The Mindful Music Approach
Mindful Music is a vision, a method and a belief system that I live by as a teacher.
A three pillar philosophy centered around the skills and values I hope to instill in my students. Regardless of if my students pursue music long term, my goal is for them to learn the tools that will help them excel at anything they choose and achieve their dreams.
Autonomy
Children must not be taught what to think, they must be taught how to think.
- Margaret Mead
I believe that kids should be fully seen and heard. For who they are and not who adults think they should be. I believe everything is a choice. I hold the space for my students to be who they are, explore, discover, share their ideas and strengthen their independent thinking. My goal is for my students to feel empowered, capable and free. Everything else is built upon this pillar.
Awareness
Raise your awareness and share your uniqueness to the world.
- Amit Ray
It is often said that the first step in solving any problem is knowing that a problem exists. I would expand this to say - the first step in doing anything is to know what is currently going on. Let alone do anything at a high level. Awareness - simply to notice. The ability to separate and reflect on what you notice. I have been able to copy and paste this to all other areas of my life and hope the same for my students. The second pillar of my teaching - paired with autonomy - my goal is for my students to independently notice what is happening, why and choose from there what they’d like to do. Conscious choices of their own based in awareness of their current reality.
Expression
Music is what feelings sound like out loud. I sing songs that speak from my heart. They tell my story, how I feel.
- Georgia Cates
To me, music is story telling. Like any art. Telling a story to connect, create empathy and share the oneness of others, of the world. This third pillar of my teaching allows my students to put the first two - their own ideas and awareness, out into the world. The ability to effectively express emotions and ideas is needed in our world and music is a wonderful place to learn how. I teach my students how to convey the emotions they feel are appropriate for their pieces and how to convey the composer’s story and ideas. Pairing the ideas of self expression and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes - empathy in real time.
I imagine a world. A world where people are themselves. Where they notice, pause and decide. Where people listen, understand, express, and communicate regardless of the content being sent or received. Where we honor our own stories and the stories of others.
Music is my medium.
Let’s heal the world.
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Inspirations on music and life, which turns out, are the same thing. I respect your time, inbox and privacy. Unsubscribe at anytime.
