Full Circle Moment: Returning to Abelardo Hall
Full circle moment, I am back in a classroom at Abelardo Hall!
Yesterday, August 12, was my first day teaching Music Education 196 (MuEd 196) – Introduction to Performing Arts Medicine for undergraduate students. This was followed by MuEd 230, for the graduate students – a smaller, more intimate class made more memorable by the thunderstorm + power outage when we had 3 slides left in the slide deck!
MuEd 196 and MuEd 230 have the same content and assessments. It is mostly a “health and wellness for musicians” course since I don’t really touch on dancer, actor or other performers’ health except in the introductory talk.
A little more than a decade of weekly Saturday morning piano lessons (which included four years worth of the Comprehensive Preparatory Music Program for children) meant that the College of Music’s Abelardo Hall was like a second home at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus. I was probably in 2nd or 3rd year of high school when I realized that I wasn’t good enough to make a living out of piano performance… which would mean I would end up as a piano teacher. Now I have great respect for music teachers – they are very, very skilled at what they do – but I just couldn’t see myself teaching piano for the rest of my life. With that thought, I decided music would need to take a backseat to the sciences, which eventually led to a career path in Medicine.
Tadaah, now I am a music teacher! Sort of. Many thanks to the UPCM(edicine) for giving its “blessing” so I could teach at the other UPCM(usic). Also grateful to the UPCMu administration and the Music Education Department for giving musician wellness a space (and time) in the curriculum. We need healthy musicians who are able to have long, fulfilling careers! This is all God’s work, in His own time.
#performingartsmedicine #rehabilitation #musicmedicine #musiceducation
