I strive to build a comfortable learning environment for all students that encourages creativity, open-mindedness and self expression.
Music has always been an avenue for me to experience and appreciate the richness and beauty of various cultures of the world...
Knowing first hand the vital role of music in the expression of cultural identity, I make every effort to provide lessons which will leave all students feeling represented and which will expand their cultural horizons.
Music has always been an avenue for me to experience and appreciate the richness and beauty of various cultures of the world. Music has held incredible importance in my life since my early childhood. As an infant, I danced to Latin American music in Paraguay where I was born. As a young child, I learned to sing the folk songs of Ireland, Syria, and Lebanon--taught to me by my adoptive parents and grandparents--and though my teenage years, passing the time singing along with the sounds of '60s Motown and the British Invasion during long car rides to and from my grandmother's house.
Growing up, I learned the saxophone in my school's band program. I thrived in the world of concert band, eventually becoming drum major of the town marching band. Studying classical saxophone led me to intimately appreciate the art music of Europe, particularly France. In middle school I independently took up the guitar, which soon became my primary instrument and the vehicle through which I fell in love with Afro-American art forms such as jazz and blues. By high school, I sang in the school chorus as well as in the choir at my local orthodox church where I got first hand experience singing the music of Greece and Russia. While in college, I immersed myself in Eastern practices such as meditation and yoga, where once again music served as an entry point to deepen both my practice and my love for the cultures which developed them. Knowing first hand the vital role of music in the expression of cultural identity, I make every effort to provide lessons which will leave all students feeling represented and which will expand their cultural horizons.
I have been tremendously fortunate to have experienced a lifetime grounded in songwriting and musical performance which informs my teaching.
Drawing upon these experiences, I strive to empower my students to make their own unique forms of music by teaching them a variety of hands-on skills and techniques.
I have been tremendously fortunate to have experienced a lifetime grounded in songwriting and musical performance which informs my teaching. While in high school I also took lessons in formal musical composition and arranging for band under my band director's father, Peter Glass. He taught me how to write a musical score and encouraged me to write my own music in a classical setting. While under his instruction I got 2nd and 3rd place for my original compositions at the South Eastern District of the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Composition Competition. This skill continues to prove invaluable to me in my teaching career as I regularly write arrangements of music for my general music classes and my performing ensembles.
I started my own r&b/funk band in high school, Stranger's Hand, which I performed with for many years. Our time together culminated in the recording of a full length album of all original music, a process that taught me indispensable lessons about the process of bringing one's own musical ideas to life.
Throughout my life I have always actively performed music in diverse settings, from collegiate performances with the UMass Amherst Symphony Band in Carnegie Hall and the UMass Marching Band in Gillette Stadium, to present day restaurant venues on acoustic guitar. Drawing upon these experiences, I strive to empower my students to make their own unique forms of music by teaching them a variety of hands-on skills and techniques.
In my career as a teacher, I have learned to make connections with students and adapt to a wide variety of challenges.
As someone who believes that all people deserve the opportunity to learn music, working with these students has been a truly humbling and rewarding part of my career.
In my career as a teacher, I have learned to make connections with students and adapt to a wide variety of challenges. From 2018 to 2021, I served as as the choral director and one of the two general music teachers at Northbridge Middle School. While there, I have grown into an educator confident in engaging with students and helping them to thrive in the face of real life challenges.
In these first few years of teaching, I have developed strong communication between students and families, making sure that I set clear and high expectations for their success.
Beyond teaching traditional chorus and general music, we have had blocks of our day explicitly set aside to provide music for students with special learning needs, worked with these students in settings integrated with other students, and worked with students for whom English is a second language. As someone who believes that all people deserve the opportunity to learn music, working with these students has been a truly humbling and rewarding part of my career.
I believe strongly in a culture of collaboration.
Sharing ideas with other educators has become a central aspect of my teaching practice.
I believe strongly in a culture of collaboration, and I have maintained a strong partnership with my fellow music teacher Joseph Goguen, who co-taught jazz band with me and with whom I have coordinated combined band and chorus performances. I have also co-taught extended learning blocks where I created interdisciplinary curriculum with teachers from other subjects, deepening their connection to material from other classes and incorporating their outside knowledge into my own lessons. I have also worked with the highschool, playing parts at their performances and worked sound for the school drama club during their musicals. Sharing ideas with other educators has become a central aspect of my teaching practice.
Social emotional learning is an indispensable part of education.
This emphasis on deepened self understanding and the ability to connect with each other is more relevant than ever.
Overcoming the challenges of remote learning has led me to developing a robust and highly structured approach to teaching which will be with me my entire lifetime.
Education is both a window into our own experiences and a mirror into the experiences of others. (Style, 1988)
Social emotional learning is an indispensable part of education. I have taught advisory classes to foster the social and emotional needs of my students and developed lessons designed to help students express the complex feelings they have through music. This emphasis on deepened self understanding and the ability to connect with each other is more relevant than ever.
Some of the earliest stages of my teaching career were spent adapting to the challenges of teaching in the midst of a global pandemic. I have experience not only adapting my general music lessons to remote, hybrid, and I person models of learning, but also in coordinating and editing together virtual concerts with my performing ensembles. Additionally, I have helped my school in the transition to hybrid by proctoring and substitute teaching classes which were in need of staffing due to the pandemic, as well as providing other services such as monitoring hallways and guiding students to and from classes. Overcoming these challenges have led me to developing a robust and highly structured approach to teaching which will be with me my entire lifetime.
When obtaining my master’s degree in music education at Boston University, I engaged with scholarship that refined and strengthened the beliefs I already held— namely that education should be student-centered, providing opportunities for all learners to develop autonomy, collaborate, find meaning in their lives, and positively contribute to the world around them. To paraphrase Emily Style (1988): Education is both a window into our own experiences and a mirror into the experiences of others.
I look forward to continuing to be an active member and sharing the joy of music in the communities in which I teach.
I have had the joy of being part of and contributing to the Northbridge and Salem communities at large. I have staffed important fundraisers, organizing our students to perform music for town events, and taken field trips down to the elementary schools to play music for younger students, re-establishing instrumental and choral music programs, created brand new electives, and helping students gain admittance to schools of their choice to purse careers in music . I look forward to continuing to be an active member and sharing the joy of music in the communities in which I teach.