Nicholas Feigenbaum

More than anything, I love music and sharing it with others. This drives me to be the best musician, performer, educator and mentor I can be. I believe that for any student, music can be a powerful and meaningful experience that can guide their creative, cognitive and social-emotional development.
 

As an educator, I am primarily a progressivist but also believe in the ideas of critical pedagogy and social reconstructionism. I identify strongly with James Mursell’s progressivist Principles of Music Education (1927) which advocates for educators to teach beyond just musical skill and focus on the development of the whole child through music education. Music can be a tool to develop critical thinking skills and problem solving through experimentation. The educator’s job is to improve the lives of students and help them become citizens for a better tomorrow. Mursell’s progressivist philosophy guides my approach to creating course material for my future students. I also believe in a modern social-Freirian approach to creating a classroom culture influenced by the writings of Patrick Schmidt (2005). Educators have the responsibility to provide a transformative and meaningful education that considers cultural representation and champions understanding over knowledge.

 

I believe that it is important that every student feel represented in the classroom, and that all students are given the opportunity to broaden their sociocultural understandings and perspectives. Repertoire selection and music making opportunities should be culturally responsive and authentically representative of the student body. I believe in encouraging a classroom that focuses on collaboration and discussion giving space for students to question and grow from each other. I strive to help my students build bridges between music and life through critical problem solving. My students will have the opportunity to perform, improvise, listen, compose and teach each other.
 

As a progressive music educator, I believe there is a significant place for music technology within the classroom. Music has evolved with technology, which offers diverse opportunities for music making and creating. I believe that by offering the chance for students to learn music production and recording, we can foster critical thinking and creative skills to different thinkers and students with different interests. Music is a tool to developing communication and literacy skills, through lyric and song analysis and composition. This can also be beneficial to English language learners as they develop formal and informal language. In the traditional music classroom, I would like to include exercises in improvisation, visualization and connecting music to life.

 

The pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki had said, “Teaching music is not my main purpose. I want to make good citizens.” This quote guides me as an educator. I would add that it is important to encourage these good citizens to experiment and create, and to learn and accept others. If we can cultivate creativity and acceptance, we can help to create a better world and future for our students.