I consider it to be both a blessing and a great responsibility to have the opportunity to guide my students to refine their natural abilities and to develop new ones. I believe that through a musical performance, lives can be significantly touched, either generating or simply nurturing a process of immeasurable proportions which can lead us to become closer to each other, and to be more aware of our human condition. I feel this touch every time I communicate music to an audience, or when, as a listener, I get to hear someone doing it. I also firmly believe that performers can express a more meaningful message if they are able to integrate their knowledge about music theory into their instrumental skills. As a teacher, I focus on the goal of gradually making myself obsolete to my students as a result of helping them to develop their potential while at Marshall and to prepare them for the challenges they’ll face in their professional lives after they graduate from our school.