Michael Hall, viola
Teaching
An Impassioned Teacher
An impassioned educator, Michael is the Artistic Director and Director of Education for the Bandung Philharmonic Orchestra in Indonesia. Michael has also served on the faculties of VanderCook College of Music, the Chicago Academy for the Arts, Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Wesleyan University, Guilford College, and as an Adjunct for the University of Chicago. He teaches applied lessons in violin and viola, chamber music, coaches orchestras, as well as classes in string techniques and multiple intelligences. In the summers Hall has taught in Positano, Italy at the International Chamber Music Camp and Festival and in Luxembourg at the Vianden International Music Festival.
Michael Hall, Director of Education
for the Bandung Philharmonic in Indoneisa.
The Real Reason to Study Music
The main goal of music teachers is not to convert every student into a professional musician, but rather to instill within every student the ability to 1) think critically, and 2) develop the ability to express a concept or emotion with convincing intent. After all, if you can develop the ability to understand the intent of the composer, performer, or one's self, you can better develop the ability to understand the motives and actions of other people. This is essential to developing empathy and sympathy: fundamental social skills for individuals in a healthy society. The fact that they develop a love for music through this process is a wonderful side-benefit.
Collaborations with artists in other fields is a vital part of Michael’s creative process and takes him to a variety of settings. Discussing form and texture with over 200 freshman art students and professors at the Kansas City Art Institute as part of the Foundations classes was an invigorating experience for all involved.
During the school year, Michael also takes time to bring music education into public schools, collaborating in cross-curricular lessons as well as providing masterclasses for string students. A winner of the City of Chicago Neighborhood Arts Program Grant, he has led students in first through fifth grades in lessons from musical building blocks, increasing student vocabulary through kinesthetics, to drawing and writing projects, scaffolding organization and creativity, and composition projects, supporting mathematical graphing ideas.