Mr. Jacobo Nitzsch - October 9, 2016
Mr. Jacobo Nitzsch is a music teacher from Guatemala who has a passion for the promotion of musical creativity and creative thinking. His thought-provoking lecture to the class began with a brief overview of his own journey, and how he came to be the music teacher and composer that he is today. Jacobo wanted to encourage us to think deeply about why we do what we do, and how we can be our own unique personality in the music industry. He challenged the class to think of ways to be creative in our performances and teaching of classical music. He asked us why we blindly follow the ways of Mozart and Beethoven, the great composers who we consider to be the best. Why do we have this unspoken idea that the European methods are the best? Since many Western music schools are geared towards this mindset, Jacobo challenged us to think of ways we can challenge the status quo, and to think about how we can improve ourselves by doing what we really love, and what we really want to do.
Towards the end of his lecture, Jacobo really wanted to impress upon us the importance of figuring out our own passion, and beginning to build our career. He encouraged us to combine every part of who we are into our work, including our heritage and the many different stages of our lives. He tossed aside the thought that our personal lives should stay separate from our work, and really pressed us to think about how we can combine them to make something really wonderful. He concluded by encouraging us to think about what we are doing, what we have done, and what is next.
Mr. Jacobo Nitzsch is a very motivating speaker, and the things he has accomplished throughout his own career are also very inspirational. He succeeded in getting me to think about what I really want to do in my own life. What kind of music do I truly have a passion for? What do I want to do with it? Why is it that students are not more often encouraged to challenge the stereotypes in music and truly express themselves creatively? No great composer ever blindly followed in the steps of one of his or her predecessors. What am I doing, what have I done, and what is next in my life?
Towards the end of his lecture, Jacobo really wanted to impress upon us the importance of figuring out our own passion, and beginning to build our career. He encouraged us to combine every part of who we are into our work, including our heritage and the many different stages of our lives. He tossed aside the thought that our personal lives should stay separate from our work, and really pressed us to think about how we can combine them to make something really wonderful. He concluded by encouraging us to think about what we are doing, what we have done, and what is next.
Mr. Jacobo Nitzsch is a very motivating speaker, and the things he has accomplished throughout his own career are also very inspirational. He succeeded in getting me to think about what I really want to do in my own life. What kind of music do I truly have a passion for? What do I want to do with it? Why is it that students are not more often encouraged to challenge the stereotypes in music and truly express themselves creatively? No great composer ever blindly followed in the steps of one of his or her predecessors. What am I doing, what have I done, and what is next in my life?
Dr. Ruth Wright - October 24, 2016
Dr. Ruth Wright clearly has a very distinct vision for music education, and her confidence in her ideas shows through when she speaks. Her lecture in our class was very practical, and rather than relying on explanations to convey to us her teaching methods, she got us involved by getting us to do some of the things she would typically have her own students to do. She explained to us how these exercises help the students in numerous ways: by warming up their voices, training their memories, and even learning to compose by putting their own sounds together. She then explained to us that students can utilize their own creative thinking by putting together mashups using songs they already know. The teacher could begin one in class in order to demonstrate the possibilities, and then later could assign the students themselves into groups to put together their own arrangements of songs they know. In this way, the students can learn about music they already love to listen to, performing it themselves and learning the instruments necessary. This is exactly what she got us to do. We split off into groups, chose songs that we knew, and made our own arrangements to be performed at the end of the class. We had a lot of fun this way, learning to be creative and to make the piece unique.
Dr. Wright told us five things that she believes strongly about music education.
Dr. Wright told us five things that she believes strongly about music education.
- Music is an entitlement and a basic human need. Every student should have access to music, and the music programs available should be engaging for all students.
- Music is empowering. When students get enthusiastic about music and realize that they can make music themselves, they build self-confidence.
- Music should be personalized so that each student can get the most out of their own experience with music.
- Music should be taught aurally.
- Music should be taught so that the things that the students learn are sustainable.
Dr. James Karas - November 9, 2016
Dr. James Karas is a well-educated and influential teacher, who studied with Richard Bruno and Edwin Gordon. He felt a compelling need to study with Edwin Gordon after having already been employed for a number of years. From the way Dr. Karas spoke about him, it seemed as though Dr. Gordon was one of the most influential people in his entire career of teaching music. He spoke to us about some of the methods he had learned from Dr. Gordon, and that it was not easy at first, but certainly worth it.
Of all the guest presentations in the class so far, I probably enjoyed Dr. Karas’s the most, because everything he said rang so true in my mind. He showed us a balance between giving structure in the classroom, while putting the main focus of the class on creativity and innovation. He focused on some very key aspects to learning about music, such as rhythm, collaboration, creativity and motivation, all the while presenting it in a way that made you want to learn and hear more.
One of the main themes of his presentation was about Aural/Oral Learning. He demonstrated this method of teaching by getting us to tap our heels, repeat rhythms back to him, and to think of our own simple rhythms as variations of his, reciting them back to him individually. We did this not only with rhythm, but also with small tunes, both in major and minor keys. This method of teaching insures that every member of the class is focused on the instructor, since he might point to anyone at any moment and expect them to give him a short tune or melody. I really appreciated this method, since it teaches so many valuable skills, while allowing the students to be creative and to share that creativity with the other members of the class. I could definitely see myself adopting a method like this in my own classroom someday.
Dr. Karas gave us a variety of other tips as well, all of which I thought were wonderfully insightful. He told us not only to model telling our students what they’re doing wrong, but also thanking them for the things they do well. He also encouraged teaching without notation at first, giving the students a lot more room for their own creative voice. He also told as that students will practise when they are motivated to do so. He finished his talk with telling us that the basic premise of his teaching method is to do. Rather than talking about what rhythm is, what notation is and what degrees of a scale are, it is better to simply practise these things first, and talk about what it is later. In this way, the students will remember the concepts much quicker, without the need to associate their creativity with rules that need to be remembered.
Of all the guest presentations in the class so far, I probably enjoyed Dr. Karas’s the most, because everything he said rang so true in my mind. He showed us a balance between giving structure in the classroom, while putting the main focus of the class on creativity and innovation. He focused on some very key aspects to learning about music, such as rhythm, collaboration, creativity and motivation, all the while presenting it in a way that made you want to learn and hear more.
One of the main themes of his presentation was about Aural/Oral Learning. He demonstrated this method of teaching by getting us to tap our heels, repeat rhythms back to him, and to think of our own simple rhythms as variations of his, reciting them back to him individually. We did this not only with rhythm, but also with small tunes, both in major and minor keys. This method of teaching insures that every member of the class is focused on the instructor, since he might point to anyone at any moment and expect them to give him a short tune or melody. I really appreciated this method, since it teaches so many valuable skills, while allowing the students to be creative and to share that creativity with the other members of the class. I could definitely see myself adopting a method like this in my own classroom someday.
Dr. Karas gave us a variety of other tips as well, all of which I thought were wonderfully insightful. He told us not only to model telling our students what they’re doing wrong, but also thanking them for the things they do well. He also encouraged teaching without notation at first, giving the students a lot more room for their own creative voice. He also told as that students will practise when they are motivated to do so. He finished his talk with telling us that the basic premise of his teaching method is to do. Rather than talking about what rhythm is, what notation is and what degrees of a scale are, it is better to simply practise these things first, and talk about what it is later. In this way, the students will remember the concepts much quicker, without the need to associate their creativity with rules that need to be remembered.