My experience this past summer was eye-opening. I purchased a Soprano Saxophone and a Flute with my STEP funds. With these instruments, I began giving lessons to 3 students over the summer. My students made significant progress over the summer and I am very proud of them. My students and I mainly worked on intonation, reading music, and learning how to play notes. Teaching private lessons is an extremely important skill to learn as a music education major. In addition to what I have done over the summer, I have also taken on a few students during Fall semester 2014. Overall, I really enjoyed my STEP experience, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to grow as a musician and a teacher.

What?

I started out this Summer by purchasing a Stephanhouser soprano saxophone using the money provided by STEP. I also fixed up a flute, and got business cards from Vistaprint. I continued on my STEP journey by recruiting students to take music lessons from me. I have found 3 students that want to learn from me. I am teaching one of my students how to play the saxophone, one of my students how to play the flute, and I am teaching my third student how to sing. I have also joined an R&B band this Summer, and I am using the soprano and the flute that STEP has provided for me.

So What?

I have given a couple lessons to each of my students so far. I have found that vocalizing my ideas when I am trying to teach my students how to play music is more difficult than i expected it to be. It was a little difficult because I have a good idea of what I want my students to do, but explaining it to them using concepts that they can understand is difficult. It was great to see the growth that the students have shown me in the past couple of weeks. Usually I am the student when it comes to music lessons. It is nice to experience the other side of the music lesson process.

Now What?

I think the biggest thing that this STEP experience has given me is the satisfaction of making someone’s life easier. I am giving music lessons for free, and It is a great feeling to be able to share my main passion with my students. In the future, this STEP experience will help me greatly because I want to teach music lessons on top of being a music educator in the school system. I will most likely look back upon this experience and learn from my mistakes when I graduate from college. I think this experience has already made me a better educator, and I will continue to develop this skill until I retire. I love teaching music to students, and I can’t wait to get out into the working world and make a difference with this experience under my belt.

-Wil Walters

What?

I started out this Summer by purchasing a Stephanhouser soprano saxophone using the money provided by STEP. I also fixed up a flute, and got business cards from Vistaprint. I continued on my STEP journey by recruiting students to take music lessons from me. I have found 3 students that want to learn from me. I am teaching one of my students how to play the saxophone, one of my students how to play the flute, and I am teaching my third student how to sing. I have also joined an R&B band this Summer, and I am using the soprano and the flute that STEP has provided for me.

So What?

I have given a couple lessons to each of my students so far. I have found that vocalizing my ideas when I am trying to teach my students how to play music is more difficult than i expected it to be. It was a little difficult because I have a good idea of what I want my students to do, but explaining it to them using concepts that they can understand is difficult. It was great to see the growth that the students have shown me in the past couple of weeks. Usually I am the student when it comes to music lessons. It is nice to experience the other side of the music lesson process.

Now What?

I think the biggest thing that this STEP experience has given me is the satisfaction of making someone’s life easier. I am giving music lessons for free, and It is a great feeling to be able to share my main passion with my students. In the future, this STEP experience will help me greatly because I want to teach music lessons on top of being a music educator in the school system. I will most likely look back upon this experience and learn from my mistakes when I graduate from college. I think this experience has already made me a better educator, and I will continue to develop this skill until I retire. I love teaching music to students, and I can’t wait to get out into the working world and make a difference with this experience under my belt.

-Wil Walters

Education is the best way to break the trend of poverty. It is important to take your background seriously. Always stay true to yourself.

“Everybody can serve.” (do something that helps someone else out).

Look to understand a life of another. Learn to take the living conditions that you have seriously.

“You can’t be everything to everybody, but you can be something to somebody.”

When things get tough, think about how hard life is for others.

A good thing for one to do is to start an internship as early as you can in order to get a good experience going on. No matter what field you go into, this is a really good idea because it is good to test drive a few jobs before you get into the working world. A good way to start as resume: put projects that are related to my major, leadership experiences, clubs, awards, scholarships, etc. Schedule an appointment with the career connections office (ASC). It’s good to put things on my resume that show that I am a well-rounded student.

Another point is to never listen to anyone who says that young people can’t do things. Young people can get great jobs and do great things. As student leaders, we should sit down and evaluate ourselves. Life mapping is a great thing (it also applies to music; you have to be honest with yourself). Stay persistent with your ideas, never take no for an answer.

Honestly, this conversation inspired me to get involved in more clubs at Ohio State. I have to make myself marketable.

It’s a good idea to find a good mentor.

Will Walters

I realize that I should check out different recording software in order to get the best quality while recording. I should also check out different music for inspiration. There is so much music in the worlds, that I will be able to feed off of just about anything.

One of the things that stood out to me was how these gentleman were so proactive with their research plans. I should do research on the different career options I can get into with my degree. I should also look into any internship opportunities i could get while I am still an undergraduate student at Ohio State. Personally, I would like to explore the option of becoming a teacher. I would like to get an internship at a middle school, high school or an elementary high school. I realize that I shouldn’t be afraid to reach out to professionals. Reaching out to professionals will set me up for success in the future. I should also set up meetings with teachers, composers, arrangers, conductors, audio engineers and musicians. I will most likely work in all of these fields. I should also revise my resume. I should also set myself up for a music camp during the summer.

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