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ESSAY 1- Observation of my teaching-

Dimitrije Vasiljevic

During the Fall 2015 semester, I as teaching a !a"" #eyboar$class for non-%iano majors& 'his as a lab class ith 12 available seatsan$ it as full& 'he goal of this glass as to %resent the main ja""%iano conce%ts an$ techni(ues to un$ergra$uate ja"" major stu$entsho mostly ha$ beginner to interme$iate )nole$ge of ja"" theory an$%ractice, but hose main instrument asn*t %iano& In my class, besi$eun$ergra$uate stu$ents, I also ha$ 2 master*s ja"" major stu$ents hogot a %ermission at the beginning of the semester to register for thisclass& 'hese to stu$ents* ja"" %iano s)ills ere signi+cantly a$vance$in com%arison to the rest of the class, so it %ose$ a certain challengefor me to create a goo$ balance of the materials %resente$ in the aythat these a$vance$ stu$ents get engage$ an$ still manage not tooverhelm the rest of the stu$ents ith a %rogram that is too$eman$ing for them& evertheless, I successfully manage$ to +n$ theright balance& It is im%ortant to mention that, in any music career, thebasic )nole$ge of %iano is crucial for many activities that are %art of abigger musical %icture for e.am%le / music teachers nee$ %iano s)illsas ell as con$uctors, arrangers, vocalists, im%rovisers, com%osers,etc 'herefore, even though I as trying not to be too $eman$ing ingeneral since this class is not the most im%ortant %art of their non-%ianist music $egree, I still trie$ to maintain a high level ofe.%ectation& During the semester, e ha$ %erformance e.ams an$ a+nal e.am& In each of these e.ams inclu$ing the +nal, the amountan$ level of material, as ell as criteria for gra$ing ere gettinggra$ually higher, hich shoe$ goo$ results at the en$ of semester&3ince many non-%ianists ten$ to e.%ress a certain an.iety an$ fearover their +rst ste%s in learning to %lay the %iano es%ecially hen itcomes to chor$s an$ chor$ voicings, this gra$ual 4raising of the baras necessary an$ elcome$ by many stu$ents&

3ince ja"" is a s%eci+c musical subject that, hile %ossesses astrong theoretical foun$ation, is still mostly an aural an$ im%rovisatoryart, I $i$n*t use any te.tboo) for my teaching& 6ccor$ing to theagreement ith my a$visor, %rofessor !ohn 47hi% 3te%hens, I base$my teaching u%on the conce%ts he suggeste$ oul$ be a%%ro%riate forthis class, the ones I alrea$y )ne an$ ha$ a$o%te$ an$ use$e.tensively in my career as a ja"" %ianist an$ com%oser& 6gain, ja"" isvery s%eci+c because, in or$er to teach it, you really nee$ to, not justtheoretically )no it, or have it learne$ yourself at school, but reallya$o%t it through life e.%eriences, %erformances an$ %ersonal e8ort,

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until it becomes your secon$ nature& 'herefore, as a teacher youalmost never nee$ to organi"e notes for yourself, remin$ers, gui$esan$ similar things because you )no your material so ell, that italmost feels li)e a %art of your %ersonality& It rarely ha%%ens that you$on*t have an anser for a stu$ent*s (uestion, an$ even if that

ha%%ens, you )no ho to e.%lain things aroun$ that %articular%roblem in or$er to solve the issue an$ give the $escri%tive anserthat can still hel% the stu$ent& 6ll this is very im%ortant to )no henit comes to establishing criteria $uring the e.am %erio$& !a"" is, by itsnature, a style that re(uires a %ersonal a%%roach from the %erformer,an$ hile still )ee%ing common musical rules, $evelo% his or her onsoun$ that ill $i8er from everyone else*s& In this light, I trie$ tores%ect the in$ivi$uality an$ %ersonal touch of a stu$ent, in each of theto%ics e covere$ throughout the semester, in both classes an$e.ams& For e.am%le, if e ere %laying a blues, I oul$ s%en$ a classor to e.%laining the conce%ts an$ use of a blues form, chor$s, scales

an$ feel, but oul$ also encourage every stu$ent to $evelo% their ona%%roach to the blues an$ see if they can come u% ith a ay ofa%%lying these fresh a%%roaches to a system I shoe$ them& In thisay they starte$ $evelo%ing both / a strong theoretical foun$ation of ato%ic e ere $oing at the moment, an$ a creative a%%roach to ho itis su%%ose$ to be $one& 9oreover, it is im%ortant to mention that everystu$ent ha$ his or her on set of hea$%hones an$ micro%hones, asell as myself, hich alloe$ me to hear them %lay the e.ercises eere $oing in class in a %rivate fashion& 'hat hel%e$ a lot of them tofeel more rela.e$ an$ avoi$ the feeling of an.iety that coul$ be%resent because of %laying the material they are not very familiar ith,

in front of the others& :oever, from time to time, hen I felt thateveryone in the class has a$vance$ to a level that they can smoothly%lay a certain to%ic, I oul$ tell them to turn their s%ea)ers on an$ta)e turns in %laying that to%ic o%enly, or %lay it ith each other ingrou%s or $uets& 'his shoe$ great results because it gave them theo%%ortunity to com%are their versions of a to%ic to those of theircolleagues an$ actually learn from one another&

'he challenges I encountere$ hile teaching this class ere notmany& One of them as the fact that all the stu$ents in the class ereactually my %eers an$ frien$s from the ja"" $e%artment hom I %laye$

an$ as frien$ ith both in an$ out of the school& Initially, it as har$to set the tone an$ %ace of the class an$ to 4sitch from being afrien$ an$ fello musician outsi$e the class to being their teacher an$authority insi$e the class& 'he +rst thing that hel%e$ me here as thefact that all of them shoe$ a high level of res%ectfulness an$ havenever really ta)en a$vantage of this fact& 'he other thing as that theyreally ante$ to learn hat I as shoing them an$ they all )ne this

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tas) coul$ be ell achieve$ only if they trust my metho$s an$ $o hatI tell them to $o&

6nother challenge as the one here my teaching a$visor 9r&;ucas 6n$erson hel%e$ me a lot ith& :e atten$e$ an$ observe$ my

class an$ notice$ that I ha$ a lot of 4$ontime hich ha%%ene$mainly because hile I ha$ one stu$ent %lay for me using thehea$%hones, other 11 stu$ents oul$ ait for their turn an$ get bore$&9r& 6n$erson suggeste$ I shoul$ give the rest of the class hat to $o,hile I am listening to one stu$ent, hich I $i$ an$ it shoe$on$erful results& 9r& 6n$erson also %ointe$ out that he li)e$ my %acean$ style of teaching, my use of a chal)boar$ an$ ho I ma$e theclass fun, yet very informative& In %rivate a$vising sessions ith hime $iscusse$ some $etails or (uestions that I ha$ an$ ere relate$ to%articular stu$ents* nee$s an$ behaviors& :e*s alays hel%e$ me ithhis insights an$ some e.am%les from his big teaching e.%erience&