Artist Teaching Profile - Christina Jennings

This week, Powell artist Christina Jennings welcomed flutists to her annual Panoramic Flutist residential seminar at the University of Colorado Bolder.  The seminar focuses on creating a sense of community among flutists and presents a series of sessions and workshops targeting the whole musician ("mind, body, and artistry") through a series of sessions on practice, performance, and study. This year, she welcomed guest artists Paula Robison, Lisa Garner Santa, and Jennifer Kenney.

Ms. Jennings hosts the seminar at the Univeristy of Colorado Boulder, where she is currently Associate Professor of Flute. For those interested in undergraduate or graudate studies with Ms. Jennings, her personal website (www.christinajennings.com) includes a page dedicated specifically to her flute studio.  You can find this page by clicking the "teaching" heading in the top horizontal menu bar. She shares a brief overview of the studio and includes a link to the full studio page on the UCBolder website.  The studio website is incredibly engaging, with terrific images and very thorough information for prospective undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to degree program information, Ms. Jennings shares the following perspectives on the learning environment:

The flute studio is a supportive yet intense group of musicians who are passionate about the flute!

CU is dedicated to developing the whole musician. Students are expected to balance academic and instrumental excellence, and have the opportunity to participate in a range of diverse programs, such as the Entrepreneurship Center for Music, classes in the Alexander Technique through our Musicians’ Wellness Initiative, or participate in one of the many world music ensembles including the West African Highlife Ensemble. For a complete look at these diverse programs, please explore the College of Music site. In addition, the world-class courses offered through the University provide students with a well-rounded education. Many studio members have double majored or minored in other areas including: Business, Engineering, English and French.

For additional information on Christina Jennings, visit the following pages:
Powell Artist Profile 
Panoramic Flutist 

Teach Flute Blog Posts:

History of Her Powell Flutes

Greenwood Music Camp

Recording the Music of George Rochberg -- Part 1

Recording the Music of George Rocheberg - Part II

Take Note -- Tech Tip #1

Photo courtesy of Pinterest

This week, we had the chance to catch up with Christina Guiliano-Cobas, Powell's Director of Marketing. Christina is also a private flute instructor, and we highlighted her own "family of flutes" in a previous post which you can read by following  this link.

In her studio, Christina teaches a mix of flutists from beginners to more advanced high school students. Regardless of age, she requires each student to bring a notebook to lessons, which she then uses to write notes and their next assignment. One of her high school students forgot her notebook recently, so Christina decided to text a very short note with the next assignment to the student. Although not all of her students have cell phones (and we know this is certainly a topic of debate), Christina began texting assignments to her 14, 15, and 16 year-old-students.  She discovered that this was quite helpful to them! She shared,

Students in this age group are very busy with band, sports, AP classes, driver's exams, part-time jobs... They use their phones for everything.  It turned out that my student who forgot her notebook practiced more, remembered her assignment, and was fully-prepared for her next lesson after she received my text.  Just having that small visual reminder on her phone helped tremendously.  

She added that the physical notebooks are terrific tools for her younger (elementary school-aged) students since they are,"still very much into pens and paper, and their parents need to sign the practice page in the notebook."  However, the notebooks had gone unopened with the teenaged students once the lesson was done.  What happened to be a quick-fix for one high school student turned out to be an excellent method for preparing and inspiring them.  Christina said, "Now, for my 14, 15, and 16-year-olds, I always text their next lesson assignment!"

Photo courtesy of Pinterest

Focus! Making the Most out of Lessons

By Morgann Davis

Morgann Davis

Every year I find myself facing this time of year with an added sense of pressure to make lessons challenging, exciting, and fun. This year I tackled part of the issue head on by scheduling a recital at the end of February and assigning everyone new solos and duets to prepare. So, now we have a timestamp in place, a concert goal to focus toward. For many of my students this year, however, this is their first real recital. Expectations and preparation is different for these students as they don’t quite know what to expect.

Another way I try to build momentum and focus following the holidays is by creating structure and routine. I tackle lessons each week in the same order, meaning students know what to expect. Tuning, warm-ups and scales, etudes/technique, solos, duets. This is a serious time-saver in 30 minute lessons. Without having to discuss or decide what happens next there is less wasted time.

Ok, so we have two great steps to follow that will provide a great foundation for focus. Problem solved, right? Not quite. The real “meat” of the solution comes next. Now that there is structure and a performance date to aim for, I do my best to use the room made by lack of other projects to focus on each students’ weaknesses. I am very careful not to point out flaws from the start. Rather, I ask questions before each exercise to help the students open their ears, and provide very specific small goals for each as well. By working on a minuscule scale we are capitalizing on the lack of colossal goals like school concerts.

An example of this would be asking a student to listen to note lengths. What do they notice about the half notes in an exercise? (Perhaps they are too short, or they are inconsistent lengths). Let the student answer, even if it takes them some time - they might not be used to listening to themselves in this way! Acknowledge their answer, especially if it was difficult for them to discern, as noticing what they hear when they play can serve as an excellent diagnostic tool for the teacher. Then, ask them how they might remedy the issue, and have them play the same excerpt again.

I also provide small over-arching goals for each student. If a student struggles with keeping their headjoint rolled out, I will address this as our main goal at the beginning of the lesson, finding fun ways to provide gentle reminders throughout the lesson. I make sure this goal is written somewhere prominent in their lesson notebook or on a post-it before they leave their lesson.

By structuring lessons in this way, with one large goal (the recital), and more smaller, minute points of focus, I find it easier to build momentum for growth in the winter months. The added benefit is that with a disciplined approach to lessons and practice coming out of the beginning of the new year, it often feels like less work to students when they have to prepare for auditions and concerts in the spring!

*For more posts by Morgann Davis, visit her personal blog at http://joyfulflutist.tumblr.com/.