Benjamin Druffel views teaching as his vocation and aims to be a model of exceptional teaching. He believes the most effective teachers fully devote their energies and lives to shaping students' learning and inspiring them. Druffel strives to create an environment where students can learn independently by thinking critically and developing their own musical ideas and arguments. He introduces concepts and allows students to synthesize knowledge and make independent choices, aiming to make them better musicians and people who leave feeling enriched.

1. Benjamin Druffel – Statement of Teaching Philosophy
The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons unknown, he will give
away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows
another…and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.
- Leonard Bernstein
Like great artists, a certain mystique surrounds great teachers. What are the secrets to
great teaching? How is it that some teachers seem to have a natural ability to shape the learning
of and inspire fellow human beings? Exceptional teaching is much more abstract than the
techniques, strategies, and knowledge that we learn in our training. Bernstein’s words about great
artists might hold the key to the mystery of great teaching. The most effective and memorable
educators give away ALL of their “energies” and lives to the pursuit of learning. They devote
themselves fully to the students through their creativity, knowledge, communication, leadership,
and, in the case of music teachers, musicianship. When all is said and done the students leave the
teacher having acquired knowledge or a skill and a feeling “that something is right with the
world”.
I am an educator because I heartily believe teaching is my vocation. Through my passion
for music I endeavor to give all of my energy and much of my life to shaping the musical
education of people young and old. This education goes beyond knowledge of music and the
skills of playing a musical instrument. Music, with its beauty and complexities, is the perfect
forum for us to experience the beauty and complexities of our own lives. As Picasso said, “The
purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls”. When I teach music, I encourage
students to join me in finding connections between the art form, themselves, and humanity.
I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can
learn. – Albert Einstein
I strive to educate students to become independent musicians, active listeners, and critical
thinkers by producing an environment where these traits are encouraged and nurtured. While
teaching through lecture is sometimes a necessity, teaching by leading and moderating a class
discussion is often a more rewarding learning experience. Students engage their critical thinking
skills as they develop their comments and arguments and share them with the class. They then
listen to the comments of other students and a learning cycle begins. In the best discussions
arguments are challenged and defended which leads to continuous cycle of more thinking and
listening.
Ensemble rehearsals often become comparable to lectures with the conductor giving
musical directions and the ensemble simply recreating those musical directions through
performance. I often lead rehearsals in the manner, but occasionally I turn the tables on the

2. ensemble. Instead of saying, “play the staccato notes with more separation”; I may ask the
ensemble, “given our understanding of music of this style, how much separation should the notes
have?” This allows students to independently synthesize knowledge already learned with a new
situation and make independent musical choices. I do not give a lecture about the style, but
instead guide the students to the correct conclusion.
As a conductor, my goal is to present coherent and unambiguous gestures to an ensemble
so they can learn through my physical directions as well as verbal instruction. However,
sometimes being more abstract with gestures creates learning opportunities. By being abstruse
with physical communication, students are forced to think in different ways in order to interpret
the gestures they see. This thinking also leads to making independent musical decisions.
In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day’s work. It is invisible and remains
so, maybe for twenty years. – Jacques Barzun, historian
How do I measure my effectiveness as a teacher? Traditional assessments (i.e. exams,
essays, presentations) are useful for short-term evaluation, but as Barzun says, it may take some
time to see if learning has truly taken place. In music education courses, an exam or essay may
show that class content is learned but only when I can observe the student as a teacher in a
classroom that I know content has been assimilated and I can rate my own effectiveness. In the
ensemble setting the concert serves as an assessment but I will not know my success as a teacher
until the new rehearsal sequence begins and I observe what concepts carry over from the past
program. Once I have measured my effectiveness I always seek out ways to improve through my
network of colleagues, professional publications, and student evaluations. As successful as
students may be there is always room for improvement and more energy I can bring to my
teaching.
In everything I do, I aim to be a model of exceptional teaching. My students experience
how I dedicate all of my energy and my life into making them better musicians, teachers, and
people. How I teach can be summarized into four steps. First I introduce a musical or extra-
musical concept or idea. Next, I discuss ways to implement said concept. Then I give the
students a moment to think and make decisions about how they can apply it to their own
musicianship. Finally, I send the students forth to be better musicians and human beings,
hopefully with a feeling “that something is right with the world”.