"I believe that music, in one form or another, is within everyone. I consider it a great privilege to be someone who is given the opportunity to teach others what music has taught me. Whether it be about expressing oneself, improving communication abilities, or simply experiencing the discipline of learning new skills, studying music inherently teaches us so much about ourselves and important factors of life that everyone can use to be a prosperous contributor to our respective communities.        My own musical education began on the cello when I was 7 years old through the Suzuki Method, whose teaching motto, 'nurture with love,' is carried with me as a teacher and as a person to this day. Although my teacher wasn’t a cello player, her musical experience in classical voice, piano, and violin, transferred over enough to keep a young rambunctious kid like me interested long enough to take up composition, the piano, voice, double bass, and eventually every instrument I could get my hands on. It wasn’t long, however, before I outgrew what she could teach me and, with the overwhelming and generous support from my amazing parents, I was fortunate enough to work with a lot of different teachers in the years following.      Working with what I knew at a given time, I began to teach myself new instruments, theory, and composition from a young age. Even if what I was doing would be considered 'wrong' by most knowledgeable people, my parents provided a very healthy support system that simply encouraged me to pursue my interests further until I could understand and learn for myself the things I could do differently, things I could do better, and how to get where I wanted to go.      A significant mentor in my musical upbringing introduced me to the concept that music is a language. They would elaborate, saying that, unfortunately, music is rarely treated as such. For example, when we first learn a language as children, we attempt to replicate what we hear from the 'professional' speakers that we’re surrounded by. When a child says 'pas-ghetti' instead of 'spaghetti,' the usual response is laughter followed by the occasional jesting and something along the lines of 'aww how cute.' This response is both nurturing and encouraging. On the other hand, when a young child makes a musical mistake, the common reaction is to immediately point out the mistake and punish the child for making the mistake with verbal prodding and the typical “timeout” in an isolated practice room.      I have experienced both of these responses in multiple situations and environments throughout my musical development and can testify to the merits of teaching music as a language. Having also been taught the 'classical' way with the ill-favored culture of intense practicing, mistakes being a reflection of me as a person, etc. I can admit that there are many  benefits to be reaped there as well.            I’ve had many teachers over the years, both good and bad, and I have learned just as much, if not more, from the bad teachers as I have from the good ones. I consider one of my biggest advantages as a teacher to be the fact that I have had so much experience with so many teachers, each of which came from a different background, different methodology, and with differing degrees of efficacy with their various pupils.      Music is a language and I aim to teach it like one to the best of my ability. If I had to put it into one sentence, however, I would say that my overall personal goal and philosophy as a teacher is to teach myself out of a job. If I can heuristically teach my students musical fundamentals and, therefore, fundamental skills that are applicable to all aspects of life, all while teaching them how to teach themselves, I would consider that to be a great success, both for myself and for my students."