Student Teaching Capstone

Putting a focus on building relationships with students leads to a plethora of opportunities for both the student and your program.

Do your part in creating a school culture that takes pride in their music program.

Establishing connections with co-workers, staff, and administration helps improve your work environment and school climate. 

Not every moment in a lesson needs to serve as a means to the musical objective - sometimes the objective should be to have fun with music.

Success looks different for different students, even though we strive for each student to reach the same bar.

Finding joy in the small victories will help get you through the challenges of the day.

Four years at college have paid off!

I went into college set on being a high school instrumental director, and now I am more open to teaching any level of music. While the extra curriculars of high school instrumental music continue to be a passion of mine, high school is not the only place I can teach and still work with marching bands, jazz bands, and other ensembles.

A Symphony Orchestra provides excellent learning opportunities to wind and string players alike, in a setting not found anywhere else.

Chamber music is often set aside in the music classroom. I believe, if time allows, chamber music provides a setting where the most personalized instruction can occur without a 1 on 1 or small group lesson.

Ukulele is a versatile instrument, more than recorder. Ukulele can establish skills that translate to other string instruments such as guitar and bass, while recorder establishes only core concepts of instrument-playing while not translating skills effectively. There is no resistance unlike a reeded instrument, and the fingerings are similar but not exact to an woodwind instrument.

Handbells can prove to be an effective class instrument to learn musical concepts, similar to an Orff instrument ensemble.