I interviewed my first private teacher, Donna Sykes. I started taking lessons with her in 5th grade, and continued with her until 10th grade. She was a flute teacher, and clarinet was her second instrument, which was what I was learning, but because my sister was learning flute, we went to the same teacher. I chose Donna because she really opened my eyes to the possibilities music opened up, through her enthusiasm for music and teaching. She got into music in a way that was very similar to my own story. She learned music as a child, and it became one of the only things she was passionate enough about to continue with in University.
One thing I noticed through my time knowing her, and through the interview was that she really wants her students to do well, and to have fun with music. She became a teacher because of the teaching role models she had in her life, and wanted to give back. She is very invested in her students musical lives, which is something I knew from my own lessons. Because my younger sister is still taking lessons with her, I could come and visit, and she would always be genuinely interested and excited to hear about my musical life. During the interview, I asked her about the most fulfilling part of her job. She said it was being able to see students finally understand something that they had been struggling with.
She also described how it was much easier to teach students who genuinely want to be there and want to learn their instruments. Getting students to be excited about music is her goal, and she will let them choose their projects. One thing she mentioned that felt close to home for me was talking about piano lessons. When she was a child, she didn’t want to learn piano, and it was the same with me. I quit my initial piano lessons when I was 6 and learned clarinet instead. Donna said that she believes that students should learn the instruments they’re most interested in, because then if they get really excited about music and passionate about it, they’ll understand why piano is important, and want to continue with it then.
She said the most difficult thing is to teach students who are only there because their parents want them to be there, which I found interesting, because it seems like that’s a very common reason for people to study music, especially as children. I quit my piano lessons because they were what my mom wanted for me, and I didn’t enjoy them. On the other hand, I wanted to learn clarinet. Because it was what I chose, I stayed with it for much longer than the piano. I agree with her that the most important part of teaching music is getting the student excited for music, but it can be hard to keep that in mind when you’re worried about teaching proper fingerings, embouchure or very technical things like that. She plays a lot of recordings in her classes and has an entire folder on her computer of good recordings to play for students, and I find it interesting how prepared she is to get students interested and excited about music.
I asked her about advice she has for future teachers, and she said to teach because you love teaching, and not to do it for a paycheck. I think this perfectly sums up Donna philosophy for life. She does music because she loves music, she teaches because she loves teaching, and she wants all of her students to have the same motivations. I think that that’s wise, because motivation is much more available if you’re doing something you love, and motivation can be hard for a lot of people to find. I asked her about how opportunities have opened for her or have been limited by her teaching. She said that performance opportunities were limited, but she has been able to teach at camps, schools and in some very cool places with cool people because of her teaching experience. She said at first it was hard to give up on performance opportunities. I think because she is so passionate about teaching the opportunities, she has now are more fulfilling that performances would be. I think this further illustrates how important doing what you love is.
Donna is a very special person to me, because she was the one who first got me passionate for music and set me on a journey that would shape my whole life. Being able to see how she approaches teaching was neat, because I could see how she has done that while teaching me, and how her passion has helped me become the person I am today.
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