I have enjoyed teaching music theory throughout my graduate school career. I have taught Introduction to Music Theory and several lab sessions for different levels of musician skills. I like when my students learn to answer questions which they did not know before attending my classes. By asking students questions based on the materials covered in previous classes, I can evaluate their degree of comprehension. I like to see that students enjoy acquiring new ideas (see Evaluation). I also see teaching as a great opportunity to reinforce my scholarship, because I explore new materials in my teaching and may find new inspiration from the class discussions. Based on my teaching experience, I understand subject matter better after I teach a class.

I like to be approachable and maintain two-way communications with my students. I make a commitment to promptly answer their questions or emails. I also make an effort to create an active learning environment by leading group discussions in class and using the discussion board after class. I constantly evaluate students’ progress and adjust the class materials accordingly. Based on several studies (Johnstone and Percival, 1976; Burns, 1985), students’ learning ability dramatically drops after fifteen minutes. For this reason, I will design my classes to include a variety of activities. For example, in my music theory lab, I ask students to sight sing melodies and rhythms, dictate harmony, and demonstrate different keyboard skills (see Syllabus). As an instructor, I think of myself as a gardener who helps students to grow and develop knowledge.

There are different learning styles: visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile, so having a variety of activities will also benefit students with different strengths. Showing scores, art images, and PowerPoint presentations will help the students with visual learning styles. Listening to music examples, explaining materials and having group discussions will enhance the study of students who tend to learn better in auditory learning styles. Singing, playing and composing music usually requires students to be active. These activities may be useful for students who favor kinesthetic and tactile learning styles.

Using technology is another way to make classes exciting and use class time more efficiently. I will consistently use blackboard for announcing news, posting materials, giving assignments and exams, and clarifying materials that were not fully discussed in the classroom. I will also use web based technology to create discussion forums outside the class. Using web based technology has the advantage of communicating with people in different locations. I will also use PowerPoint shows and the Personal Response System for class presentations and evaluations.

In my course on Music in Chinese Film, students explore the roles of music in different genres of Chinese cinema. Students will view and analyze a range of films produced in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan from the early 1900s to the present. In particular, we will look at films that focus on Chinese music, musicians, and actors (including famous female performers, heroines and opera stars). Chinese film music can be a good starting point and a fun way to learn about Chinese culture.

The primary objectives of this course are to introduce students to Chinese film, music and the film industry, and give them the skills necessary to intelligently discuss and write about film music. Students also learn how each film relates to the history of Chinese film and Chinese culture. By leading students into sound analysis based on the relationship of film and music, they will gain a new critical understanding of film music and a new means to discuss its artistry. These are skills they will be able to apply to an examination of other arts.

Among the primary course objectives, the first is to learn methods for "reading" film music. Therefore, the class will start to introduce some basic terminology and historical backgrounds (See slides 3-6 in PowerPoint show). Then, students will learn to read Chinese films and listen to their soundtracks in relation to their representations of Chinese culture. Students will explore theories and experiment with methods for analyzing film music (See slide 7 in PowerPoint show). The films will be contextualized within the social-historical conditions of their production as well the conditions which they portray. As the class moves on, the topics will broaden to cover the relationships between music and emotion, movement, and narrative in Chinese film.

Students will be evaluated with a midterm exam (short answer and essay), several short synthetic and analytic papers (2-3 pages), and a short presentation. There will also be a final research paper (10 pages), which will be on a related topic based on the students’ interests in Chinese film and music.