teaching experience

1998
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Franciscolink
Teacher of cello

Community Music Center, Capp St., San Franciscolink
Teacher of cello and comprehensive musicianship

1994-1997
Academia Nacional Superior de Música, Lisbon
Professor of Cello, Chamber Music and Sight-reading

Escola Nacional de Música, Lisbon

Educational programs in schools throughout Portugal

1992-1994
Morley College London, Centre for Young Musicians
music teacher in 7 inner city schools and holiday courses

1994
Grant recipient, Pan-European Music Project, Manor School, London

1994
London Arts Board Grant recipient, workshops on Creativity in Music

1987-1998
Private Teaching, cello and theory

My experience in teaching has included both cello instruction and general music and musicianship teaching. I have 15 years experience in cello teaching at all levels, from three year old beginners to college majors. I have also had the opportunity to write and receive grants for some specific teaching projects involving special-needs children.

As a member of a professional chamber orchestra in Lisbon, Portugal, my work included weekly school concerts with string quartet, lecture recitals, and teaching. I was responsible for a high-powered orchestral excerpt class for audition preparation, as well as sight-reading classes and a technique clinic. Besides the college classes, we had a fast growing music school for children, where I taught beginners and worked with the "mini-orchestra" on a cello extravaganza.

In London, I was a peripatetic music teacher for primary schools. The curriculum combined an introduction to basic musical concepts with my own creative approach to composition and improvisation. Western and non-Western instruments were explored, reflecting the diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds of the student body. The classes were usually one semester, with follow-up intensive holiday courses that included public performances.

I was awarded a generous London Arts Board grant for my proposal of three workshops intended for high-school children, based on examining the relationship between science and music. My belief is that creativity is the same whether applied to free music making or rigorous scientific problem solving. There seems to be a wide gap between those children who love to improvise, feel able to make music but not concentrate on "real work", and those children who are comfortable with the sciences but are unable to enjoy their innate ability to "create" music. The workshops I developed were based on "Patterns," "Vibrations," and "Mind and Body." Each session brought together children with different skills and demonstrated how creativity can be used both to understand scientific concepts and compose, practice and perform a musical piece. When I left England, the project was taken over by the "Arts Catalyst," who received additional grants to keep the workshops running another three years.

Together with the head of music at a school for children with severe learning difficulties, I produced a music/theater project based on "Where the Wild Things Are." I wrote the music, directed the children and rehearsed with them. It was deeply moving to watch these children, many of whom were struggling with basic language skills, channel their energy into an artistic adventure. The success of this project led to a European grant to share our accomplishment with children in Switzerland, Austria and Croatia, fostering communication between children growing up under unusually difficult situations, whether at home or in war-torn territories.

In my private cello teaching, I emphasize the enjoyment of searching for solutions to problems both technical and musical. I love to see students enhance their listening skills and learn to rely on their own ear as their best teacher. Whereas there are certainly some children who are destined for a professional career in music, I feel that study of an instrument can benefit any child and bring out qualities that are fundamental to a complete education: physical engagement in a challenging activity, listening, discussion, collaboration, endurance and exhilaration.

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