Dr. Wayne Oquin, composer, educator, and Chair of Ear Training on the music theory faculty at Juilliard, spent the 2024–25 academic year in residence at Tianjin Juilliard. During his time on campus, he taught core courses, led professional development workshops, and worked closely with faculty and students. His residency culminated in a performance of his orchestral work Tower Ascending by the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra. As the school year comes to a close, we caught up with Dr. Oquin as he reflects on his time in Tianjin, his teaching philosophy, and what it means to prepare the next generation of artists.
Your piece Tower Ascending was performed by the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra in their final concert of the season. Could you share the inspiration behind this composition?
Tower Ascending is one of my most performed works. I first wrote this for concert band in 2008. The orchestral arrangement that the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra performed was commissioned by The Pacific Symphony in 2021.
The piece builds on itself. As skyscrapers are built beam upon beam, floor upon floor, so, too, is this music cumulative, layering successive measures and phrases, rising in register, accelerating in tempo. The piece doesn’t attempt to depict any single architectural structure; it’s a work about progress, endurance, and the strength of human spirit.
What were some of the highlights at Tianjin Juilliard?
This entire community – including faculty, administration, and staff – is exceptional. When I first heard the Shanghai Quartet perform Beethoven’s Op. 59 No. 2 last October and the Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble play live last December, I was utterly blown away by the faculty talent that is here.
To have the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra perform my Tower Ascending is a milestone in my life. To work with Ken Lam and these wonderful students is among the most rewarding experiences of my career. Never have I experienced a more grateful and encouraging group of young people. Their optimism is infectious.
I would like to say a special thank you to Beth Marshall, Director of Enrollment Management at Tianjin Juilliard, who went out of her way to acclimate me to China and the school. I owe much to Dr. Xingyu Li who generously made hundreds(!) of audios files that added so much to our music theory and music history experience. My heartfelt appreciation goes to James Xia and his wonderful staff at my favorite restaurant, Pomodoro, not only for their amazing cuisine, but for their help in so many ways, big and small.
How does your background as a composer influence your teaching methodology?
Teachers come to pedagogy through the lens of their own artistic experience. As a composer I approach music education as a creative act. The number one lesson of composition is that every note matters. Every note is a choice. Every note has a reason for being on the page. And we as musicians, as teachers, as interpreters of these great works of centuries past, our job is to search and strive as much as we possibly can to discover the reasons. Reasoning is the primary goal of teaching. I’m not aiming to tell students what to think; I’m striving to teach them how to think, how to learn for themselves. I’m not attempting to cover what is; I’m striving to teach what might be.
How do you incorporate the ideas and trends of the contemporary music landscape into your curriculum?
I’ve been fortunate. I’ve had the honor of working with some of the world’s leading ensembles. I’ve seen firsthand the pressures and struggles that arts organizations face today. Anything I can do as an educator to better prepare a student for the future reality in the performing arts – a day-to-day schedule that will likely consist not only of making music with others, but also teaching, speaking from the stage, and conversing with potential donors – is well worth the effort. Mastering any of these skills can radically advance a student’s future.
How do you approach teaching ear training to cultivate both theoretical understanding and musical intuition in your students?
Musicianship isn’t about what a student knows; it’s about what a student can do. One of the core Ear Training principles of Juilliard is that every question must be answered in time, while conducting. In the real world of advanced music making, playing the right note isn’t good enough. Notes do not exist in a vacuum. The pitches we play hold meaning only in context. They are either consonant or dissonant with other notes; they are a scale degree in a key, a member of a chord; they occur on a beat, in a meter, at a tempo. Teaching a student to think in time – to calculate within the confines of the meter – will impart much more than ear training; it will instill phrasing, a sense of line, and goal-directed thinking. It will foster confidence and greater self-awareness.
What insights can you share about music education in a cross-cultural context?
I’ve taught in many corners of the world. One thing I’ve learned is that good teaching is effective anywhere. Every institution has its own strengths and challenges. If a teacher cares enough to be clear, is patient enough to repeat and drill, and is willing to meet the students where they are, this will overcome any obstacle.
Beyond the classroom, you've also been involved in mentorship and professional training workshops for our students. What do you believe are the key elements in preparing the next generation of musicians for successful careers?
Over the years I’ve watched my own students grow to become some the world’s most recognized names in the performing arts. I’ve also watched a number of them make the hard and sometimes painful decision to enter another vocation. Many of my Juilliard students have gone on to be leaders in the fields of neuroscience, medicine, law, and finance. Their success in these various disciplines is owed in part to their artistry.
No teacher knows what life has in store for a student. But as music educators, much of what we teach can readily be transferred to other disciplines. The lessons of the studio or classroom run far deeper than repertoire or musicality. A truly great teacher teaches a student to be a lifelong learner, to learn by doing, to discover how others learn, to value excellence for its own sake, and that meaningful progress in any endeavor happens gradually, not overnight. These lessons can be applied anywhere, anytime.
Reflecting on your own journey at Juilliard, from student to faculty, what advice would you offer to students navigating similar paths?
As educators we are part of a life cycle. If we teach well, and long enough, we will eventually see some of our students become teachers themselves, thus carrying the standards and ideas from one generation to the next. My advice to any student who aspires to one day become a teacher is the same as my advice to those already in the teaching profession: embrace this lifecycle. Think in the big picture. There will come a day when the teacher with whom you’re currently studying will not be there. Leon Fleisher used to remind his fellow teaching colleagues: the most important lesson the teacher can impart is how to learn without the teacher.
