Engagement, critical thinking, and generative communication shape my priorities as an educator. The teachers who fostered my passion for musical and intellectual pursuits, connected with students through genuine enthusiasm for their subjects. Such enthusiasm is contagious and facilitates connections. The best teachers can make any subject exciting through lectures, discussions, and assignments that are clear, accessible, and stimulating. They breathe life into their content and can kindle curiosity and engagement in students who might otherwise have little interest in the subject. Cultivating a collaborative learning environment that prioritizes engagement and growth over numerical outcomes and letter grades encourages students to develop skills that transcend the specificities of a single academic subject. For me, helping students grow into confident, compassionate, self-aware thinkers and communicators is always more important than any specific content I can offer them.

I hope my embodiment of these values will inspire students, expand their intellectual horizons, and empower them to dream and take risks. As a musician, scholar, and educator, my musical and intellectual journeys are fundamentally intertwined. My commitment to remaining active as a practicing and performing musician sustains my enthusiasm for teaching music courses to students with a range of backgrounds and musical experience, from those taking their first introductory music class through the upper levels of a music major. I remain a firm believer that encountering music—as a listener, musician, or both—provides unique possibilities for individual growth, developing social awareness, and deepening cultural understanding.

In designing my courses, I always consider the diverse backgrounds and academic needs of students in my classroom and present course materials using a range of modalities. By combining aural, visual, and written materials with individual and group assignments, I provide students with a range of means for showcasing unique strengths, practicing where they need improvement, and charting their own path through a course while also fulfilling its basic requirements. Short reading responses, regular listening journals, discussion forums, and analytical essays invite students to think expansively and make broad connections between and among topics. In my experience, small, regular assignments, rather than heavily weighted midterm and final exams, minimize “crunch time” stress while encouraging sustained growth throughout an academic term.

Ultimately, I view my students as active co-creaters of our shared musical and intellectual journeys rather than as passive recipients of static knowledge that I am expected to bestow upon them. I strive to model generative communication skills and make myself available to students during class time as well as during office hours. One of the most important skills a student can develop is the ability to communicate openly with their peers and instructors and responsible, respectful communication should be valued as a learning outcome in and of itself. I always encourage students to reach out when they have questions or individual concerns and engage their peers as resources for advancing their learning through dialog. As educators, we owe it to ourselves and our students to cultivate educational environments predicated on genuine engagement and growth, critical thought and discourse, and open and honest communication.