“All the music in me, I wanted to give it back,” says Lower School Music Teacher and Middle School Play Assistant Laura Cian, remembering her childhood experiences with a pianist mother, ten years of piano conservatory study, and her subsequent interest in psychology and education.  She began teaching music at an English-Spanish bilingual international school in her native Argentina, and found her calling.  Ms. Cian’s degrees include a B.A. in Music from the National University, Córdoba, Argentina, and an M.A. from Universidad CAECE of Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

“To me, music means moving, dancing, singing, playing—acting, improvising.  Music theory easily follows that joy of creating, when we reflect on what just happened,” she continues, describing both her personal philosophy of music education and the approach used in the Orff-Schulwerk approach to teaching music.  She has received advanced Orff-Schulwerk certification from George Mason University.

Ms. Cian began teaching Spanish and music at her children’s preschool after moving to the United States with her young family.  Since then, she has led music classes and performances for students in Montessori and traditional classrooms, developed a music centered curriculum, taught at the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C., and performed in musical ensembles. Joy and responsiveness to what sparks the interest of students are at the heart of her approach, and she loves incorporating multicultural and multilingual elements into her teaching. “There has to be space for students to create, and to listen to themselves,” she says, describing the delight of connecting with those in her classes.