The Academy values the importance of our teacher’s professional development. The Faculty Enrichment Fund annually provides partial and full reimbursement for teachers to attend conferences, workshops, and teacher training sessions. Our viola and violin teaching artist, Nina Kiken, had two lessons with Davis King. Kiken writes:
With assistance from the Faculty Enrichment Fund I recently had two lessons with esteemed pedagogue Davis King. Davis is on faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago and maintains an impressive studio of dedicated violin and viola students. In my meetings with Davis he shared annotated editions of repertoire and talked through specific technical challenges of various pieces. I was reassured to discover that he and I share common aesthetic ideals for stylistic interpretation. In discussing pedagogical approaches, we often returned to the question “how many different ways can you teach the same point?” or “how can you alter the language to help a student understand?” or “what are all the ways to reach the desired effect?” As a private music teacher I often find myself in a position of authority, relying on my education and experience to guide young artists. My lessons with Davis connected me to an external perspective on string pedagogy and encouraged a new burst of creativity in my own teaching.
