Jen Yang 杨智欣

      Coming from a school with a large music program of over 600 students enrolled in music courses, many of my fellow peers and students were with me in rehearsals, music classes, and in practice rooms. I had the opportunity to interview a few of my closest friends from my high school’s music program, and gain insight on how they interact with music now that they have moved onto post-secondary education without having music as their majors. The four of us all were taught by Mr. Pinhorn, and were all in choir. Although our different paths have lead us to different universities, we all still share a love of music. 

      The first person I interviewed was my friend Yinah Zhuang. She is currently studying Co-op Management at UTSC. Yinah had no formal training, but that still didn’t stop her from loving singing and playing the guitar. In addition to being in the vocal stream at my school, she also was part of the guitar program. She enjoyed being in the vocal class because she loves to sing, and it was different from other classes because most of her other classes required students to sit down alone. Now that she is in her first year of university,  music doesn’t play a big role in her life since she finds it difficult to have time to play her guitar or sing outside of class. 

     The second person I interviewed was one of my closest friends, Tait Gould. She studies at the University of Ottawa for International Development and Globalization in the French Immersion stream. As someone who has been singing in children’s choruses, playing cello since she was a toddler, and who has been taking voice lessons, she thought that music classes were like a break from her other classes. She said that the vocal class never felt like hard work because everyone was contributing and having fun together in ensembles. Tait has done music for her whole life, essentially, and now she no longer has space in her life for music or rehearsals of ensembles offered by her school. 

     My last friend that I interviewed is Amillia Ho, a talented writer, flautist, and singer. She is in the Faculty of Arts at Queens University, and plans to major in English with a minor in Film. Like Tait and Yinah, Amillia also regarded music classes and rehearsals like a break and escape from the mayhem of other courses. Being with like-minded people in a big ensemble made her feel warm and happy, because she was doing something she loved. But unlike them, she stills sings in a choir offered by Queens, saying that she could not imagine her life without music in it. 

     A common factor that all three of my friends had were how they described the impact that Mr. Pinhorn had on them and also what they thought made a good music teacher. They all agreed or voiced in the same way that they felt important, welcomed, and affirmed in rehearsals and in class. Yinah loved the fact that Mr. Pinhorn could be serious and funny at the same time, and always put a smile on her face. Tait never felt like “just another singer”, she felt like she was part of the team. Amillia said that she felt loved and important as well. They all came to an agreement that music teachers are more caring and outwardly compassionate than other teachers. “Regardless of how well the ensemble performs, the most important thing is that the teachers care and let us become the best we can be”, Amillia pointed out. Tait’s main points were that music teachers just seemed easier to talk to about personal things since music already creates a bond between the teachers and the students. Yinah agreed as well and said that a safe environment and good attitude is the most important thing that music teachers should have.