance major. My students receive teaching based on my own lived experience both as a trained educator and performer at a high level. I am a passionate educator and enjoy any opportunity to shape students. I look forward to continuing my journey as a college professor and welcome the possibility to encourage more students to develop themselves, deepen their relationship with music, and accomplish their goals.