For this assignment, I interviewed Megan Wesley, my high school voice and piano teacher. She began playing piano and singing at age 9, then went on to go to an arts high school whilst taking private lessons. She received her bachelor’s degree in voice from Wilfred Laurier University and began teaching shortly after. Throughout my four years in high school, Ms. Wesley taught my voice and keyboard classes as well as directed both of the choirs I was in. As one of the most influential people in my life, she encouraged me to keep singing and helped me deepen my love for music. It is because of her that I’m in university pursuing a degree in music. 

 

      This interview was really touching and meaningful as I not only learned more about Ms. Wesley, but about myself as well. I found that She listens to a lot of top 40 pop radio, which there is nothing wrong with however, it doesn’t quite fit the stereotype of a music teacher’s taste which is generally believed to be pretentious and classical. This goes to show that no music genre is superior to another and that one can study/teach music without solely listening to classical, as some would believe. Thinking about it now, I also think that her “modern” music taste had an influence on the way she teaches and looks at music.  I will talk more about her purpose of education later in this report, however, it was very sweet and sincere. One of the most interesting parts of this interviews was finding out what is really going on inside her head after she has taught me for so long. I learned that she’s also quite proficient at the cello but decided to major in voice because she felt that that’s what she was “better at”. This is very similar to my situation, except I played the saxophone and not the cello. I learned that we are quite similar in many ways, and I realized that a lot of the times, students forget that their teachers are people like them (and were kids once!).  Through this interview I also learned about what Ms. Wesley finds most rewarding about being a teacher. Her reply was that she loves when students come back after they’ve graduated with a memory of her and also that “It’s rewarding in the end when you realize you made a difference in another person’s life.”. This question was very important to me because it also helped me learn about myself and what I might look forward to as a future teacher. The initial reason why I even thought about becoming a music educator was because I saw how much of a positive difference my music teachers like Ms. Wesley have made in my life and would love to be able to have even a fraction of that influence on someone else’s life. Hearing Ms. Wesley saying that that was the most rewarding thing for her really validated that reasoning for me and now I’m starting to think about doing education a little more seriously along with some more self-reflection. Most of all, I learned how kind and sweet of both an educator and person she is and how lucky I was to have someone like her as part of my musical journey. 

 

   Ms. Wesley made it clear what her values are as a teacher. She mentioned that she doesn’t teach to “churn out professional musicians” but to “inspire a love of music” as well as a deeper understanding of music. This was also echoed when she said that music can enrich the lives of others like no other medium can and how she wants her students to find fulfillment in playing/singing music. She doesn’t want to approach teaching in a harsh way, and in turn, reminds me of the exact opposite of Terrence Fletcher from Whiplash. Based on this interview, her purpose of education seems to encourage and inspire students while simultaneously growing their knowledge of musical topics. As a possible aspiring music educator, I would like to have the same, or a similar mindset to this going into the classroom. Ms. Wesley taught me that it’s very important to important to approach any type of education in this way, but especially arts such as music, where students are at their most vulnerable. They should be inspired and free to express themselves as musicians instead of heavily dictated in an effort to be made a “great musician”.  She feels that the latter is in fact counterproductive. Another notable thing that stuck with me was when Ms. Wesley said “I hope to expose students to styles of music they wouldn’t normally listen to, as well as looking at the kinds of music they listen to and why it appeals to them.”. This reminded me of all the talks we had in class about modern band and other similar practices encouraged in new music curriculum. As her student, I didn’t take much notice to how she incorporated “new” music into our lessons but thinking back, she did it often in the most clever ways, and her students were very engaged in her class. 

 

   In conclusion, this interview taught me a lot about both myself and Ms. Wesley. It was great look into the mind of a music teacher in 2019. I will go forward with this new information in my mind as I aspire to be a music educator as they will help me to be better.