Teaching Artist Statement

Mary Moser

When I was little our home was filled with music. If there was music I was dancing.  The music would begin and my body would move.  Music could make me smile and it could give me energy and make me feel invincible, like I could do anything.  Then I heard classical music, and that blew my mind. Classical music permeated into my very being.  My skin would tingle and dancing wasn’t enough. I had to become part of it. And that is when I learned how to play the violin. If you breathe, you are one with rhythm, your pulse, your heart, they beat to a rhythm your very own. Your voice is meant for singing. I use these two naturally embodied gifts, and when possible violins, to open the world of music to liberate souls toward expression.

Biography

Mary Moser, loves teaching students of all ages and enjoys helping them grow in their love of music. She enjoys working with students of all ages and is ready to work with anyone ready to try and ready to learn. “If you’re ready to try and learn, then be ready to grow and achieve! And with music… be ready to dream and dance.” Ms. Moser has trained in the Suzuki Philosophy with Ronda Cole, Michele George, Teri Einfeldt, Stevie Sandven, Edmund Sprunger, Kimberly Meier-Sims, Beth Titterington, David Strom, & Nancy Jackson. [ECC, Books 1-10, Practicum, Group Class Enrichment Course, Suzuki Principles in Action] Ms Moser is bilingual in Spanish and enjoyed observing Book 1 taught by Maestro Eduardo Ludueña from Buenos Aires, Argentina and hopes to continue to observe more training offered by the Latin Suzuki Association. She has also expanded her formal Suzuki Viola training with Elizabeth Stuen-Walker [Viola Book 4].

Ms. Moser has had the privilege to perform with the Erie Philharmonic, Presque Isle Pro Musica, Erie Chamber Orchestra for their final two years, and freelance with fantastic colleagues in varied engagements in Erie. She also is honored to rejoin other fantastic musicians down south in Pittsburgh and Wheeling, WV. Ms Moser has glided her bow among string sections with the Bay Atlantic Symphony (NJ), Youngstown Symphony (OH), Westmoreland Symphony, Academy Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera, and McKeesport Symphony while living in the Pittsburgh area. During her graduate work at Arizona State University she was a member of the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, was a founding member of the ASU Herberger Graduate String Quartet, enjoyed performing contemporary music with the ASU New Music Ensemble under the direction of Glenn Hackbarth, and took great joy in supporting new composers by premiering, performing and recording their works. Ms. Moser was also able to collaborate with her peers and with the Arizona State University Music Department’s faculty often to create wonderful contemporary programs with the iChamber ensemble. Toward the end of her graduate work, Ms. Moser joined as Principal Second Violin a new ensemble, Musica Nova, dedicated to performing new music.

Ms. Moser completed a Teaching Artist Certificate from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and holds a Master of Music in Performance and Pedagogy degree from Arizona State University where she was the violin teaching assistant, and also a Bachelor of Music in Performance from University of the Pacific. Always in demand as a teacher, she currently can be found online or in her newly renovated Home Studio teaching Suzuki Violin and Viola to students of all ages and levels. Ms Moser joyfully supports and collaborates with her best and dearest friend, Mr Jonathan Moser, Director of the Mercyhurst Civic Orchestra and Artistic Director/Conductor (and Suzuki kid himself), with the Erie Junior Philharmonic. Ms. Moser has also worked with many excellent academic and music institutions including The Music School of Delaware, Grove City College, Duquesne University’s City Music Center, Pittsburgh Music Academy, Westminster College, Carnegie Mellon University, Carlow University, Mesa Community Arts Center, Phoenix Liturgical Arts Center, an independent music program for elementary children in Baltimore, Maryland and has maintained a private studio since 1996.

Ms. Moser attended the Rome Festival in Rome, Italy; Tanglewood in Lennox, Massachusetts; and the Aspen Summer Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado, where she studied with Valeria Vilker-Kuchment, Jennifer John and Paul Kantor. Her principal teachers include Dr. Katherine McLin, and Dr. James Stern.

Teaching Philosophy

Initial requirements for accepting music students, in the past, consisted of having certain physical attributes and a natural inclination toward an instrument. Mr Suzuki through his Mother Tongue Method revolutionized those expectations in Japan and, in the late 1960’s, in the United States. However, we don’t all have caring and supportive families to grow in the loving Suzuki community. While we may not be able to fit in the Suzuki community, we can possess the passion to learn. As a registered and trained Suzuki teacher, I have also expanded my training in other aspects and through other pedagogical methods, and I seek to share my passion for music with as many as possible. I seek students whose passion for learning is unbound by their economic or physical circumstances. I would prefer to match their passion with my versatility as a pedagoge and progress with them as far as we can go together. There is no glass ceiling in my class/studio, only the sky. 

There are two Philosophies that connect and align with my Philosophy, Montessori’s and the Progressive Education Philosophy. Maria Montessori’s Philosophy aligns well with Shinichi Suzuki’s. They both miniaturized whatever the child needed to handle in the original material and they both treated children as capable beings. And, with a subject as active as music, the Progressive Education Philosophy is most befitting. Our focus in music is on learning by doing, all of our projects are hands-on and we learn by experience. We are constantly problem solving and doing critical thinking as we analyze the work that we are creating. 

As a Pedagoge, one of my most successful teaching methods is Vygotsky’s scaffolding. By teaching sequenced steps, which are small to start and connected to one another, students are able to build confidence while growing  musically and technically as they accomplish the small steps and climb to the next scaffold. 

In my teaching I desire to expand the horizons of students. Using an instrument, I desire to foster within them the belief that yes, they can achieve, and they can achieve well. Without an instrument, I desire for them to connect what is inherently in us, to organically create raw music in the form of our beating hearts (pulse/rhythm), their personal stories and experiences (narrative/music speak) and bind them together using their voice (song/melody).