Hello! My name is Adam and I have been teaching violin and piano for 5 years. I have both a bachelor's and master's degree at the Mannes School of Music for violin performance. My utmost value as a teacher is that the lessons that my students receive are meaningful and personable. My current students learn violin and piano but struggle to relate it to their lives, especially with the repertoire centering on Western tradition. Despite this challenge, I incorporate history and music theory as...
Hello! My name is Adam and I have been teaching violin and piano for 5 years. I have both a bachelor's and master's degree at the Mannes School of Music for violin performance. My utmost value as a teacher is that the lessons that my students receive are meaningful and personable. My current students learn violin and piano but struggle to relate it to their lives, especially with the repertoire centering on Western tradition. Despite this challenge, I incorporate history and music theory as essential building blocks to help students understand performance. In addition, as a minority, I am cognizant of my students’ cultures, which should influence their music choices.
Learning piano as an elementary student can be difficult. One of my accomplishments in demystifying the music was when my 12 year old student was working on the air suisse movement from Sonatina no. 5 by Clementi. She played it rather methodically and by the page, but she also dances ballet. Therefore, I told her to think of it as a ballet dance: we watched some performances of Mozart with period dance and she started playing the music with a lilt while smiling. As for cultural relevance, one of my other students was celebrating Chinese New Year the week after our lesson, so he played an intermediate yet challenging arrangement of Mo Li Hua (which was also quintessential to my childhood). He appreciated the connection between the violin with his culture and it made the lesson meaningful.
I believe in facilitating a classroom that is an open discussion and collaboration between teacher and student. Each student has different needs, life experiences, and skill levels when they approach music. As much as I give my input as a teacher, I also want to encourage discussion and to allow students to voice concern. Lastly, I encourage the intersection between music and other disciplines despite my primary career as violinist and pianist. My hope is that my students can walk away with a deeper understanding of music and themselves.
