Karen Fincher

Biography

Karen Fincher is a native Texas musician, singer, teacher and pianist. She has studied with excellent musicians like Joseph M. Martin, Dr. Caia McCullar, Dr. David Guess, Dr. Micheal Houlahan and Dr. Philip Tacka. She has also performed under the baton of Ryan Heller, Dr. Craig Hella Johnson and Dr. James Morrow.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in December of 1999, and a Master of Music Education with a Concentration in Kodaly Pedagogy from Texas State University in August of 2017.

Prior to coming to Ridgeview in the Fall of 2017, Mrs. Fincher has 11 years of music teaching experience at Old Town Elementary, Fern Bluff Elementary, and Pond Springs Elementary, Deerpark Middle and Grisham Middle Schools in Round Rock ISD, and Dessau Middle School in Pflugerville ISD. Her passion for making music with students and leading them to be independent, literate musicians drives her instruction.

Philosophy of Music Education

Everyone can sing! Singing is a skill made up of many component skills, which can be taught and learned by anyone. Breath, posture, articulation, tongue placement, and the position of the soft palate are muscle-memory functions that a singer can adjust for improved performance.

Reading music is also a skill that can be learned by anyone. The human brain is wired for language acquisition. The way a brain learns language is the way it needs to learn music. Young children hear their native language for years before they read a single letter or word, yet much of the time music is not presented this way. A teacher shows a child a symbol and tells him what it is, and is surprised when the child is frustrated because he cannot successfully read the music.

My approach, consistent with the Kodály pedagogy philosophy, is to present music concepts kinesthetically, aurally, and visually after a student has had a very long time experiencing the concept through singing and listening, and even playing games. In this way, he learns the name of what he has heard for weeks (or years), and was already attuned to isolate through kinesthetic, aural and visual awareness activities. He is not confused, but enthused! The sound comes before the symbol for learning to be successful.