KRISTEN MELZER
Music Educator / Mezzo Soprano
Background
Why music?
My first introduction to organized music was when I was in the 5th grade choosing electives for middle school. I joined the strings program and immediately fell in love with what it meant to be a musician and ensemble member. I continued the violin throughout high school, when I joined multiple other ensembles as well. These ensembles included the pit orchestra for the musicals, chorus, indoor winter drumline, and marching band. When I was in school I played any instrument I could get my hands on, but to audition for a music program you have to choose and study a primary instrument. Although choosing between my two favorite things was difficult, I'm happy to say I chose voice. The voice and singing is the most intimate way one can express one's self through music. It is physically part of you. When a group of humans get together in one space and share that physical musicianship with each other it is profoundly beautiful. As I entered the world of collegiate music I quickly found peers and mentors who inspired me in ways that previously seemed unfathomable. My goal as a musician and educator is to inspire and encourage my students as much as it's been done for me.
Why education?
I decided I was going to be a teacher when I was in the first grade. I had no idea the kinds of people I would meet that would constantly confirm that vision for myself. As I've grown through childhood, adolescence, and now adulthood, that desire to teach has never faltered. Being a teacher is not simply teaching the content at hand. It's encouraging and inspiring young people to constantly chase greatness. Good teachers teach their content accurately. Great teachers use the content to inspire their students. Think of teachers as artists, and their subject is the medium for which they guide their students towards a more fulfilling path. Every human is capable of becoming great, but whether or not it happens can depend on their surroundings. I intend to be at least one more positive adult in a young person's life. I do not intend to mass produce musicians, rather to show my students the power music holds and how it can teach them to be better humans.