Teaching
I have experience teaching in the studio, collegiate, and K-12 setting and consider myself to be a flexible and adaptable educator. Although I am a cellist by training, I also feel comfortable in the general music, choral, and band setting. I infuse many elements of musicality into my teaching in an attempt to foster a whole musician.
Interested in lessons? Contact me!
K-12 Teaching
I currently hold a K-12 Initial Music License in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and will soon be transferring my license to the state of Illinois. I have completed student teaching placements in middle school chorus and general music and high school orchestra classes. I enjoy working with middle and high school students as they explore their deeper interests in music and discover themselves as musical beings. I try to challenge them to think critically and take creative risks while developing their musicianship.
Collegiate Teaching
In the two years I spent teaching undergraduate musicology, I infused composition, performance, theory, and history into my lessons. Connecting skills that students already feel comfortable with to the historical content they are learning to help students understand the relevance and impact of course content is a key goal. When working with future music educators, I encourage students to think about the systems and structures they will be a part of in the future and why we might wish to be reflective in our practice. I enjoy thinking about music at the collegiate level as interconnected, not segmented. I endeavor to model this in my teaching, from fundamentals of musicology to history and philosophy of music education.
“Sophie was an incredible teacher, she made me feel very comfortable and took the time to explain any point I needed help with. She gave me the confidence to start playing the cello as an adult and helped me achieve distinctions in both my grade one and two”
Private Cello Student
Lesson Plans
Sample Lesson Plans for K-12 and Collegiate Teaching. A PDF lesson plan can be found linked in the text and slides on the graphic.