I find teaching, learning, and performing to be different aspects of the same thing – artistic communication.   I learn by teaching, I teach by performing, and perform what I learn whether in a classroom, on paper, or in front of an audience.  For example, if I am teaching a harp lesson, I learn from the student the best way to get the musical results both of us seek.  If I am working with a student to create a story, I use my ethnographic skills to help the student find the right words to make that story come alive.  If I am performing in a musical event or a story program the audience teaches me the nuances of what they are hearing and if they are learning anything, allowing me to put into action what I am observing as I observe it!   Observation certainly plays a major role here, but so do comments and questions from an audience, whether they're five or seventy-five! 

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