To me, teaching is a vital part of being a musician.  I hope to continue learning about music for the rest of my life, and helping musicians who are at a different point in their musical journey is an important part of that.  In my time as a musician, I've come to believe that communities are a central part of all music-making.  Music is something that people do to communicate and connect with other people.  Every musician is building on the discoveries and creations of the musicians who have come before them, so it's essential that people share what they've learned with others. 

My teaching philosophy is that everyone who is motivated and passionate about music can learn to play music. Everyone has different learning styles.  Some people find that their natural learning style is well-suited to learning music.  These people are often termed “talented” (in my opinion, a loaded and misleading term that I’ll probably discuss at some point in a blog post).  Music teachers traditionally love these students, as they are easy to teach and learn quickly with minimal effort from the teacher, just guidance and perspective. 

Other people find that the learning style most native to them isn’t really well-suited to learning music.  Unfortunately, these people sometimes conclude that they are simply “unmusical” (a conclusion often encouraged by music teachers who don’t really know how to connect with different learning styles).  What is needed instead is to cultivate a learning style that creates a more direct relationship with music.   I work to identify the learning style of each student, and then work to expand their learning methods to be more music-friendly. 

Of course music is an extremely complex and multifaceted endeavor.  These things are not black-and-white.  Indeed, someone might find their learning style is very conducive to technique, but not improvisation.  Or is great for composing, but not performing.  In my own development, I’ve worked to develop effective methods for improving all of these areas, and I use that experience to help guide students and help them avoid common pitfalls.