Teaching Philosophy

As a clarinetist and educator, I believe music is both discipline and dialogue — a space where technical mastery and personal expression must grow together. My teaching is rooted in empathy, individualized guidance, and the belief that every student deserves the tools and support to develop not just as a musician, but as a whole artist.I guide students to build strong fundamentals, cultivate smart practice habits, and discover confidence through performance. I foster a studio culture that is inclusive, collaborative, and creatively alive — where students are encouraged to explore their voice, embrace challenges, and evolve into musicians who think deeply, play authentically, and communicate with power.

🔽 Read Full Teaching Philosophy - Dr. Yeh

I have taught in both Taiwan and America, so my experience teaching in different countries helps me to understand the importance of fostering an inclusive learning environment. I believe that communication is the key to better understanding people and that it is important not to make assumptions about students based on their cultural background but to know the individual personalities and strengths to help develop their talents. I would like to build strong and trusting relationships with students from diverse backgrounds by recognizing that each of them has different circumstances, not only acknowledging and respecting that their stories are unique, but also finding opportunities to provide resources that help them reach equal outcomes, with equitable and sustainable access. I will be a teacher who values everyone’s voices and remembers that we are all learning and growing together as a stronger community through this universal language – music.

As a clarinetist and educator, I believe mentoring students both as musician and as human beings is as important as guiding their musical development. Therefore, I use the following principles to guide my approach to teaching:

1. Be mindful of individual needs

Make an early conversation with students- I would like to meet with my students before the first lesson and ask them about their expectations and their goals.
Create personalized plans for each student and help them achieve their academic goals and successful outcomes on their educational journeys.
Office hours- I will be flexible in scheduling office hours to work with students with a variety of schedules. I provide both virtual and in-person meetings.
I will provide opportunities to communicate with my students about their educational journey and learning progress.

2. Build empathy

By making connections through our similarities and learning from our differences, I will seek to build strong and trusting relationships with students.
Seek to understand my students’ cultural backgrounds and religions to make them feel respected and understood.

3. Provide performance opportunities

I value performance experience highly. Performing in front of people is the best way to reflect on students’ learning and practicing.
I will encourage my students to perform in any setting, but also create opportunities for students to perform, such as studio concerts, master classes, outreach, or charity concerts.
As an active clarinetist, I will keep challenging myself and collaborating with musicians to perform across the country and internationally as an inspiration and role model to my students.
I will help my students build strong mindsets by helping them recognize that obstacles and challenges are part of the learning process. My goal is to help them develop self-motivation as musicians and discover a sense of accomplishment when they overcome their challenges.
My diverse performing experiences helped me to train my students to perform in various settings. To succeed in every performance, I will instruct my students to imagine the performance while practicing.

4. Teach smart practice strategies

Practicing is a lifelong journey for musicians. We might not have time or space to practice regularly so it is important to learn to practice smarter. I will provide methods to my students to practice fundamental techniques: long notes, scales, and etudes efficiently with constructive practice plans and advice based on their individual cases.
As a professional performer, I also create useful practice plans and smart strategies for learning repertoire.
I will develop my students as active learners by fostering their critical thinking skills so that they gradually learn how to overcome challenges by themselves.

5. Create a positive studio culture that fosters creative thinking

I will give my students freedom to grow as creative musicians and performers. I recognize that students will have different passions and styles, and I will be flexible and open-minded. I will encourage my students to communicate with me so that I can guide them to become the musicians they dream of becoming.
I believe the future of music will be defined by collaboration. I will model this for my students and encourage them to collaborate with each other and other musicians. I will create a climate that is competitive but also positive and welcoming.

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