Spotlight on Megan Fong, Violin Teaching Artist

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Tell us about your background in music:
I am graduating from the African American Improvisational Music Program at the California Institute of the Arts in violin performance and composition. I am primarily a jazz improvisational performer and composer but consider myself an organizer for musical and educational opportunities for artists of all ages.

How does ETM-LA differ from other music education programs?
For me ETM-LA is not a program to create the next Paganini or Joshua Bell, it is a program that allows for all learning styles, a space for different social interactions and an appreciation for art, music and culture. I worked with ETM in New York from ’05 to ’07 and have just finished my first year at ETM-LA. As a child in the Bay Area, I was fortunate enough to have a mother and father who worked hard so they could afford to give me a musical education. With this program, we are offering all students equal opportunities to that education, and providing the encouragement to dream, discover, and feel good about a skill they might not otherwise get to uncover.

Tell us more about the schools where you teach.
I teach general music through violin to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at Castelar Elementary.  I am fortunate to assist a principal, Mr. Choi, who sees the importance of music education. He has found the means to provide instruments for students who wish to purchase them, so there are many students who take their instruments home and have a chance to practice.   

What is your best ETM-LA “success story”?
When you have a student that doesn’t get anything “right”, doesn’t participate, and has the same “problems” in every other class, it is very rewarding to see them discover a different part of themselves in music classes.  I have had several students that at the beginning of the year were troubled in their regular classroom activities, and as I had them in my music class I encouraged little discoveries to happen . . .  it’s not always uncovering a virtuosic performer, it is giving a child a chance to discover something new, to feel inquisitive and to be confident in themselves.