Every month, we like to spotlight one of our incredible Elemental Music teachers. Some of them have been teaching with us for close to a decade while others might be in their first year of working for our organization, but there is one thing that all of our teachers have in common: their dedication to the young musicians in our programs.
This month, we are featuring Joanna Warmath-Pascoe. Joanna is unique among our teachers in that she is our only staff member who has taught for every Venice program! She is currently one of our teachers providing core music instruction at Westminster Elementary. We hope that you enjoy getting to know Joanna in our interview below!
Elemental Music: How did you get started in music?
Joanna Warmath-Pascoe: I would say my music training actually began in ballet class at the age of three. Learning how to move to music is so important yet often neglected. At the very least, it helps us learn musical expression. As a teacher I learned that the majority of learners are kinesthetic, which means that when I am teaching a rhythm my students will learn it more accurately if they can put the rhythm into their body. Yet I digress... I began singing in church choir when I was five and I quickly added any extra choral activities I could fit in. I still remember the Pineapple Song I sang with the All-State Honor Choir in Colorado (probably because half of the song was made up of rhythms and they were fun to dance to!). In fourth grade, I also added the clarinet. Clarinet was not necessarily my first choice, but it was the free instrument my cousin let me borrow and I ended up loving it. I only stopped playing it when high school ran out of periods in the day and I had to pick between band and choir.
EM: You are teaching core music at Westminster Elementary through our Elemental @ Westminster program. This is Elemental Music's first and only in-school music program right now, which makes it really unique among all of our programs. What is your favorite thing about teaching for Elemental @ Westminster?
JWP: I like that I get to see the third graders I taught last spring in the hallways as big ol' fourth graders. Some ask about music, some are shy, some are “too cool” to notice, and sometimes the kid who wants to know when music class will start again is the one who surprises me. Whatever music was and is to them, it’s all good. We are there for whatever it needs to be - to meet a whole group of 30 kids and see what needs we can fill without the kids having had to do anything to be there. It’s nice knowing that I did my best with them…I planted a little seed, and when they have music again next semester, they’ll have a different teacher and grow a little more with them.
This semester I’m teaching the first graders, which means across the years I’ll get to watch a whole generation grow up into teens. It’s also fun walking into their classrooms and seeing what they’re learning in math or hearing about their yoga class or seeing their mosaics on the wall. Something about seeing daily classroom life makes me feel like we are growing into the Westminster family.
EM: What inspired you to teach in addition to performing?
JWP: To be honest, I thought I was going to be a music therapist but I was completely broke after paying for college. I knew I could get my credential quickly and start raking in the dough (aka pay off student loans faster) whereas getting a master’s in music therapy would have taken approximately three years. Plus, credential training is valuable in a music therapy setting so I saw it as a lucrative side step that didn't necessarily negate my plan of becoming a music therapist.
After completing my credential, I started teaching at a 100% Title I school in Santa Barbara and I fell in love with the children and their families. Teaching students about various cultures and finding the similarities in them, watching their little eyeballs light up when they understand something new, and seeing the relief in parents' eyes when their kid finally has a space to belong brings me indescribable joy and contentment. I particularly enjoy working with elementary students because they don't know their "limits" yet. For the most part, if I tell them they can do something, they believe it. They don't think - they just do - and it's always spectacular.
EM: What is one of your favorite musical memories?
JWP: At the end of my credential, my choir toured Germany and Austria. The tour culminated in an international choir competition (Internationaler Chorwettbewerb Spittal an der Drau). Only ten choirs are selected each year and each must represent a different country - the competition is one step down from the Choir Competition of the World in Wales, which my same choir competed in the next year after I graduated. Anyway, we completely swept the board in Austria and had encore after encore, but honestly that wasn't the best part. The BEST part was how close that group was. People in the audience would comment about how when we were listening to soloists in our ensemble the audience could tell that we were all appreciating how good our colleagues were, that there wasn't an ounce of jealousy, and that we just loved making beautiful music together through our various strengths and vocal styles. It was a close-knit group and nearly all of my lifelong friends come from that particular choir. Ten years post-competition, I still talk to several of them more frequently than any other friend in my other groups.
EM: If you could give our students one piece of advice, musical or otherwise, what would it be?
JWP: Travel abroad by yourself for at least a month (mid-20s is the perfect time to go). You will learn so much about yourself. Be scared, see how the rest of the world lives, have adventures, make mistakes, get lost and (with the help of kind strangers) unlost again. You will have such a sense of accomplishment when you survive everything and have the time of your life. If you are interested in becoming a professional musician, this adventure will make you a better performer and will connect you to the music in ways you haven't been able to connect before. If you decide to pursue a less musical path in life, you will still be a better person for expanding your horizons.
EM: Can you share a fun fact about yourself?
JWP: I've traveled extensively all over the world and my favorite place to live long-term BY FAR was Cuenca, Ecuador.