Illustration by Josh Hagler

Professor of piano finds inspiration in teaching classical music

Tannis Gibson, an adjunct assistant professor of piano at the UA, said her least favorite aspect of teaching is often a student's least favorite aspect of going to class - waking up early.

However, despite having to wake up early, Gibson said there are more pleasant aspects of her job that override this negative one.

"My favorite thing (about teaching) is the interaction," she said. "As I get older it seems that students get younger, but I enjoy being around youth.

"I enjoy the fact that teaching is also an opportunity to learn," she said. "By helping a student, you also begin to find information that you yourself can use, and it's really fascinating (in) that way."

Gibson added that she is often inspired by students' motivation to overcome difficult pieces.

"The most inspiring thing to observe as a teacher is to watch students - through persistence, hard work, desire and passion - overcome a piece that is initially too hard for them," Gibson said. "To watch them overcome that and grab hold of a piece and eventually bring it to a performance standard."

While she added that her own musical study began early in her youth, Gibson said she didn't realize until her college years that she wanted to pursue music as her career.

Photo courtesy of the UA School of Music Web site Tannis Gibson, an adjunct assistant professor of music, finds inspiration in classical music. Gibson performs in tonight's Faculty Artist Series Concert in Crowder Hall.

"I studied piano from a young age (but) I didn't really understand the commitment that classical music demands until I got to college as an undergraduate," she said. "From there I just decided that it (was) the only thing I wanted to do."

Gibson, who studied music at Julliard, said the music program at the University of Arizona offers students a broad array of musical possibilities.

"At Julliard the students are predominately in performance," she said. "When a music student comes to the UA they have a larger array of possibilities - music education, theory, composition, music history and musicology. At Julliard, it's just performance."

She added that as an undergraduate she never saw herself pursuing a career in teaching.

"When I was studying in college I was never preoccupied with thoughts of what I might do afterwards," she said. "I wasn't very practical - I just wanted to be playing my instrument (the piano) and making music. I didn't think much beyond that."

She said her interest in teaching was initially sparked after spending a year studying in Belgium.

"After a year of studying in Belgium, both my husband and I were thinking of coming back to the United States," Gibson said. "There was a job at the University of Virginia, and we kind of fell into it and discovered that we both loved teaching."

She added that she not only loves teaching, but more specifically she loves teaching classical music.

"Most of the hours in my day are (spent) interacting with and listening to classical music, and when I come home at the end of the day what I put on is (also) classical music," Gibson said. "(It is) not that I'm not open to other music, but classical music is such a vast field, I couldn't even begin to know it in a lifetime."

She added that she also is interested in the performance aspects of her musical career.

"(In performance) you have an element of freedom involved that really allows you to be one with the music," she said.

Those interested in experiencing Gibson's musical talents can attend tonight's Faculty Artist Series Concert in Crowder Hall. The concert features musical compositions both selected and performed by Gibson.

"Among the highlights of the program will be Kabelevsky's colorful 'Sonata No. 3,' a work once championed by a young Vladimir Horowitz and now heard infrequently," a press release stated.

The show begins at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $4 for students with a valid ID and $8 for UA employees. For more information call 621-2998.