Standing off Main Street, the nondescript door to RM’s music studio looks like it opens to a storage closet. But inside, there’s a small room with guitars hanging on three walls, where music teacher Mark Koons spends weekdays teaching his five sections of beginner piano and guitar classes. Mr. Koons is a warm and enthusiastic man with a habit of swinging his weight from one side to another, like a pendulum, as he speaks. Originally a clarinetist, he grew up in Maryland and attended a performing arts magnet high school. It was there where he realized he wanted to become a high school music teacher. “I just had so many good music teachers, really throughout all of my schooling, but especially in high school. Music was a class where I felt comfortable, not just because I was interested in the content, but because of the environments that my teachers fostered,” Mr. Koons said.
After he graduated high school, Mr. Koons attended college at the Shenandoah Conservatory where he pivoted from clarinet to guitar performance, which he majored in. In 2018, he received his master’s degree in music education from Loyola University Maryland. He became a teacher at MCPS the same year and in 2023, he was hired at RM. “I am very happy at RM,” he said, grinning. “I’m planning on staying here for a long while.”
One of the core tenets of his teaching philosophy is the classroom as a safe space to fail. He says that in a performance class, students inherently have to put themselves out there. “I want to make sure that everyone understands and truly feels like this is a safe place,” Mr. Koons said. “Most of practicing is doing something wrong. That’s why you’re practicing it, because you haven’t mastered it yet… it’s not something to be ashamed of. It’s just learning.”
Mr. Koons told me he loves music because it is something that provides him with a lot of emotional support. But he recognizes that everyone who takes his class has their own motivations—including some who simply need to fill their arts credit—and adjusts accordingly. “When I was a student, I had my way of seeing music, learning music, and understanding it,” he said. “But now, as the teacher, I see 25 ways of understanding that are not mine.”
