Shant Arakelian is a performer and educator of the bassoon, clarinet, flute and piccolo having graduated in 2021 from Gordon College with a Bachelor of Music Performance degree. A lifelong resident of Lexington, Shant is a 2017 graduate of Lexington High School having won the coveted Concerto Competition in 2017 playing the Mozart Bassoon Concerto in Bb-Major, K. 191.

A prolific performer of music Shant has performed with the Harvard Musical Association Orchestra, Metro-West Symphony Orchestra, Reading Symphony Orchestra, MITSPO (MIT Summer Philharmonic Orchestra) and is currently the Principal Bassoonist with the Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra.

A student of Donald Bravo, Shant enjoys all things related to music and looks forward to passing on his passion for classical music to beginning and all level students.

My teaching philosophy breaks down into four different categories that relate to each other. 

The first two categories are organization and management skills. I use a physical journal to write down my objectives that I want to teach for the week and another journal for my student so that I can write those objectives down as well. I also keep a digital copy of my lesson plan in case I ever lose that journal. I make sure that I have reasonable goals for my student so that they maintain interest in any of the instruments I teach. I believe that organization is paramount for private teaching. If you cannot be organized, you would not be able to teach any student properly.

The second category which ties into the first category is management skills. This sort of is similar to organization for me. You must be organized enough to manage more than one student. I would like to continue private teaching through the Lexington Community Education Program. I would need to maintain the organization necessary to teach more than one student. I have worked on my management skills with my current student as I have improved on my organization. I keep a journal of all of the assignments and things that I teach during the lesson so I do not forget them. I think that this is an area I have really improved upon since I started teaching many years ago.

The third category is focus. You must have focus in order to properly teach a student. This also goes with the student as well. Keep the lesson engaging so that the student does not zone out. There needs to be a balance between each lesson. 

The final category is motivation. If you are not motivated as a teacher, how do you expect your student to be motivated? Keep your student’s motivation at a peak by assigning manageable goals for the week or have long term goals as well. This will motivate your student to want to improve and to soak up the knowledge that you have. Without motivation there is no effort in learning. 

Students are like sponges, they will absorb all of your knowledge and information. They will also manifest what you are manifesting. 

There is a balance when teaching lessons. You have to have a plan and to also be able to divert from that plan. Be prepared for the unexpected.

I believe that a well-balanced lesson is structured like this: 5 minutes of warm-ups, 10 minutes of scales, 10-15 minutes on etudes, 15-20 minutes on solo repertoire, the last 10-15 minutes on reviewing what is expected for the next week and other material the student has asked to review as well (could be ensemble repertoire).