From group guitar and family piano, to choir performance and musical theater, my experience teaching all ages and abilities ranges from the highly trained music student to the novice adult looking for a hobby. My teaching methods strive to allow students room to “discover” concepts for themselves from a hands-on and personalized perspective, and my professional development workshops are similarly structured.
Please feel free to explore my open-source educational resources at the bottom of the page!
HIGHER ED
In addition to my teaching assistantships grading online courses, conducting ensembles and leading combos, I’ve had the opportunity to lecture in graduate and undergraduate courses explaining the links between music and tangential subjects like education, business & industry, advocacy for public policy, and the effect of musicians’ lifestyles on their careers. This has led to my presenting new ideas to the community like “The Holistic Musician” to students in Music Business courses, a graduate lesson plan on Charter School policy rhetoric, and a music production workshop for adults: Post-Retro, an interactive workshop for composers and producers exploring and analyzing the progression of video game music.
Secondary School
During my time as a privately contracted itinerant music director and lessons instructor, I taught a wide range of middle- and high-school ensembles and students at many different schools with various backgrounds. This gave me a unique insight into common themes and trending challenges across east coast music education systems, and has helped me develop a broad perspective on music teaching that I feel is crucial for today’s conditions in education and the arts. I am always searching for ways to improve and expand my knowledge base and practices - my certificates from the National Federation of State High School Associations can be found here.
Primary School
Having taught numerous PreK-8th grade group classes & ensembles, I engaged with students from many different backgrounds and varying programs. I noticed that parents would go through the same cycle of trying out music lessons, investing in a specific instrument, only to have their student become frustrated or tire of that instrument and want to move on to something else a few months into the school year. My introductory curriculum instead allows young students to “explore” the instrument families by trying out a number of primer instruments in one course. I’ve adapted the course to fit a week-long, 8 week, or full semester program. Here is my “Instrument Explorer” curriculum, along with a budget and teaching resources.
Teaching Resources
Below are examples of teaching resources I’ve created for Pre-K through higher education. Included are instrumental lesson aides, ear training worksheets, diversity and inclusion tools and more. Feel free to use these resources in your own practices, or email me at saxamassima@gmail.com for more info.
