"Teaching is not transferring knowledge, but creating possibilities for its own production or construction"

Paulo Freire

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          As an educator, I recognize the importance of teaching students, who, beyond being passive recipients, actively integrate into the learning process, prioritizing their autonomy and ability to build and create their own path. My goal as a teaching artist is to provide tools and resources for students to develop their skills and more than anything to recognize their own artistic, musical, technical, and above all human value.

       

         To provide a good experience in class, I start from the statement that learning is sharing, trying to involve the student as much as possible in activities that generate critical reflections. I seek to implement methods in constant renewal and enrichment, facing the evolution of the school period, and of course, maintaining an active and updated methodology, facing the social and geographical environment in which we find ourselves, both the teacher as well as students.

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          I believe that an educator must strive to expand diversity with a more inclusive approach – welcoming and embracing different socioeconomic, ethnic, and gender groups, etc. – and create a broader pool of thought processes and worldviews. I had the opportunity of working in different educational programs in different communities where I fine-tuned my ability to listen and individualize instruction to students from varying backgrounds.

 

          I focus on materials and methods that can engage a broad cross-section of people in greater Los Angeles, across the United States, and throughout the world. I choose texts and repertoire written by diverse contributors, which are aimed at students with a range of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. For instance, as a CalArts faculty, I taught Practical Musicianship in an online modality, adapting and creating creative class content and activities for this virtual space. I include broader examples from varied genres (popular culture, urban music, folklore, etc), and exercises from wider bodies of knowledge beyond the European context. Students learn actively by participating and bringing their own examples. I also taught Composing for Experimental Pop, with a syllabus structured by global topics (rhythm, technology, songwriting) that students engage through global examples. I adapt to teaching in a wide range of settings, with a diversity of languages, and cultures.
 
          Finally, I am open to exploring online and hybrid teaching resources since it has the potential to offer a complementary experience to all students and faculty. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has made enormous strides in equity and inclusion by making classes and activities far more accessible than ever before. It is imperative that educational institutions lead the way in making this accessibility permanent and focus on refining and improving it, rather than revert to our previously exclusionary and ableist methods.