Teaching Philosophy

Why Music "Appreciation?" Well...there are many definitions of the word "appreciate:" (according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

• to grasp the nature, worth, quality, or significance of

• to value or admire highly

• to judge with heightened perception or understanding : be fully aware of

• to recognize with gratitude

Given these definitions, that's what we're going to explore in this class. Listening to music from all eras, admiring it, understanding it more deeply, raising our perception of what we hear. And, to make things even more interesting, we're going to connect music from the past to music of the present (and future) by exploring music as it relates to different THEMES, rather than a chronological survey of long-gone composer's music. We'll be exploring music as it relates to story-telling, nationalism and politics, entertainment, spiritualism, movement and dance - in a sense, exploring how music is USED in our world and culture, and why it was written that way. You'll come to understand that music is a living, breathing thing that is constantly changing to better reflect our world and our lives.

As part of our weekly exploration of this music, we'll be sharing live musical performances on a weekly basis that relate to the themes mentioned above.

To get an idea of the kinds of live performance you will hear, check out the current concert calendar by scanning the QR code below!