Teaching Philosophy

“As I reflect on my own growth as a cellist, I am reminded of the many tools and skills I’ve gained over the years. I’ve been in many different environments, from the cello group class on Saturdays that my father would take me to, to a full Saturday of lessons, and eventually to the whirlwind of high intensity conservatory training. While there are a multitude of teaching philosophies and approaches when it comes to music, I’ve realized that my teaching can be categorized into three different components.

The first component is the connection and relationship between teacher and student. I firmly the bond between teacher and student is essential. I’m lucky that throughout all of my training, I’ve had wonderful teachers with whom I’ve been able to create very strong bonds that have impacted me with and instilled their love and warmth of teaching. The best teachers that I have had in life, whether it be a music teacher or simply a teacher/mentor, all share a specific quality. The quality for me to be able to go to them without fear of judgement. Each of them have instilled this exact quality into me as a teacher. When I am teaching a student, I believe that it is the process of learning all of the essential elements together. Each student is so individual that I must be very flexible with my approach and methodology. The idea of creating relationships through music is also immensely critical. Whether it be with me and the student, the student and the parent, or students with other students. Not only does this help with the musicianship of the student, but also teaches us how to interact as human beings. Particularly, when it comes to my younger students I believe the relationship between teacher, student, and parent plays a huge role in the later development of life and music, which is why I encourage the parent to be part of the lessons as well.

The second component is the understanding of our mind and body to produce technique. While there are an immense amount of mental and physical facets to be aware of while playing a musical instrument, It is of utmost importance to be conscious of how our minds process the information given to us from the music and ultimately how we end up translating that information from our bodies. Many people do not realize the physical aspect of playing an instrument. Especially that we practice every single day for several hours we need to make sure we are playing our instruments in the healthiest way possible. It first begins with the mind and being fully aware of what is we want our bodies to do. Do we need to play with more pressure? Where does the movement come from to play this particular articulation? It’s amazing to think that a minuscule adjustment of our body’s can change the entire outcome of our technique. From there, I help my students to understand how be fully in control of the body in order to produce a beautiful tone. Together, the students and I discover and develop a healthy use of movement with our ligaments.

The third component, the music itself. The music is the precursor to the musician. I believe it is so important to understand the function of harmonies, structure of form, and phrasing within the music. As artists, we want to be able to express our emotions and ideas from the piece of music. Thus, we also need to be able to properly assimilate what it is the composer wanted to convey. I strongly believe in slow practice and gradually working our way to full tempo. There are several different elements to understand. From the rhythm, notes, dynamics, and phrasing it is most effective to break it down into small components, starting with intonation and rhythm. I have found that this is the most effective way of practice while also accelerating the learning process of a new piece. I love being able to engage in this conversation with my students because I find it beneficial for not only myself, but for my students to understand in an organized way how they want to portray the music. It is up to the musician to bring life back into something that is simply just written on the page.

I believe each of the categories I mentioned above are all intertwined. I’ve found once students are in an environment where they feel free of judgement, they begin to express themselves fully, while the other aspects naturally fall into place. They are more open to be able to receive the music, while also growing and developing their technical skills as cellists. I believe that all of these combined create not only a great musician, but great humans.”