TEACHING PHILOSOPHY


Math & Music - Harmony & Counterpoint:
In contemplating the design for this website, I was unsure whether or not to keep my music and math experience separate or intertwined. In the end, I decided that it made more sense to discuss them together. As you may have seen already, my voyage through education and teaching has always been heavily steeped in both disciplines.

Mathematics and music also both share extremely similar positions in the world of education due to the populous' perception of them. Ability in either music or mathematics is seen by many people as a talent that one is born with or not. I cannot count the number of times that somebody has told me that they are "not good at math," "not a math person," "not good with numbers," etc. Likewise, many people often assume that they are "not musicians" after mediocre results from private music lessons or school music classes. I strongly disagree with the position that these subjects fall outside of the grasp of anyone seriously interested in pursuing them. The existence of several prodigies in both disciplines probably helps perpetuate belief to the contrary. I was certainly not a musical or mathematical prodigy, but my love for both subjects guided my study.

I make it my goal as a teacher and tutor to awaken or sustain one's interest in the subjects I teach. The trick for me is to help my student find his or her own doorways of interest to the material. Once people are able to realize the mystery and depth surrounding the universal studies of math or music beyond an accumulation of "facts,"they cannot fight off the curiosity that will pull them forever deeper into their study.

On a lighter and more practical note, I must also admit that we live in a world that sometimes favors superficial competence to genuine understanding. In this regard, I also offer my students plenty of shortcuts and tricks to master the skills required of them by their schools or exams. Even within this framework, however, I hope to make my enthusiasm for the subjects I teach contagious.



Relevant Quotes:
"Nothing of any importance can be taught. It can only be learned, and with blood and sweat."
  
"Belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one believes a doctrine of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking about that aspect of existence."
    - Robert Anton Wilson, author

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
    - William Butler Yeats, poet

"The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple."
    - Stanley Gudder, mathematician
"Music is the pleasure the human mind experiences from counting without being aware that is counting."
    - Gottfried Leibniz, mathematician and philosopher

"Geometry is not true, it is advantageous."
    - Henri Poincare, mathematician and physicist
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