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    Like Steve Shirts, my own father is a public school music educator at Millcreek Jr. High in Bountiful, UT, and my mother teaches music privately from home in Farmington, UT. With both of my parents being so heavily involved with music, I was raised to understand and appreciate performing music. I was also able to witness many members of the community joining efforts with my dad in his classroom. I learned how valuable that was for him as a teacher and for the students. Because of the way I was raised and the experiences I have had with music, I wanted to help students in my community to have similar opportunities.

     I learned from my father that there are many challenges in teaching music, especially as part of a public school curriculum. In Southern Utah there are few private teachers available for students of the French horn and having individualized attention is crucial for musical success. On top of that, many students in the public school system are involved in many different organizations, teams, and clubs which reduces the time they are able to practice the French horn. Most of the students I worked with did not spend very much time practicing on their own in between our sessions. As a college student, I also had limited time to work with these students and I was never able to work with them outside of their class time.

     Despite these challenges, the students benefited greatly from our time together. Because there is limited access to private French horn teachers in Southern Utah, I was able to help fill that niche. The students were able to receive individualized attention and receive specific feedback on how to improve their musical abilities. Steve, as director, also benefited from these efforts as he was able to focus more of his time and attention to other members of the band. As mentioned earlier, one of the students was able to use my teaching as a spring-board to audition for and receive a full-tuition music scholarship to Southern Utah University.

     Though I intended for my project to be a benefit to these students and to Steve, I came away as a better individual. While learning how to teach younger students I also learned how to be a better musician. I solidified many of the fundamental techniques of the French horn and increased in musicianship. Furthermore, I increased my pedagogical abilities and gained confidence in my ability to help younger students. Lastly, I was able to build great relationships with the students and with Steve. Even though I am not pursuing a career in music, having a strong network of colleagues and peers is important and may prove to be beneficial in the future.