Connecting with my high school teacher again was a pleasure and I learned so much more from this interview and got to look at things in a new light. It was interesting to be on the opposite side and hear the perspective of my teacher rather than a student. I admire all the things that my teacher told me as it was inspiring but also a bit nerve-wracking, but I appreciate the honesty and consider all the difficulties of entering this field. I look forward to applying all this information into the future whether I decide to become an educator or not.
My teacher studied at the University of Toronto and was fortunate to get a job and a high school music teacher at Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School shortly after completing his degree. He started learning trumpet at age 12 and picked up the guitar at age 10. Music was introduced early on in his life and most of it was because there was not much to do back in his days before TV and smartphones were a thing. My teacher pursued trumpet through his university years and got the opportunity to study with great teachers and applies those lessons to the ones he teaches today. I always admired how my teacher was able to connect things in his lessons through a story of musicians that he studied with and even after school when we had jazz band or senior band. One of his biggest struggles nowadays is smartphones and it is becoming more difficult to teach in general when all students have their phones attached to their face. When I was one of his students I noticed this myself and although sometimes I would be the one checking my phone it is a big distraction and takes away from learning in general.
While my teacher studied at UofT, he had the intentions of going into performance but took education courses instead because he noticed that either way he will be a performer. He participates in 2 community bands that rehearse 3 times a week and perform 3 concerts a year. I am always aware of this because I currently struggle with taking the education or performance stream myself. My teacher has switched from trumpet to Euphonium and practices guitar a lot more now. He runs a guitar class and even started to make his own guitars for the jazz course that he teaches at my old high school. Originally, when I was looking for music schools I was a big fan of Humber College for jazz, but he explained to me that he only took one jazz course in University and that allowed him to run a jazz course at the high school. This jazz course is the only one offered at the 3 main high schools in Brampton and the other 2 are art schools. My teachers hard work and passion for music always inspires me and encouraged me to go from being a follower to becoming a team leader. In grade 11 and 12 I started to get more involved and had the opportunity to run my own sectionals and run rehearsals for the junior band. This helped me to realize that music is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and after long conversations after school about how I was going to get here my teachers support is what got me through it all. We still do have long conversations about music and pros and cons of pursuing this career. The music room was my second home and the music program was one big family. My teacher encouraged us to practice and learn more, but he really let us learn by ourselves and take leadership of the bands and choirs when organizing sectionals for competition or for our concerts.
I was lucky to have gone to a school where my music teacher majored in the instrument that I was learning. I wish that I was a bit more dedicated back then and understood the lessons that he taught me because I find myself learning things here in university and kicking myself in the butt because I have heard it before. Although I did not go to an art school, I was very fortunate to learn from 2 amazing teachers that taught me lots about my instrument and voice without having any private teachers prior. They really pushed me to come to Western even though they both studied at the University of Toronto and I do not regret one bit of it.
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