I joined musiConnects in the fall of 2014. I initially read about the position opening in the late spring of that year, and I immediately sent in my application. I had actually been aware of the Boston Public Quartet and the musiConnects mission for several years prior and was really impressed and intrigued by their mission and how they were organized. So, when I saw the position posted, I was quick to apply!
I think the musiConnects model is unique, even among similar chamber-music centered education programs in other parts of the country. One of its greatest strengths is that the design of the program allows for the teachers and students to form such close bonds with each other, so you really feel like you are part of a small but tight-knit community. In this context, the teachers can connect with the students in a comprehensive way, in that they can really get to know the different and varying sides of their students, what their lives are like, what their interests are. As a teacher, the more I know about a student and the more we are comfortable with one another, the much greater chance there is of me reaching that student and teaching meaningfully, of finding that student's "frequency" that is such an important part of the student being able to assimilate new information. Not to mention, the students get to know us as well, and what our interests are ("Mr. Karl, why do you like coffee so much?"), and that can be incredibly empowering to a child.
I feel like there are too many little moments that I've had with musiConnects kids for me to write about even a portion of them, but a few stand out: One student, who I had as a private student for two years, would sometimes call me (our phone numbers are written on their binders) just to talk, and see how I was doing, and to tell me what she was doing (usually homework). This only happened two or three times, and the conversations were short, but it really felt special. I had another student, who in our first chamber music rehearsal had very inconspicuously written the word "boring" in small letters next to the title of her chamber music piece. I didn't say anything, but after a few weeks of rehearsals, I noticed she had erased the word and replaced it with, in equally small letters, the word "awesome." This student also wrote poems, and when I read one and told her how amazing it was, she came back the next week with a folded piece of paper that she handed to me, and it was a new poem she had written (its still on our fridge at home).
I think the musiConnects model is unique, even among similar chamber-music centered education programs in other parts of the country. One of its greatest strengths is that the design of the program allows for the teachers and students to form such close bonds with each other, so you really feel like you are part of a small but tight-knit community. In this context, the teachers can connect with the students in a comprehensive way, in that they can really get to know the different and varying sides of their students, what their lives are like, what their interests are. As a teacher, the more I know about a student and the more we are comfortable with one another, the much greater chance there is of me reaching that student and teaching meaningfully, of finding that student's "frequency" that is such an important part of the student being able to assimilate new information. Not to mention, the students get to know us as well, and what our interests are ("Mr. Karl, why do you like coffee so much?"), and that can be incredibly empowering to a child.
I feel like there are too many little moments that I've had with musiConnects kids for me to write about even a portion of them, but a few stand out: One student, who I had as a private student for two years, would sometimes call me (our phone numbers are written on their binders) just to talk, and see how I was doing, and to tell me what she was doing (usually homework). This only happened two or three times, and the conversations were short, but it really felt special. I had another student, who in our first chamber music rehearsal had very inconspicuously written the word "boring" in small letters next to the title of her chamber music piece. I didn't say anything, but after a few weeks of rehearsals, I noticed she had erased the word and replaced it with, in equally small letters, the word "awesome." This student also wrote poems, and when I read one and told her how amazing it was, she came back the next week with a folded piece of paper that she handed to me, and it was a new poem she had written (its still on our fridge at home).