A Statement of Purpose

Notre Dame de Paris

I started this site with the intention of promoting myself as a musician, and I plan on continuing this route.  However, my interests have always been many, and lately my teaching business has picked up, so I am deciding to divide this site's purpose between my music and my teaching passions.

To me, the link between being a musician and being a teacher is obvious. Music is the quintessential interdisciplinary field; to be a good musician and a good musical scholar, one needs to have a strong grasp not only on music theory and performance practice but also on mathematical relationships, acoustics, plot structure, and the historical and political context behind the music and performance.  One could go on for days about how the context of the time and the architecture of Notre Dame de Paris were pivotal in shaping the polyphony of Leoninus and Perotinus or how Iannis Xenakis carefully designed the Phillips Pavilion at the 1958 World Expo to create a wall of sound out of something as mundane as burning charcoal.  I will not do this here, but I will assert that yes, a person can study the theory and technical aspects of a piece and "learn" it on a certain level, but he/she will not truly be able to understand and appreciate it without some degree of background, be it historical, mathematical, or otherwise.  If someone were to ask me why I am qualified to teach across many subjects, I would argue that I am a good musician; I have endeavored to learn as much as possible in many fields and continue to do so, and I truly enjoy sharing what I have discovered with others.

Music therapy is a widely known treatment for anxiety and a wide array of developmental issues that capitalizes upon the universal nature of music.  Children with speech and language issues can often see massive breakthroughs when words are put to song.  Repetitive counting and layering of rhythms can help strengthen fundamental math skills as well as life and study skills.  And the general enjoyment of music alone can help reduce stress and stress-related issues in everyone.  I have worked to incorporate many of the same techniques I use to reduce tension as a singer into exercises with my students, and I have myriad pieces of anecdotal evidence showing how stress reduction leads to academic success.  Because I seek to work with individual students and small group settings, I make it a point to get to know every student and build a connection.  I am not a therapist, but I can incorporate some of the same principles that makes music therapy so successful for so many.

As I continue to develop this site and myself as a musician, teacher, and I guess as a businesswoman, I will endeavor to further flesh out my feelings as to how music and education overlap on this blog, and I hope to document my own trials and successes along the way.  It should be an interesting journey.

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Sound waves from a tuning fork