Isabella Giordano


Years Teaching: 1+
Education
I have been playing viola since the sixth grade and violin since tenth grade. I graduated from Dacula High School in 2019 where I received various honors for musicianship including Music Honors Society Club President for one year, and the recipient of the Dacula High School Orchestra’s 2019 Conductor’s Award as the first violist to receive this award. Currently, I am a Senior Music Education Major at Kennesaw State University under Yinzi Kong who is also an artist in residence at Emory University and is one of the founding members of the internationally known Vega String Quartet. During my junior year at KSU, I participated in a string methods course, where I was able to hone in my cello skills and work more on strategies for teaching all string instruments. This year, I will be student teaching at Pebblebrook High School, where I will get the opportunity to experience what it is like to teach a large ensemble of string players.
Experience
With my private lessons experience, I have worked on both technique as well as viola solo repertoire. I am a recipient of the John and Linda Cooke String Quartet Scholarship which I play viola in sponsored quartet for KSU. When it comes to teaching experience, I am an active member of KSU’s chapter of the American String Teacher Association. Through this club, I have participated in many KSU String outreach events such as the North Georgia Honor Orchestra, KSU’s Orchestra Invitational, and String Day. The Honor Orchestra and String Day have both required me to work with students from 6 th -12 th grade in viola sectionals prepping them for a parent performance at the end of the event. I am currently the viola instructor for North Cobb Christian School. Last year, I would come in once a week and work with two of their groups. I first worked with the 5th /6th graders where we go over the basics of playing their instruments and reading music while working on their concert music. Then, I worked with the 7th /8th graders where we focus more on the intricacies of their slightly more advanced concert music. This year I will also be working with their high school group. I had a separate opportunity to teach more violin and cello last year when I was substituting for a colleague at Paulding Music. Through this opportunity, I got the chance to better understand the pedagogical approaches to teaching these secondary instruments. I am now fairly comfortable with teaching intermediate violin students and beginner cello students. Lastly, I have some experience with teaching and playing guitar. I have been playing guitar since the 8th grade and feel prepared to teach students concepts such as scales, chords, finger picking, etc.
Objectives
My goal for my students is for them to master the technical aspects of playing viola, violin, or cello while also developing their own sense for musicality and a personal love for music. I am a strong advocate for the Praxial Philosophy of music education. This philosophy calls for teachers to immerse students in “musicing” which is more than just learning and performing the sheet music but also analyzing and evaluating other performances and even improvising and composing their own works. This philosophy allows students to experience the many aspects of
music rather than just performance. I would like to sprinkle some principles of this philosophy into my own teaching.My goal for my students is for them to master the technical aspects of playing viola, violin, or cello while also developing their own sense for musicality and a personal love for music. I am a strong advocate for the Praxial Philosophy of music education. This philosophy calls for teachers to immerse students in “musicing” which is more than just learning and performing the sheet music but also analyzing and evaluating other performances and even improvising and composing their own works. This philosophy allows students to experience the many aspects of music rather than just performance. I would like to sprinkle some principles of this philosophy into my own teaching.
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