Charles S.

My inspiration for teaching came from several areas. First, I played in a lot of piano recitals, so I know what it means to teach in front of an audience. I get inspired every time I play a piece. Next, I also saw a lot of master classes in piano and voice, where several teachers do different styles of lecturing. Ballroom dance also helped me to be inspired by teaching. I had been under several ballroom dance teachers and I can understand their different teaching methods and procedures. I also know that there is a great correlation of ballroom dance to music because this dance form has many cultures of music. I was thinking of creating a new class on ballroom dance music not for people to dance--but to listen to--as part of a music appreciation course.

Also, with my strong musical training, I was able to teach one student salsa dancing in only 40 minutes, and another student ballroom and swing dancing in about 45 minutes. Finally, I was able to show a samba rhythm on the conga drums to a drum circle group. John Barry, a Spanish teacher from Roosevelt University of Chicago, was my biggest inspiration for teaching. This was because when he teaches, he doesn't just use a blackboard and a lecture to teach people. He often uses other ways, especially music, to get students to enjoy learning. Finally, my last inspiration for teaching was being in a doctoral program at the University of Illinois. It was like an internship in knowing how to research and do lecture-style teaching which included instrumental performance as well. When I successfully completed the program, my teaching ability became very strong. As a teacher, I want to make the students feel more at ease about the intricacies of music, and help them to figure out the best way to deal with musical problems that will help their confidence.