Taylor P  
Instruments: Voice, Recorder
Styles: Classical, Pop, Musical Theater, Opera, Spirituals

My teaching experiences started when I was asked to direct my middle and high school choirs my senior year of high school. As I continued into my collegiate music education career, I gave on-campus voice lessons to elementary and middle school students in the community while becoming a student choral director for my university's mixed choral ensemble. Throughout these teaching experiences, I've learned that a consistent schedule and making practicing fun are the most important aspects to creating real, tangible, and enjoyable progress. Regular practice, especially for younger students, is essential as it helps to create a progressive connection to their instrument. I've found that selecting music WITH my student, and not just assigning work that I want them to like, goes a long way in helping students enjoy singing and motivates them to practice and continue to learn. While my students are encouraged to enter competitions and recitals, my priority above all is to make sure students are having fun in their lessons (otherwise I'm not doing my job!).

My teaching philosophies primarily support the concepts of culturally responsive/sustaining and learner-centered pedagogies. Regardless of age or skill, I always prioritize what the student WANTS to learn and what music they resonate with most. In our first few lessons, outside of me getting to know your voice and skill level, together we create a list of music you know, music you'd like to learn, and music you dream of singing. This gives us tangible goals and milestones that help students feel more fulfilled and successful when we get there. For the other half of my philosophy, a culturally response/sustaining approach generally means that I encourage students to choose music that means something to them; whether its music in a language they know, music from their culture or a culture they want to learn more about. This kind of approach helps to refine a student's musicianship by utilizing the connection they already have to the music. For children, I like to use music they're already familiar with so I can gauge what elements of music they're strong in, as well as what we can work on in our lessons. Using games, flash-cards, and charts work best to teach singing concepts to children in an engaging, organic way. For young/adults, the learner-center approach comes into play more, as I can have more balanced dialogues that guide my instruction accordingly.