Music is a part of everyone's life in some shape or form. Anyone can learn music if they have the desire to learn. Music education is not about one's age, skill, or "natural talent". One of the things I gravitate towards the most with music is its ability to be a universal language, allowing people to have an outlet where they can feel free to be themselves without bias or exclusion, as well as being able to process and feel complicated emotions. 

Assignments in music should generate positive residue so that students can look back on their experiences with music and have valuable and fond memories. I want my lessons to not only challenge the way students think about music but to broaden their perspective of how music is vital to the world. I want students to make connections between the music they interact with in my classroom and push the boundaries of how music can enhance their lives, short-term, and long-term.

One aspect of music education that I am passionate about is incorporating wellness into the music classroom. This includes providing resources for vocal and physical health as it relates to performing and practicing music, as well as finding new ways to build social-emotional learning in the classroom. I want to serve as an advocate for my students, listening to them and their needs. I will advocate for them necessary, but I also want to teach them the importance of standing up for themselves and making difficult decisions if it means that they will be better supported and fulfilled in their education. I will think critically about the field of music as well as my classroom to find new and creative ways to make the classroom more welcoming, beneficial, and inclusive to all who enter it (such as including a diverse range of activities and repertoire).  

I want my students to have a wide range of music knowledge and have time to formulate their own opinions and perspectives on music and any assignments they may complete in my class. I want my students to interact with music in all of these ways so that they can have a greater understanding of what it means to be a “musician”. I want my students to use what they learn in my class and apply it to other aspects of their life, including other subjects and/or their lives outside of the classroom, making the knowledge interdisciplinary. 

My role as a teacher is to learn with the students, allowing them to express to me their interests and passions so that I can incorporate them into the curriculum. Students are always my top priority and I love finding new ways to put them at the center of every lesson, every unit, and every class. I want to grow with my students; as they learn more about themselves through music, I will do the same. I want to use every teaching opportunity as a way to reflect on how far I have come as an educator and how I can improve to better serve my students.