My teaching and curriculum design changes depending on what kinds of music making my students find joyful and engaging. In private lessons, This could lead us to learning pop/rock songs of artists that the students already like, and expanding to other styles and genres from there. 

Caring about the wholeness of the student is very important to me - both as a musician and as a person with a variety of interests and activities that bring them joy. At the beginning, especially with beginners and younger students, I focus on building a personal relationship and trust.  I show care for the students by nurturing a love for music with patience, not giving them a cold shoulder when they don't meet a high standard of practicing.

In whatever journey lessons take us on, being fulfilled by music takes us to new levels when we set medium-to long term goals, and work towards them. 

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT is a core value of mine. For younger students I often create Achievement Sheets with a list of tangible short and medium-term goals that can create a sense of accomplishment as we work towards long-term goals. When I see that extra motivation can be helpful, Implement a point-based reward system and collaborate with parents to get them prizes when they reach benchmark goals. 

Lessons are based around 4 pillars of music

I. TECHNIQUE - A strong foundation of simple fundamentals is essential to unlock our creativity in performance

II. MUSIC THEORY - Allows us to recognize patterns and structural forms that create the music we love, and more easily learn new music

PERFORMANCE + IMPROVISATION - This is how we share our sound with other people, and engage in creative conversation with other musicians. Improvisation is a framework that is accessible to all levels of musicians, and helps us build our creative muscles by simply ‘playing around’ with techniques and songs we’ve learned. 

LISTENING - We can get better at music anywhere!

Students are taught how to critically hear the theoretical elements we’re learning in lessons. This includes hearing different kinds of instruments, types of chords and intervals, and more. On the flip side, my approach to listening is heavily influenced by Mindfulness philosophies and the Sonic meditations of composer Pauline Oliveros - we can receive energy through sonic awareness at every moment of our lives!