Cello with Corey A.

For over 30 years it’s been an honor to serve students learning to play a stringed instrument. Teaching is a passion for me. My primary instrument is cello, and secondary instruments are violin, and bass. I’ve been lucky to have studied cello with Hamilton Cheifetz, Stephanie McDougal, Yo Yo Ma, Hans Jurgen Jensen, Carter Brey, and Dorthy Crow (on violin). I attended Tanglewood Institute in 1987, and Congress of Strings in 1988 both on full scholarships. Additionally, I was fortunate to win the Oregon State Solo Contest on Cello in 1986, and 1987. I can recall being asked as early as 1980 as I attended Forest Hills Elementary School what I might do as an adult. I had an immediate answer “I’m going to be a cellist and teach music”. Even from the very beginning I had no doubt what I was here to do. Not once have I strayed from the love I have for music. There is a picture of me in my grade school yearbook with me walking at school carrying the cello in its case on my head. I’m not sure why I remember that, but it sticks with me. Being a good teacher is all about learning how to communicate with different learners. Understanding that each of us receives information in our own unique way. I am a fantastic communicator! I observe what works with each student, how they are feeling, and identify what interests them musically. Stringed instruments are not only instruments of sound but of physical vibration, which is felt throughout the body. I will often ask a student why they choose this instrument, and many times a reply is something to the effect of ‘I like the way it feels when I play it.’ I remember being surprised by this response initially, but then realized music is more than just the sound we create. Later, around the age of 17, my grandfather advised me not to go into music. He told me that through the long hours of work associated with being a good musician you might lose the love for it. I can remember thinking this was absurd. I wanted to be a musician and that was that! On a certain level he was correct. There are many peaks and valleys in a musician's life. At times I’ve been on top of the world and loved everything about the instrument and music. Then of course, there were months where I thought I made a mistake. I like to share these stories, because I believe it is natural to experience these ups and downs. Playing an instrument is much like having a relationship with another human being. As I finished my college years, I can remember asking my cello instructor (this was right before my jury) ‘how do you teach a cello lesson?’ He smiled and laughed and said ‘I don’t know’. Even to this day, I’m stunned by his response. In reflection, I think he was saying that I needed to figure it out. By that time, I had already spent 12 years in lessons. I understood the basic flow of a lesson and what needed to be covered. What a journey it is to learn how to learn how to teach. It is an interesting process to identify how a person learns. Some need to be physically shown a concept, others need to see it, some need to hear, and some even need to feel the extreme opposite of what you are trying to teach. My first teacher called this the use of extremes. In teaching, I use every tool I can dream up, or that has been used on me. As we move through 2020 I have found new ways of teaching (forced upon me by Covid19). I have learned how to use technology to my advantage, how to use DA, how to use BandLab, and how to teach effectively over zoom. We can create concerts online and present them to the world. Having said all this, I still look forward to the day I can re-enter my real teaching studio and safely be with you all. I look forward to meeting many new students in the future! All my best, Corey