Faculty Friday with Sarah Bish

Time for another Faculty Friday! For first time readers, our Faculty Friday blog is a series of questions and responses meant to feature instructors from Luzerne Music Center in a unique light. Focusing not only on their professional career, we ask faculty questions that give students and readers a glimpse into their daily lives.

Returning to LMC this year is one of our Junior Session cello faculty members, Sarah Bish. In addition to teaching at the Thurnauer School of Music, Sarah also teaches and performs in New York and Massachusetts. With a strong emphasis on technique in lessons, Sarah hopes to have students use that technique to explore different ways of expression.

Tell us a little bit about your history with LMC: how did you get connected and how many summers have you been on faculty?

Summer 2018 was my first time at LMC! I heard about the festival through one of the violin teachers, Maddi Jansen and I’m so glad I did—LMC is such a special and fun place to spend a summer.

You attended a camp when you were a kid! What did that mean to you?

Music camps are such an important thing for young musicians to do. I remember camps being a place where I could mix playing the cello and really learning more about various aspects of music with having fun and doing “summer” activities! As a teacher, I always encourage students to go to summer music camps because it’s a way of incorporating music in their lives outside of the business of the school year.

Besides classical music, what music do you like to listen to?

Hm, good question. I really love acoustic music. Mumford and Sons and the Tallest Man on Earth will always be a go to Spotify search for me. But when I’m driving in the car, pop music is great!

What’s one piece of advice that you wish someone had told you as a young musician?

Play more chamber music, even from a young age! It wasn’t until late high school that I discovered how much FUN playing with friends and colleagues can be. You explore different challenges playing with others than just yourself but always with a feeling of “we are in this together.” At LMC, one of my favorite things is that I get to coach chamber music. Just like a team, the students are “playing” together and I am the “coach” giving guidance and ideas of how to be more successful as an ensemble.

What’s your favorite part about working at LMC?

I really love the general feeling at LMC and all the faculty are outstanding. Every Friday the faculty give chamber music concerts that the students attend and it’s our chance to get on stage and share some of the greatest pieces with the audience. During the week we rehearse and prepare (always having a blast while doing so) and then we get to celebrate the week with a concert. As a cellist and a teacher, LMC is a perfect balance of all things I love about music.

Finally, if you could be a superhero, who would it be and why?

Well my first thought was Wonder Woman because she’s the best, but the more I think about it, I have to say Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series. I know she’s not technically a superhero, but I think she’s amazing. She’s extremely smart, brave, and cares for her friends and family. Students at LMC can always rely on me to chat about Harry Potter!