Influential Teacher Interview
Throughout my time in school I have had two teachers who were very influential to me. Not surprisingly, they were my two high school music teachers. Donald Sills, who was my vocal teacher and who attended Western for Music Education, and Carolyn Martinelli, who was my string teacher and who also went to Western University for Music Education. I chose to interview Carolyn Martinelli as my influential teacher.
Mrs. Martinelli was my string teacher from grades 9-12. I remember coming into high school, very frightened of the rumours that you hear about how scary it is for little grade 9’s having pranks played on them on their first day of high school( but fortunately that really does only happen in the movies). Coming into here class day 1, and being in such a safe space that she created was just so comforting, and little did I know, that unbreakable bonds would be made in that very room with the students and Mrs. Martinelli. Her teaching style was unlike previous string teacher, but effective. She is patient and helpful, always wanting the best for her students and looking for opportunities for them to play outside of the classroom, at weddings, nursing homes, competitions, and community performance “gigs”. When I think back on my music journey thus far, she played a huge roll.
Some of the questions I asked Mrs.Martinelli were to tell me about her Music Education when she was younger and if she took any private lessons while she was in school. Also, I asked her what made her want to go into teaching? If it was something she wanted from when she was very young? Or if there was an influential teacher in her life that inspired her to go into teaching too? I asked her where her first teaching placement was and how she enjoyed that. Something else that I asked her during our interview was if she did anything before teaching? Like traveling or other jobs while waiting to find a placement. I asked if she had any advise for future teachers? And my final question was, what is her favourite part about teaching?
Martinelli took private piano lessons when she was young, this sprouted her love for music. She auditioned for St.Mary Choir and orchestra school in grade 4 and began there at the beginning of grade 5. As did I. At St.Mary school, you can choose which instrument you would like to play out of violin, viola, cello, and bass. She decided she wanted to play the violin. As she began learning how to play it she just hated it. She hated that she could not get it to sound the way she wanted it to, making it frustrating to practice and participate in class. But because she had a good teacher herself, and a love for music she continued onto high school, at Catholic Central High School in the String program, and began getting very good. She later auditioned for Western University where she went for The Honours Bachelor of Music Program, Music Education, to become a teacher. She really enjoyed it here and learning other instruments along the way, although she says that it was frustrating sometimes, and was not always easy, but she loved the time she spent here. So far her Music Education looks almost exactly the same to mine! She is now the Music Department head at Catholic Central High School as the String teacher and also teaches french.
Mrs. Martinelli was inspired to teacher by teachers who believed in her, and who nurtured her gifts and talents, and guided her path in skill and talent development with care and love, which is the way that she hopes she is portraying through her teaching. She was very lucky when she graduated from teachers collage, because she found a job just 3 weeks later, because of this she did not have time for any in between jobs or traveling, other than the traveling she did part time work while studying. Her first placement was at Sir Wilfred Laurier Secondary School in London Ontario. Being her first teaching position she said that there were a lot of learning opportunities for her, making small mistakes and trying to do better, but overall it was a wonderful and formative experience in her life!
Her advice for future music teacher would be to trust always in your own musicianship, and to let your love for music guide you decision making and be forefront to your teaching. She also suggests reflecting on why you do what you do, and for whom? She believes knowing these things will make all the difference for you and for your students.
Mrs. Martinelli really likes the part about teaching where there is always something new and unexpected each and every day. Because she is learning all different types of new things along the journey with her students. She says that her all time favourite thing about teaching is knowing, if only for one student, that she is able to make a difference.
Student Interview
The student that I interviewed is a student in grade five at St.George Elementary School in London Ontario. This student I had only met once before, so it was interesting to interview a someone I do not know and someone who goes to a school that I am unfamiliar to, and to hear about the music education experience in this particular elementary school. The two grade five classes from St.George came for a couple of hours for some musical games and small group improvisation and composition, and of course, pizza.
It was interesting to hear the perspective of someone who does not go to a music elementary school like I did, to hear how the music curriculum is now in a regular elementary school. Before I went to the music school, I did have a few music classes at my first elementary school where as I remember it, the teacher would stand at the front of the room, sing songs, and hope people would sing along. She had next to no control of the class and was not really concerning herself with trying to get control and educate the students. We did not do any basic music theory, and the class only took place 1 time a week. I do remember the most exciting part of the music class was in grade four when we started learning how to play the recorder, but even then, one time a week is not enough instruction to learn how to play an instrument. Of course this could have just been because of the teacher, but I was glad to hear that in other elementary schools, the curriculum is taken more seriously.
Some of the questions that I asked the student were, first of all, does she enjoy music? Either making music or listening to it or if she had other non musical hobbies? I also asked if she took any private music lessons outside of school as an extra curricular? I asked if she has any musical influences at home, for example a musical parent, that would make her want to play music or continue music further after elementary school? I also asked about the music program at her school. I asked questions like what does a typical music class look like? How many times a week is there usually a music class? Do you learn any theory such as note naming? Is there a lot of class involvement in music class? I asked if she enjoyed the music class? If they ever get the chance to play any instruments? And finally if they ever involve electronics in music class such as an iPad to substitute for an instrument? And lastly, I asked her if she knew which high school she wanted to go to? I asked this because I am quite familiar with the high schools in London, and know which ones have strong music programs and which ones do not.
The grade five student really does enjoy music, both making and listening, but usually prefers popular music that you would hear on the radio. She takes private guitar lessons outside of school and has been enjoying those lessons for three years now. On top of the guitar extra curricular, she also really enjoys playing hockey, and hopes to continue that for a long time. She told me that neither her mom or dad or any siblings have any musical ability or interest in music and that she is the only one. When asked about the music program at her school, she made a small facial expression expressing her dislike for the class. She said a typical class is the teacher putting them in groups or pairs and giving a task for possibly singing a song or making a beat of some sort, but she said that there is no theory being learned and looking at notes on a staff is not something they have worked on yet. She told me music class in usually one or two times a week and that not many students are happy when they know that music class is happening that day, and there is not a lot of full participation. She told me that soon they will be starting to learn how to play the recorder and that she was fairly excited for that, and she believes that playing the recorder might come with learning a little bit of theory when it comes to learning the notes. She told me that they have never had iPads or any other electronic in the class setting to be used as an instrument, but she thought that might be a cool idea to get her and her classmates more excited about music class seen as this generation now is growing up with cell phones and tablets from a young age. Finally I asked if she knew what high school she wanted to go to in London, to see if the one she picked has a good music program, and she chose St. Thomas Aquinas (STA), which does not have a good music program, and she even said she was not planning in taking music classes after she is done at St.George.
I was very pleased the way that the interview had gone. I was very happy to hear that the elementary music curriculum that is in this school is much better than the experience that I had in the music class at the school I went to before St. Mary’s, it is still not perfect, but better than it had been. It was nice to hear that the music class was not the only form of music instruction that this young girl was getting, fortunately she is taking private music lessons, which I am sure she will find will help her in other aspects of her life as it has done for me. I really enjoyed the interview process and hope that this girl continues to enjoy listening and playing music and maybe will find more of an interest in it down the road.