Wednesday, September 19, 2007
THE reason
So i know we're all writing, have written, or will soon be writing these letters about why we want to be a music teacher. I don't know if Professor Eric will be sharing our letters, but I kind of want to know why everyone wants to be a teacher. My reason is that one reason he's said in class a few times...i hated my music teacher. She drove so many people out of the music program and it was really upsetting to me. It actually drove me out of it and into another school because i loved music so much, but i couldn't stand her. So i'm striving to do the OPPOSITE of what she did, and bring as many people into music, if not just closer to music in general. So yeah, tell me your stories.
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8 comments:
I'll give you the first line of my letter;
I don’t want to be a music teacher.
Of course I go on to qualify that, but its a letter about how I'm not sure, and so Im a double major.
To give you the jist, here's a paragraph from the middle of my letter;
"I can tell you the piece that made me want to be a choir teacher –I can tell you the chord. It was Carmina Burana, Ave Formosissima, and the chord on the word Blanziflor, one minute and eight seconds into the piece. With any luck, I will never forget the feeling of the first time I sang that work. On the converse, I can tell you the note that made me want to be an opera singer –Joan Sutherland’s high C in her performance of Turandot on Gloria, Gloria o vincitore! I want so desperately to move people the way I have been moved, to somehow just share that love. So, to this day I remain torn, but for the right reasons, I believe."
Well I want to be a music teacher because as a student I know how it feels to be completely lost and not understand even after it's been explained. My goal is to teach kids who genuinely want to learn music, and develop my own methods that I can teach when they find severe difficulty. Ultimately I contribute and impact them as muscians.
Hm, mine was a bit of a combo of both.
In elementary school, I had the worst music teacher in th world. She had no control over the class, and her idea of teaching us something was breaking out the boom box and having us do the limbo. I'm so dead serious. It was so awful that I decided not to sing in 6th grade because I though middle school choir would be like an extension of elementary school choir. (Obviously, I eventually got back involved again. :) )
In high school though, I had the most amazing choir director in the entire world. She was [/is] absolutely amazing at what she does. I learned more from her that I have from any other teacher I ever had. She was always enthusiastic and giving the students 100% of herself. Her teaching itself was amazing, she had methods of teaching that all types of students could understand. Every lesson was physical, visual and auditory - no matter what type of learner you were you could follow along and enjoy her class.
As a result of these two teachers, I decided I wanted to be a music teacher - probably leaning towards elementary. I always wished I could have had an experience like I did in high school earlier, and so I want to try and give that opportunity to little kids.
here is a good line I came up with in my paper that sort of sums up a bunch of stuff we have talked about...
"Music acts as a tool for young people. They can like whatever music they want without worrying about what another might think. It’s a tool of self-expression and identity, one that outlines differences in people, but also unifies them. A music educator has the opportunity to teach students about hard work and commitment, while promoting confidence and creativity"
My paper was all about the ability to recogize potential and utilize it to the best of everyone's ability. In high school there were a bunch of really amazing kids in the chorus all four years I participated, but the director never really tried so we never got anywhere. This was frustrating for everyone, and I don't think it should happen. Whether a group has the potential to be an award-winning ensemble or to just have a good time musically, there is potential for something in every situation. I want to be able to find that potential and bring out the best parts of a group instead of letting talent and enthusiasm rot and go to waste.
I've always wanted to be a performer myself. I mean, I've always been in children's choirs and things like that and I've worked with some AMAZING conductors. Eventually I started to realize that this is what I wanted to do through great choral experiences and then last year getting to do a lot of teaching as an independent study with my choir teacher. Of course there are the amazing songs I've done, the awesome teachers that have inspired me, the moments alone in a practice room getting so PSYCHED about how I was going to teach this song, but the biggest reason is just that I love working with kids. I love seeing the light bulb go on in their faces when they finally understand something and I've had to figure out about eight different ways to teach the same thing. I AM a kid, and I always will be, and I think that helps me connect with them. Teaching is simply amazing.
I mean, I'm certainly not gonna be doin it for the paycheck!
I want to be a music teacher because I cannot stand the conventional teaching styles I dealt with my entire life. Creating sound is music. Smashing a glass bottle is music, taking your hands and tapping them on a desk is rhythm: everything is music. I think no one ever really explained that to me and life is so beautiful now that I realized it. I want to go into a classroom and be like, " let's make instruments. we already know what pianos sound like, let's do something else."
letting students make their own rendition of sound and music is putting them right in music. Yes, certain classes should be taught with solfege, blah blah blah, but other kids just wanna make some noise. I LOVE STOMP. there I said it. One day my teacher brought in snapple bottles with different levels on water in each and created a major scale; it was brilliant. I think trying out stuff and experimenting with sounds and improvisation can really lead to a strong interest in music. That is how I learned piano: smashed the keys every now and then until I just wanted to take lessons.
To be a music teacher/piano teacher is to be more than someone that conveys facts and knowledge, it is to be a mentor.
I want to be a music teacher because music reaches beyond the objective. I want to be a music teacher because I want to be a mentor.
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