My teaching philosophy is comprised of instructional techniques developed using my college music education, diverse performance history and numerous teaching sessions.  The goal of my curriculum is to help students become well-rounded musicians and lifelong, independent learners.

During my lessons, I help students gain appreciation and understanding of various genres and styles of music.  This is accomplished by allowing students to choose part of their repertoire based on their musical interests.  This creates a comfortable learning environment that keeps students motivated and interested.  As students progress, I introduce musical pieces of different styles to compare to their chosen genre.  This comparison technique creates an effective and meaningful learning process where students can enjoy and retain important concepts regarding musical styles.  It also provides the background information for students to formulate their own opinions and choose the platform that best expresses them.

Since music is multi-faceted, students need to be exposed to these facets to better understand the associated concepts and their relationships.  I incorporate dancing, piano (instruments) and voice into my lessons to demonstrate these ideas.  I use these aspects in varying amounts to teach fundamentals such as:  note and rhythm recognition, sight-reading, ear training, technique, musical markings and historical significance.  This approach helps students comprehend the fundamentals and recognize the relationships between them.  This also shows them how music relates to the “real world” and contributes to their overall understanding of the pieces and helps them to become well-rounded musicians.