We have a lot of incredible people teaching for our programs, and while our students get to work with them every week, we know that our wider community might not know them!
Our featured teacher for April is Morgan Gerstmar. Morgan teaches for not one, not two, but THREE of our programs! You can find her coaching upper strings for Academy Philharmonic, working with our Elemental Strings Sinfonia viola section, or teaching Bergmann Project students. Morgan is an incredible educator and we love having her teach for us. Read more about Morgan below!
EM: How long have you been teaching for Elemental Music?
Morgan Gerstmar: I think officially since 2016.
EM: How did you get started in music?
MG: Having a career as a musician is never really a straight line, although for many years I thought it was and that I had been doing it wrong! When I was about to graduate from high school I was like “whoops, forgot to prepare for a career”. My older brother had gone to art school so I sort of knew that was the path for me, as well.
I went to two summer programs in high school for music, one at Berklee College of Music and the other at Ithaca College’s Suzuki Institute. At Berklee I learned to be expressive in music without worrying about notes on a page, and that opened me up to the world of experimental music and free improv. At Ithaca I got to play chamber music–which I really love–and found that I was a pretty decent violist who just needed some TLC from a pre-college teacher. I was very lucky to attend New England Conservatory for viola lessons, chamber music, orchestra, and music theory for two years before applying to college.
I ended up getting into USC which brought me to Los Angeles–but the music program there is very, very competitive and I wasn’t ready. I had a pretty horrible experience with my teacher, in fact, and then quit for a few years. At the time it felt like I was really bad at my instrument, but in reality I just wasn’t ready for that type of experience. Because I eschewed music from my life, I took USC as an opportunity to get a good education and ended up majoring in Neuroscience.
After working in that field for a couple years I realized I was still very unfulfilled. I decided to get back into music, but mostly with DIY garage bands across Los Angeles. I got into using pedals and making pure noise. This lead me to get my MFA at CalArts in a unique program called Performer/Composer–I got to hone my performance skills while also writing my own music, which tends to be interdisciplinary between text, music notation, and graphic design. I think my time playing music in the underground scene in Los Angeles plus my time at CalArts were some of my most creative periods of my life. Recently, I have been more focused on teaching my students so a new generation can explore their own musical landscape like I have. Also, you never really put the pen down, I am sure I will find ways to create again in the near future!
EM: Does your background as a composer influence the way you teach?
MG: Everything influences the way we teach! As a composer I like to explore how I can get a performer to use pure expression that has been derived from their years and years of experience playing their instrument. I want their input in my works. And I think that is what I wish for my students as well, for them to develop ownership of their performance/practice so they can participate in any type of music they want to.
EM: What is one of your favorite musical memories?
MG: This is kind of difficult. Since it was recently my wedding anniversary, I’m going to say performing original compositions by our friends John Eagle and Todd Lerew with my husband (who plays double bass) on our wedding day. We also asked our guests to perform a piece that I co-wrote with my husband (also a composer) during our ceremony. Todd’s piece requires us to perform it every year for 30 years, so we just did our 4th iteration this year.
EM: This year you are coaching for two of our ensembles, Elemental Strings and Academy Philharmonic. What are your favorite things about working with each of these groups?
MG: I have been teaching for Elemental Strings for a long time and it certainly has a special place in my heart. I always urge any private students who are in 3rd grade to participate! Since I coach Sinfonia, often times this is the first time my students will have played in an orchestra. They’re learning so much–from skills on their instrument to how to follow a conductor–it’s pretty cool to see them be prepared for concert day! Academy Philharmonic has been fun, mostly because I kind of love working with middle school kids. I view this age as a transitory period between being a kid and becoming an adult. Middle schoolers are often looking for role models outside of their home (sorry moms and dads) and as a music teacher you can often be an adult that is trusted by the kids themselves, as well as the parents. I kind of love being that person.
EM: What is one of your proudest moments as a teacher?
MG: I really try hard to not show that I am proud of my students. This might seem weird–but I want them to find the joy of learning their instrument inside themselves rather than from me. I want them to be proud of the results of their hard work.
That being said, I am always proud when my students can do something well on their own. I recently had a student make some breakthroughs with vibrato and I was most excited for him when he heard it sounded more like the vibrato he hears in professional players. This was after we spent 45 minutes of one lesson discussing it and we both left the lesson sort of deflated. At the next lesson I said “we can take a break from vibrato exercises if you want to” and he said “I want to show you what I worked on”. It just seemed it had clicked between lessons and he was really satisfied with himself having gotten over that hurdle.
There is another kind of funny one–I make my students weekly practice charts I call their “violin/viola workout”, usually with notes about what to practice for the week. This is one of the things I find middle school kids–who are in transition–have such a hard time with–just remembering what we did in our lesson and following through with that in their weekly practice. Anyway, my student told me one day that if she follows my practice chart from beginning to end–without timing her practice–she can clearly hear herself improving. I might want to add she pretty much “practices every day she eats” now, too. Improving on her playing is so rewarding that she’s been keeping up with it for months now because she feels so satisfied by her own progress. It’s less about what I’m asking her to do and more about developing the ability to follow through with what is on her to-do list. You can really see how learning an instrument translates into life skills.
EM: In addition to your work in Elemental Music's ensembles, you're also a prolific private teacher - both for our Bergmann Project as well as in your own studio. What is it like to watch your students grow up, from when they're first in Prelude or Elemental Strings to going through high school?
MG: I haven’t had too many do that just yet! But it’s starting to happen more frequently, now. I often start kids as young as 4, but many of my private students started in Prelude or Elemental Strings and they are now in middle and high school. It’s really wonderful being an intimate part of their lives for so long and see them grow into inquisitive, competent human beings. I have two seniors this year and both have made music a huge part of their lives. One is going on to study Viola Performance in college and the other has been producing her own original songs and put out an EP. I love that I was able to give them the skills to take music in whatever direction they wanted.
EM: We know that you have a parrot named Wilma. What does Wilma think of string instruments?
MG: Wilma loves music and especially loves my students. She is definitely sad she hasn’t been able to see anyone in person during COVID.
EM: If you could give our students one piece of advice, musical or otherwise, what would it be?
MG: Work on skills first, expression comes later. We often don’t think of art in our bodies but in our minds. Music is expressed through the body, so it’s so important to learn how to move your body, hands, and fingers in the easiest way for music to come out of them. My students who take this seriously just have the music pour right out of them. It’s pretty amazing!
EM: Is there anything else you'd like to add, that you think might be interesting for our community?
MG: I think my students find me firm, but are delighted to know I am super into video games. I have a shutdown project I did with friends on Animal Crossing: New Horizons where we performed experimental music with their sound engines. I think EM may have mentioned it in one of their blogs!