About Pamela

Pamela Martinez (she, they) is a musician in healing, immersive performer / creator, reiki master, and composer specializing in deep listening, sound baths and sonic expressions with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Berklee College of Music in Boston. She performs around the world as a singer/songwriter. When home in Brooklyn or San Antonio, Pamela focuses on passing the craft of music on to her community by teaching violin, string, voice, piano, guitar, harp songwriting, and music theory to all ages and levels of students. She also focus on music as a meditative practice and sound for wellness. Her teaching has a strong focus on mentorship, keeping in mind a student’s musical taste and goals. She has lead orchestras, string quartets, choirs, and rock bands. Her work experience in performance, technology, recording and the classroom forms a unique combination of skills that blend her ability to create, educate and inspire.

Find out more about Pamela’s Sonic Arts, Original Music and Immersive Theater Projects by visiting www.teletextile.org

Pamela’s Teaching Philosophy

The thread of music can carry us through many worlds of inquiry just like a great symphony literally pulls at our heartstrings.  The Sonic Arts create lifelong curiosity in students of many fields and can be explored from many modes of cultural, historical, mathematical, and expressive modes. When I teach I’m hoping to inspire through development by keeping the following aspects in mind:

I. A Universal Language

I believe music is a language.  I introduce every one of my students to the building blocks of this musical language through music theory.  As a result, my students obtain basic musical literacy within just a handful of years.  My goal is to create musical citizens fluent in music: meaning they will be able to speak, read, and write in the universal language of music.  Here is how I define those terms musically speaking!

Speaking Music - A student is able to express oneself on an instrument of choice.

Reading Music - A student can read standard music notation.

Writing Music - A student compose new music and can improvise.

II. Wellness Through Music

I believe music and sound are natural tools of wellbeing.  Scientific studies have proven that both playing music and listening to music will naturally help an individual relax and heal (Muehsam and Ventura, 2014).  It is important that I impart this valuable life skill, to de-stress, which can be found by practicing and listening to beautiful sounds. To this end, I incorporate ideas of wellness and deep listening into many of my lesson plans.  Deep listening also fosters active listener which allows a student to self-assess during solo practice sessions.  

III. Social Learning

I love the social learning that takes place in music.  For example, students can learn to be a leader of a small ensemble.  One also learns to hear the voices and / or instruments of the other ensemble members while playing a piece.  Doing so helps us learn how to communicate verbally and non-verbally.

IV. Musical Citizens

Music exists in every single person’s daily life, from elevator music to movie soundtracks to pacemakers keeping a beat.  As a teacher, I hope to foster a community of people who can transfer musical inspiration into many aspects of their life.  I consider my teaching a success if a student move forward in life with a bit more curiosity and respect for the language of music.