Students at my school are now being asked to write their "philosophy" of music to present at their juries so I thought it would be good for me to update mine.

Music is the one language that is universal to every culture of the world. It is the one form of communication everyone can understand to some level, and it gives us a way to relate to other cultures. It is even the first form of communication in history. While not everyone will be, or should be, trained as a professional musician everyone can relate in some way through music. This is why, as a musician, I am first and foremost a communicator. I communicate with my audience how I feel about the piece I am performing. If I have performed a piece the way I expect to the audience should be left with some form of emotion. It can be anger, sadness, joy or any other feeling but they must feel something.

I believe that music is an art form and should be treated as such. Too often in our society we look for that which is easily understood but I think that often leads to a lack of depth in our work. I always strive to make sure that any work I perform exists on more than just the surface level. This doesn’t mean that all music has to be so complex that an audience cannot follow it, but it has to have more to it than what you first hear. It is then my job as the performer to communicate the different levels to the audience. While they may not at first like, or understand, what they have heard I hope that they at least will be intrigued by the some aspect of the music. If we perform challenging music with passion that will always be more appreciated by an audience than more accessible music performed without passion.

Passion is what should drive every musician. I often ask students how passionate they are about music. Can they live without making music? Is it their life or just something they like doing? To be a successful musician it must be your life! While one will have family, friends and other hobbies music cannot be treated as a hobby by a professional musician. It has to be what drives them daily.

As a teacher I have many roles: advocate; coach; psychiatrist; advisor; cheerleader; critic; mentor; challenger. It is my job to determine how to fill each of these roles in a different way for every student. But what thing must always remain constant: my high expectations. I believe it is true that the lower the expectation is set the easier it is for the student to do just enough to get there. While often my goals may seem “lofty” or even unreachable part of the journey is making the effort to get there. Not everyone will but anyone who tries will be better for it. As a teacher I have high expectations for myself also, as I must do everything in my power to help a student reach their professional goal. That is what my teachers did for me when I was a student and I would not be where I am today without that challenge and guidance.