Kevin R
Instruments: Cello
Styles: Classical, Rock, Folk, R&B, Musical Theater
Kevin R
Instruments: Cello
Styles:
Classical, Rock, Folk, R&B, Musical Theater
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 10-80
No academic credentials in music Privately taught for thirty years.
None other than Performances with local orchestra and chamber ensembles
I have been playing the cello for forty years and teaching for twenty. I love helping students of all ages realize their goals of playing and performing cello music. Although I do not have an academic background in music, I have studied privately with teachers who have been members of the New York Philharmonic and Juilliard faculty. In addition to playing and performing chamber music for the past thirty years in local venues, I am also a co-founder of the American Chamber Orchestra, a community orchestra that has performed for twenty seasons and toured Europe with performances in many countries.
My teaching experience has been with both children and adults learning to play for the first time. I love getting to know a student’s interests, both musical and scholastic, and helping them overcome any obstacles that they encounter while learning to play the cello. While learning technique and rudiments is essential for any instrument, playing music that the student selects as a performance goal is at the heart of my teaching. The greatest reward for the student, in addition to the enjoyment of playing beautiful music, is creating the self-confidence to become a musician.
The golden rule of teaching music for me is to always offer a challenge that the student can manage, whether it be a very small degree of difficulty or a larger degree of difficulty. Learning is its own reward and both are essential to nurture and sustain interest in learning to play an instrument. A student’s ability to absorb and retain information is an integral part of their evolving psychological and musical maturity. So, the student’s overall context in which he or she lives their lives is important for me to understand. For example, the kind and amount of stressors that a particular student has to cope with(academics, familial, etc) are essential to properly gage the degree of challenge a student can take on. I usually use an assortment of teaching books, both for foundation building and musical expression. Suzuki methods is fine, but I do not restrict my teaching with it alone.
My teaching style is totally focused on the goals and aptitude of the student, as well as any personal matters that might interfere with the learning process. An example of the latter is a student who might have a high level of anxiety due to their past learning experiences. Every effort is made to understand the student’s anxiety, and help them overcome it, rather than add to it, in any way. Each student is utterly unique in their personality, and they are taught with this individualistic style of teaching.
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