Teaching Philosophy

We are all human, shaped by different experiences - and because of that, I believe I have just as much to learn from my students as they do from me. I strive to create a learning environment where we face challenges together and find solutions collaboratively. My time in the Boy Scouts deeply influenced this perspective. Our scoutmaster, "John," only stepped in when necessary, guiding us when we lacked knowledge but otherwise allowing us to learn by doing. He earned our respect by treating us as equals, never talking down to us. That’s the kind of environment I aim to foster in my own teaching. My goal is to equip students with the tools they need to explore music and its connection to life on their own terms - especially those who might not otherwise have access to such resources. Over time, they will decide how to use these tools and discover how music relates to their passions and cultural identities, as reflected in the rich, diverse, and often underrepresented musical traditions of the world. In my classroom, this approach is reflected in a strong emphasis on jazz. I believe jazz offers the most accessible and versatile toolkit for developing skills across all areas of music. My students engage deeply in improvisation, composition, collaboration, sight reading, lyricism, melody, soloing, theory, and more. For example, learning to improvise over a Charlie Parker tune builds a foundation that can easily translate to analyzing and performing modern pop music that uses similar harmonic ideas, like pentatonics in Top 40 hits. I expose my students to a wide range of musical topics and let them wrestle with their complexity—because that’s where real learning happens. In the end, the skills, adaptability, and depth of understanding they gain in my class are what prepare them for the real world.

There are 2 main domains of ethical boundaries: physical and emotional. While some components of these domains may not directly align with one’s moral standards, the ethics of a teacher should strictly pull to a professional working standard. In other words, morals and ethics are not the same. However, if most teachers exhibit certain moral principles, the adjacent ethical dilemmas will be far easier to avoid. Both ethical domains have clear characteristics as follows.

The physical domain bears very clear guidelines. As cut and dry as it can be, teachers should never have physical interactions with their students. To avoid an ethical dilemma in touching students sexually, it’s best to avoid touching them all together, or at the very least, limiting touch to parts of the body that would be made contact with in any standard professional setting. This eliminates any misunderstandings, especially any misreadings of sexual or abusive intentions. In my own practice, I prefer to keep any contact with the students limited to the hands. Examples include hand shaking, high fiving, and fist bump. At times there are students that want a hug and will force it upon the teacher. This is a problematic dilemma because it can easily be misconstrued. In this situation, the teacher should strongly encourage the student to go for a handshake or a similar interaction, even if the effort needs to persist over the course of a few classes.

Beyond physical interactions, there are far more situations of verbal interactions that should be deemed inappropriate for any teacher. These range over almost any emotional issue that doesn’t aid the lessons taught in class or the progress a student is making in the class. Even if it seems right to console a student who has a poor quality of home life, their issues should be reported to a school counselor. The job as a teacher is to teach and make sure everyone is learning to their best ability. In a similar sense, the teacher should never grieve about personal issues to the class, as that would take the curriculum way off course. Comments on a student's appearance are almost always inappropriate, especially those of sexual implications. The only appropriate use of emotional comments or comments on students' appearance is if it will then effectively bring the class back on track for the lessons at hand. For example, if the composer of a piece wrote about grief, it would be appropriate to briefly talk about grief in class to better understand the content of the music. Similarly, it would be appropriate to talk to a student about their failure to follow dress code as a means of classroom management and less distraction for the student’s peers.