Six days of the week, Esha Krishnamoorthy, 16, is patient, but that changes every Thursday at 5:45 pm for the vivacious student of Mahjon Phillips, owner, voice and piano instructor of the Music As Language School. “I count down the days until my next lesson with her,” Esha Krishnamoorthy said. Music is a language, and like verbal communication, it's a form of expression that can be read and written. Yet for centuries the foundation of music education is to teach music note-by-note with students watching their teacher than copying what they see and hear. But a new “music architect” is in Morgan Hill - Mahjon Phillips - and her recently opened Music as Language School is building a unique way to teach music. “Learning by rote and through instruction …show more content…
This summer she attended the renowned Berkeley School of Music in Austin for jazz sessions. Her ultimate goal is to sing professionally, a dream that is slowly becoming a reality thanks to her Music As Language training. “Mahjon has helped me find different genres of music, so I'm branching out, so my advise to others is be open to anything here,” Krishnamoorthy …show more content…
What makes her method different is it is customized to the individual by focusing on what the student wants to learn, from Bach to Adele. While traditional music books are used occasionally, the tailored approach makes them excited and curious, so they want to play or sing said Heather Faulhaber, voice and piano instructor. A native of the Bay Area, she is a professional performer with years of teaching experience with students ranging in age 5 to 76, and has been with the school for one year. “It's exciting and gratifying to see students test themselves and perform for the first time, or land leading roles in shows,” Faulhaber said. As music education disappears from the curricula of many public schools, a local school like Music As Language becomes even more vital to the creative life of a community. Morgan Hill parents Ann and Bruce Pember of Brianna, 15, and Emily, 13, decided to start their girls at an early age with private music lessons. For the last six years, the girls have taken voice lessons with Faulhaber, and Ann said she likes the sense of community within the school. “The girls have the freedom to select the types of music they like, and Heather is so nurturing that she lets them grow without pushing them,” Pember