by Kirt Mosier.
Published in Orchestra America, April 2018.
When we consider being a teacher in any capacity, there is no denying that we must be a leader and a manager of people. Without organizational and relational skills, we find ourselves with a mind full of musical knowledge but no one with whom to share it.
Before tackling leadership and management techniques we must consider our philosophy. My philosophy of teaching is the following: “I teach excellence and the dedication it takes to be excellent – music is the discipline that I use to teach these concepts”. Looking at this simple philosophy, we see music is listed as a “discipline.” Music is relegated to a “discipline” because we are developing young minds to systematically approach, problem solve, collaborate, interpret, and hone physical skills. All of these are great life skills. Surely the byproduct of teaching these important concepts will be great music! When we operate out of this philosophy base, we never run the risk of making the subject matter more important than the subjects themselves.
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