Q: How long have you worked at Millersville University?
A: I came to Millersville in January of 2002.
Q: What was the defining moment in your life when you knew you wanted to teach music?
A: This is such a funny question. I don’t think that I have the ability to do anything else. I’m absolutely myopic. I can do one thing. I think that I can teach pretty well…and to be honest, I love teaching music. It’s a privilege. I don’t view it as a profession…I view it as more of a vocation.
Q: Can you play a number of instruments? What is your favorite?
A: I did study all of the brass, woodwind and string instruments. I’m not good at playing any of them. I’m a pianist…and if I practice…I’m pretty good. I have an incredible piano in my home. I wish that I had more time to play it. It’s absolutely beautiful and I’m lucky to own it.
Q: Was there ever an instrument or piece of music you wanted to learn but never got around to doing so?
A: I really wanted to learn to play the cello. It’s an incredible instrument. When you play it, you sort of cradle it. The tone is incredibly beautiful…and you get to hold it when you play it.
Q: Is there one musician or band that students would be surprised to know you listen to?
A: To be honest, I don’t listen to much popular music. I do listen to contemporary music and I listen to chamber music. Sometimes students give me music to listen to. I do listen to music that students give me. I actually appreciate the fact that they’d like me to hear it. To be honest, I usually really like it as well. I have a bunch of CDs that students have made for me.
Q: What was your greatest inspiration for your recently Oxford-published book, Kodaly Today?
A: That’s a great question. I teach graduate classes in different programs around the country during the summer.
I suppose that those students helped me formulate many things that I wanted to say in that book. The book is comprehensive. It makes a summation of where you should want to go in your teaching and how you should get there.
To tell you the truth, I’m very proud of that publication. I’m particularly proud of the fact that it’s an Oxford University Press publication.
Q: Who was your idol growing up?
A: I idolized my piano teacher Reynaldo Reyes who taught me at Peabody Preparatory Department and the Conservatory. I loved playing the piano. I idolized the Beatles and Rolling Stones and Elton John. I idolized Svatislov Richter, an incredible Russian pianist.
I idolized my music history professor in graduate school Cyrilla Barr. She also taught me how to cook. I suppose that’s one reason I like having some of my classes over to dinner…she did that for a number of her graduate students and it was always such a great time.
I vowed I would do the same thing for my students. This is such a funny question. I’ve never really thought about it before. I idolized a lot of people at different times during my life. I’ve just given you a random sample.
Q: What is the first thing you do when you have free time on your hands?
A: The order of this is going to be completely random. I play the piano, I watch the food channel, I read mysteries (usually when I’m on the elliptical trainer), I go back to D.C….and several other places and visit my closest friends. I write; I think about the things that I’d still like to accomplish in terms of scholarship and try to think about how I can possibly accomplish them, and I make travel plans.
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As a graduate student who has been blessed to set at just such a dinner table, I must say I have valued what I learned there as much as what came to me in the labs and course rooms.
Thank you, Phil, for all you have done as a teacher.
And… thanks for double checking that my daughter’s name would publish well!