Athens Community Music School allows students to teach music to people of all ages.
Ozzie Johnson said he sometimes tricks his students into having fun during their piano lessons with felt fabric he calls “fuzzies.”
“I might bust them out out of nowhere,” Johnson said. “I’ll say, 'This fuzzy, he’s wondering if you can be steady. He doesn’t think you can. I think he’s being kind of a jerk, so let’s prove him wrong.’ Then all of a sudden, it’s like a challenge.”
Johnson, a second-year graduate student studying piano performance and pedagogy, is one of many student instructors who teaches people of all ages through the Athens Community Music School.
ACMS, which is part of Ohio University's College of Fine Arts, provides the surrounding community with accessible music, Elizabeth Braun, director of the Athens Community Music School, said.
“Our purpose is to reach out to the community and offer a centralized place where people can come for quality music instruction,” Braun said.
Braun said the program has between 25 and 30 student teachers at any given time who teach music to young kids, college students and adults. ACMS offers lessons on traditional instruments such as the piano, woodwinds and guitar, Braun said.
She added that if there is a request for a less traditional instrument, such as a banjo, she will refer the person to someone in the community to learn from.
Aleksandra Pereverzava, a third-year graduate student studying music performance and pedagogy, teaches the cello and said she uses knowledge from her past lessons to teach others.
“I want to share how great it is to play an instrument,” she said. “I wish everyone wanted to play something because although it’s hard and challenging, it’s really nice to see how happy it makes people when playing.”
Lynn Petrik, an Athens resident, has been taking cello lessons with Pereverzava through ACMS for more than a year. Her kids took lessons, but now that they're older, Petrik decided it was her turn to learn something new.
"I love learning new things so I wanted to try to learn a new instrument," Petrik said. "I played piano when I was younger and violin, and I've always wanted to play the cello."
Malissa Tong, a second-year graduate student studying piano performance and pedagogy, is teaching eight students the piano, six of whom have been with her since she came to OU.
“When you teach something to a student, and the spark in the student's eyes when he or she understands, it is the best thing ever,” Tong said. “It’s like I did something right and the student is getting it and is really excited about it.”
Pereverzava said teaching has allowed her to adapt her lesson plans to the person and the circumstances because no two students are the same.
“If a student has a stressful day with her job, I wouldn’t tell her, ‘You need to play scales today,’ ” she said.
Instead, she said the focus of the lesson would be something more enjoyable, such as doing duets. She said her teaching also differs depending on her student’s goals. If a student is looking to be a professional musician one day, she strives to make sure the technique is perfect.
Ryan Swanson, a senior studying music education, teaches three students percussion, which includes a wider range of instruments such as marimba, snare drum and hand drums.
“There are so many little things about each instrument,” Swanson said. “That’s what makes it fun for me — exploring it.”
Swanson said with his younger students, the focus is letting them explore different percussion instruments, but as they learn more and get older, technique and repertoire become a focus.
At the end of each semester, Tong said the students are encouraged to do a recital, which takes place in the Glidden Recital Hall.
Pereverzava said preparing a student for the recital is one of her favorite parts because it involves everything from learning how to walk onto the stage to preparing to play the first note.
“(After preparing) in a small room, it’s so much different when you walk on stage,” she said. “They need to prepare mentally and know a lot of people are watching.”
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="69feb715-fe28-5bfb-b952-3d4514b9094b"}}
The goal of a teacher is to give students the tools so one day they can be their own teachers, Johnson said. He added that it’s important to cater to the students' needs and that the teacher needs to be patient.
“There are no excuses or saying, ‘I can’t work with this kid.’ That just means you’re not good enough,” Johnson said. “That kid is perfectly able to learn many, many things — anything.”
@liz_backo
eb823313@ohio.edu
