Yakima Herald-Republic Forte: We’re All Teachers
I’ve been thinking lately about what my responsibility is around teaching.
In a day, I will typically interact with around 150 young people, most of whom endeavor to play music at a high level. I’m energized by it, and particularly at Yakima Music en Acción (YAMA), I am often struck by the enormous responsibility that accompanies my position. I’m an ambassador to an extraordinarily privileged space — professional music making — and to hold this position responsibly requires direct effort.
As a performer, my job feels simple: Play music well. As a teacher, however, I am teaching not only music, but what it is to be a musician. Everything is on display. Students may not remember the specifics of any particular lesson, but they’ll certainly remember if they feel engaged and safe. At YAMA, we think deeply about the impact of our positions, and what we are teaching intentionally and inadvertently.
So, what do we want to teach?
We want to teach that music is beautiful, and there for anyone who wants it. We strive to dismantle the structures that disqualify so many young people from having a rich and positive relationship with music, and to demand that any space we occupy implicitly invites others to share it. Through our relationship with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra, a founding YAMA partner, we continue to work toward broad access and engagement.
Since YAMA’s inception in 2013, YSO has committed to directly funding YSO musicians’ work with students. This season, Vanessa Moss (YSO violinist), Aaron Hirsch (YSO assistant conductor) and I (YSO principal percussionist) are paid by YSO to work with YAMA, where we join 11 other Teaching Artists in serving over 120 students every day.
The YSO also regularly facilitates guest artist sessions at YAMA with non-Teaching Artist YSO musicians and international-level guest artists such as Martin Chalifour, concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and, this month, Mark Kosower, principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra.
Countless hours of community engagement, teaching and playing has led to many hundreds of students and families feeling the symphony space as their home. You may notice that Maestro Lawrence Golan welcomes concertgoers in both English and Spanish, all to send signals to our audience: “This is everyone’s space.”
On the stage or in the classroom, to engage in live music as an opportunity and responsibility that we all share. When at its best, it’s not so much “listen to this” but rather a question for those we share it with: “What do you have to say?”
—Josh Gianola