“The essentials of my teaching philosophy are connection, authenticity, and drive”
Dr. Megan Boutin
For me, teaching is an incredibly inspiring journey. It is about seeing potential, fostering it, nurturing it, and guiding it to allow a student to become their best self. I believe it’s my job to inspire curiosity, ignite drive, and fuel a passion in a student to always seek to learn and improve.
Connection
“They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel.” —Carol Buchner
Music is about connection and communication. I want to help students develop musical inspiration, knowledge and skills that allow them to create, strengthen, and deepen connections with others.
I love trombone, but we are so much more than trombonists! We are human beings, connecting through music, and the trombone is our voice and our tool to do this. I value fostering a musical community (this starts with my own trombone studio!) where students can feel supported, encouraged, challenged, and uplifted.
Part of being an educator is also being a role model. I strive for excellence in what I do, and work to make genuine connections with students. I strive to be a leader, guide, and mentor. I share my story, struggles, and successes with students, and hope this offers them a meaningful perspective on their own journey.
Authenticity
“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”
I seek to have authenticity in my teaching - I can approach every student as an individual and meet them where they are at. Learning about my students to discover how they learn, listening, and observing are some of the most important parts of teaching for me.
Passion and inspiration are crucial to becoming a successful musician, but we also need to develp the skills, knowledge, and tools to navigate our instrument. It is like a painter expanding his palate of colors, or poet broadening his vocabulary. Developing the fundamental skills on the trombone is essential to our success as a musician.
Embracing mistakes is essential to becoming a successful learner. When we seek to understand our mistakes – why, when, and how they happen – we can understand how to adapt and adjust our strategies and actions to be more successful in the future.
To fully develop a student’s potential is one of the most important element of teaching for me. Focus, determination, and work ethic are all important to success – this process doesn’t have to be painful. It may be challenging but it can also be filled with joy, accomplishment, and success! I love the process of continuously learning through accepting challenges, acknowledging failures, and accepting even the smallest successes as meaningful.
In my own work as a musician (an person!) I am always striving to improve, and never satisfied with settling for mediocrity. This is an exciting part of the journey where passion ignites drive for growth and leads to improvement! Being a musician is not about one day suddenly “arriving”, but enjoying the process of understanding ourselves as learners throughout life.
Drive
“A comfort zone is a beautiful place – but nothing ever grows there.” — Anonymous
