Teacher Spotlight: Vera Andrea Longo

April 1, 2025

From Italy to New York City, Spreading the Power of Music

Meet Vera Andrea Longo, a seasoned music educator who brings a passion for improving the health and psychophysical well-being of students through music. Vera, who started with ETM during the 2024-2025 school year, shares with us her journey as a musician and teacher from Italy, her experiences teaching with ETM, and what motivates her to continue to grow as an educator and inspire others through the healing power of music.

Share with us your journey. Where are you from and how did you come to music education?

I am a violin, music, and special education teacher from Italy with many years of experience. In my region, Apulia, there is an ancient musical tradition that has influenced my artistic growth. As a professional violinist and singer, I collaborated with composers, actors, poets, writers, directors, chamber music ensembles, orchestras, bands, and workshops. I am an ambassador of collaborative and creative exploration of the power of music to improve health and psychophysical well-being. I am a passionate teacher who believes in the strong authentic relationship between teacher and student and in an engaging educational model.

Since early childhood, I had the opportunity to study music and perform in public, and I strongly believe that these experiences help students develop motivation and self-esteem and to discover themselves and enjoy sharing. I obtained a Master’s degree in Music Education and Violin at the ”Tito Schipa” Conservatory, Lecce, Italy, and Master in music performance at the “Talent music master courses” Academy of Music, Brescia, Italy. During my years of teaching, I discovered that teaching is my vocation, and music has been a tool for students to express themselves and make experiences of sharing, inclusion, and personal growth.

I also discovered that a personalized teaching approach, using violin in an alternative way, can be an approach to overcome physical/psychophysical obstacles, so I decided to study to obtain a Special Education Teaching Certification and learn the most important inclusive teaching technique. With this certification, I was a Special Education Teacher for two years. When I moved to New York City, I increased my skills in accessible music education by obtaining a Certification from the Berklee Institute for Accessible Art Education in Boston.

Tell us how you learned about Education Through Music.

I became aware of ETM through the web and immediately embraced its beautiful mission to positively impact students’ motivation and to support children in recognizing their potential. Also, visiting the website and seeing videos on YouTube, I was impressed by its approach and its music education program. I strongly wanted to work with ETM because I believe in the student-centered educational model, and wanted to join a music education organization that represents a family with a shared love of teaching and joy of learning, where students feel at home and as protagonists of learning, and where parents feel part of the educational project. In addition, I liked it so much that ETM integrates social-emotional learning and music technology during the music lesson.

You’re a musician and singer-songwriter. How do you bring these experiences into the classroom?

Yes, I am a musician and singer-songwriter, and music has always been my favorite way of expression and has supported my strong need for sharing. I had the opportunity to discover my passion at an early age: music and performances have fueled my joy of learning through listening and practicing naturally and effectively. I always tell my students how wonderful it is to discover oneself through music and grow strong in the awareness that you can communicate through it. I invite them to understand its beauty through creativity, improvisation, and guided performance, and I share with them my music performing with and for them and by singing songs and creating games based on their learning needs.

What skills or experiences have you gained at ETM that you find most useful and helpful in your career as a music educator?

I am excited and proud to be part of the ETM team. The teacher’s professional development days are incredibly inspiring, and the “learning by doing” stimulated my creativity in a fun and peaceful atmosphere. The great desire to learn, improve, and share ideas through musical experiences belongs to the whole team. The ETM staff’s attention to the psycho-physical sphere of the teacher consequently ensures the psycho-physical well-being of the pupils.

ETM offers teachers the possibility of having many musical instruments and a large number of educational resources available, ensuring that the teacher offers a variety of educational activities, with educational objectives focused and related to the psycho-social development of the person. By guaranteeing two annual concerts with the possibility of having a pianist accompanying, ETM gives teachers the opportunity to create an engaging concert program that is both inspiring and motivating for students. Including the concert repertoire in daily class provides a time to develop empathy and listening to themselves and others. Working in this beautiful environment, in which the partner school is truly connected to ETM staff and the music teacher, I feel that as a teacher I am also an ambassador of flexibility and inclusiveness in our educational approach, which allows all students to experience their music education with serenity and enthusiasm while developing confidence and expressing their peculiarities.

What do you love most about teaching music?

I love to teach music because I can always be connected with my inner child, who strongly wanted to study music and who had the opportunity to grow up studying music. I always try to look from the perspective of the student that I was, to be the teacher I would have liked to have, and to take examples from the positive teachings I received, while avoiding the negative ones.

For me, being a teacher is a privilege: I can pass on what I have learned, which has made me the person I am today, providing students the tools to realize their future, aware of the wealth that music education brings to their person and life. Every musician never ceases to be a student, practice is part of his everyday life, and research into practice is useful for teaching as research into teaching is useful for practice. I love that being a music teacher allows me to constantly grow professionally and humanly, enjoying the pleasure of the continuous discovery of my passion through my eyes and those of my students, every time curious about learning and having fun through music.

Being a music teacher also allows me to teach how to perform and manage emotions during a performance, helping myself to be an example of this wonderful inner and shared research, which is part of the search for oneself. Dedication, perseverance, constant and gradual practice, listening, sharing, concentration, patience, and teamwork that students learn and develop through music studies, are virtues that will help students face life and situations they will encounter in the future in the best way possible. Music educates harmony, respect, and kindness and is an instrument of peace, love, and freedom. Being messengers of these important values through teaching also makes students conscious messengers.

Is there a particular stand-out moment during your time teaching, or a student’s story that has surprised you in a moving way?

Diversity belongs to our nature, and everyone must be guaranteed the same educational opportunities, attention, and rights. All of us teachers can encourage inclusive teaching during the music lesson. One stand-out moment during my time teaching was when I was teaching the violin in an alternative way, through a tailored teaching approach, and helped a student with spastic quadriparesis to get over physical obstacles, to improve their psychophysical well-being and the quality of their life. This experience touched me so deeply, that I decided to study to obtain a Special Education Teaching Certification and be more aware of the power of the personalized teaching approach. I will talk more in detail about this experience, presenting my proposal “The Power of Personalized Music Teaching Approach” at the ABLE Assembly Conference on 12-13 April, 2025 at the Berklee Institute for Accessible Arts Education in Boston, MA.

Click here to learn more about Vera and explore her music!

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