My Personal Attributes

Lauren Rowan

Some of my interpersonal skills which I believe will make me well-suited for a position
in music education include flexibility, a good attitude, a strong work ethic, and the
ability to relax and enjoy moments in life. In high school, I worked with a group called
the Peer Counselors. Our objective and purpose in the school was to give
presentations to our peers on subjects like sexual violence, healthy relationships, drug
and alcohol abuse, and offer our time to counsel students through any situations they
may be facing. I talked to students about issues ranging from school-related stress to
suicidal thoughts and actions. Each individual I talked to impacted me deeply and
forced me to consider my role in creating a safe space for every person in my school
and community. Thus, I learned a lot about cultivating accepting spaces for every
student, something I believe is the most important objective to achieve in a productive
learning environment. Furthermore, I really work at maintaining my ability to plan,
organize, and schedule important commitments. These are more obvious skills which
are necessary to any profession. However, I see the ability to organize and direct others
particularly essential when guiding young students through curriculum and the life skills
obtained through the pursuit of musical understanding and growth. Another crucial
personality trait to have as a teacher, is humility and receptiveness to feedback or
criticism. This is something I truly seek out in my everyday life. I love to know where I
can improve as a person, musician, student, and of course, teacher. In order to learn in
any field, one must experience many failures from which to learn. Music is no
exception. In order to grow as a performer, one must make mistakes to learn where
they have weaknesses in technique. In teaching, one must make mistakes to learn the
most painless route to conveying a concept. However, it is important for these
mistakes to be rectified in a timely manner, as it is a teacher’s duty to help their
students succeed. If they cannot perform their job well, many students suffer. Thus, a
teacher must be open to criticism so that they can learn and correct quickly. Ultimately,
this is the principle I use to keep myself modest and embrace feedback.

In terms of my musical expertise, I have limited fundamentals and experience,

seeing as I have only had a limited time in this field. In the seven years which I have
been committed to music, however, I believe I have become fairly advanced on my
instrument and in determining the qualities of great music more broadly. When listening
to an ensemble, I have an instinct to listen for the subtitles of the sound. I find places
for growth and recognize moments of success. In my head, I start thinking of what I
would like instead and how I would ask a group to perform it to my liking. Because I
conducted my high school bands for two years as a drum major and sort of student
assistant, this is an intuition that has become a part of who I am. Regardless, I still
have plenty of skills to improve. Most significantly, I need to establish a better grasp of
music theory and history since these are not subjects I have had a complete education
in. These are essential to teaching music students since they allow a musician to
understand what they are playing, how it fits into the broader scope of music and
sound, and why it is significant. Most students will need this context in order to invest
their energy into playing the music at their full capacity. In addition, I do not have any
experience on any other instruments, so that will be essential when helping young
musicians learn how to play various instruments. I am excited to build these skills,
however, and become equipped to help a broader spectrum of students.

I do have a fairly strong basis of pedagogical experience through conducting in

my high school and private lesson instruction. I believe I have gained a lot of
knowledge and ideas for an effective class through watching my instructors. I learned
what I did and did not like, and kept those in mind as I was given opportunities to lead
rehearsals. In my position as drum major, I was in complete control with my fellow
student directors at football games. We took care of every aspect and our directors sat
and watched the game in the parents’ section of the stands. Furthermore, we were
able to conduct our own concert band piece for graduation. Here, I learned a lot about
score study, rehearsal pacing, engaging rehearsal structures, and honed my ability to
listen critically and guide students through music. This was by far the best lesson I
could have had in pedagogy. I had a lot of fun conducting my classmates. Every day, I
came up with fun rehearsal plans that got the students engaged and committed to
making the music really powerful. Through these many different activities, I was also
able to establish mutual respect, and keep the classroom light, but productive, as they
didn’t interrupt or talk over me like they were accustomed to doing with the other
student directors and our full-time directors. Every day was fun, and I always left
rehearsal feeling accomplished. I could hear individual improvements, and could
recognize where certain individuals were getting caught up. In order to help them, I
would isolate sections of music, or instrument parts and slowly build a progression to
imitate a streamlined method of practice that I suspect they were not doing on their
own. It was not a substitute for practicing, but at least demonstrated an effective
method they could use if I could motivate them to spend some time with their
instrument. Also through this experience, I learned how to pick music that could work
for multiple skill levels and remain engaging for each player. The music was not
technically challenging, but it was musically demanding. Therefore, the players who
tended to struggle could focus on notes and rhythms, while the more advanced players
could focus on building beautiful phrases and tone which I could guide them through.
Mostly, I loved to build a classroom where each person could feel free to be their own
musician. In this sense, I am influenced by orchestral directors who allow musicians to
use their discretion and explore their own musical musings. I avoided the route of
micromanaging every note. Although this could work for younger groups, I knew this
group could handle the challenge, and it was so rewarding for us to share the passion
of developing one’s sense of musicality. 

Professional Development Plan

I know that I have a long path ahead of me in terms of my professional goals. In the
near future, I hope to grow as a theoretical and historical thinker in the context of
music. I really could use some growth in my ability to identify keys and transpose
quickly. I think this is what allows great musicians to distinguish themselves, because
they understand the music they are playing more deeply. They hear how the sound
builds in an ensemble and they are more in touch with how to tune chords and balance
them. I also believe that a great understanding of scales of all varieties makes anyone a
better player since these are the foundations of music. Furthermore, understanding
music history allows one to understand how to approach each piece of music since
Bach is different from Beethoven is different from Mahler. Each composer asks the
musician to play their music uniquely. However, these instructions are not written out,
they are presumed by the wise musician. A strong understanding of music history also
gives musicians an opportunity to appreciate the circumstances from which their music
was derived and the manner in which to approach a piece. For example, the turmoil
surrounding Shostakovich can tell a musician that his 4th symphony is not a
celebration, it is satirical. Knowing this can keep a musician from utterly
misunderstanding and improperly performing a piece of music. If one does not bother
to play the music as it was intended, there is no point in playing the piece at all.
Therefore, I would like to become proficient in my music theory and music history skills,
as they are the foundation from which music is built. I have no place teaching music if I
myself do not fully understand it.

Expanding beyond the immediate, I would like to gain field experience teaching
with more diverse ranges of students as I know I will throughout these next four years. I
would like to be challenged to run an effective rehearsal with receptive and talented
students, as well as non-receptive and growing musicians. I think this sort of
immersion in education will allow me to create more solutions to problems I do not
foresee right now. I also believe it will give me the confidence to walk into a classroom
and take charge. As I think further down the line, I would like to become relatively well-
versed in a string instrument like violin since I am currently most interested in
conducting orchestra. I love the repertoire and the full sound of a symphony. The best
way to prepare for that, is to have a great understanding of string playing and
techniques. Thus, I should soon begin focusing heavily on a string instrument. With this
said, I want to try my best to get a lot of experience playing in an orchestra. I have
already had some incredible opportunities playing in a youth orchestra in Colorado and
All-State orchestra for two years, as well as the orchestra in my high school. However,
the more time I get playing around strings and hearing conductors teach them, the
better I will get as a student of string conducting and rehearsing. I will also continue to
study great conductors as much as possible and listen to recordings of great
orchestras. This will help me with the musical expertise side as well as the pedagogical
side. As I spend more time thinking about how to create great string and symphonic
sounds, I will develop more ideas of how to express the sort of playing I would like as
well as how to guide my musicians towards that goal. Ultimately, I would like to
become an orchestral conductor at the collegiate level, so it is time to buckle down
and push myself to be the best musician, student, and teacher I can be.