Ensemble ACJW

“Teaching in the classroom is like performing—you have to be on all the time. I am exhausted at the end of the day,” says pianist Michael Mizrahi of teaching at elementary school PS 85 in Queens as part of his fellowship in The Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education.

Mizrahi is very familiar with the intense pressures of performing: with a doctorate in piano from Yale under his belt, he frequently gives solo recitals, and his piano trio is currently in residence at the New England Conservatory. But these days Mizrahi is also giving a different, but equally demanding, type of performance in a music classroom.

“It is a challenge,” he says of teaching everything from flute to tuba, “since I don’t play any of these instruments.” But not only did Mizrahi quickly learn the basics of each instrument, he found creative ways to engage his students and awaken their potential. In one lesson, students listened to the storm movement from Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony and then created the sounds of a rainstorm by using body percussion. Students then conducted parts of the movement and talked about Beethoven.

Mizrahi also helped PS 85 to win a grant from the Center for Arts Education to engage both parents and students in an after-school band. “What’s great is that parents get to learn alongside their kids, who sometimes end up teaching their own parents. No one seems embarrassed in the slightest. Parent and child participate as equals—it is a powerful bonding experience.” Not only do they make music together, parents and students also have the chance to attend certain Carnegie Hall events.

When Mizrahi got a call from Carnegie Hall and an offer two years ago to be one of the first fellows in The Academy program, the decision was easy. Beyond the practical benefits of a stipend and healthcare, the program also shared Mizrahi’s philosophy of creating a generation of musicians invested in education and the wider culture, because, as Mizrahi points out, “We can’t exist in a vacuum.”