Violin Teacher For ADULTS
About
With degrees in violin performance and psychology, a successful 25-year performing career playing classical, tango, jazz and bluegrass fiddle and 30 years of teaching experience with students from ages 3 to 93, I have the passion and the know-how to support you in your journey playing whatever type of violin music that interests you.
I've taught violin teachers who want to go further in their own technique and repertoire (and be able to offer more to their own students) and I've taught absolute beginners who just love the sound of the violin and have always wanted to play and are finally giving that to themselves. I so enjoy the process of all of the levels!
I am opening my home studio in Takoma Park, Maryland (and I also can teach by Skype!) to more adult students specifically right now because I love the clarity that adults bring about what they want from taking lessons. It's gratifying for me to offer techniques, repertoire, and ways of thinking that support you to connect with the inner musician that already lives within.
Highlights
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Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
In the first lesson, I meet the individual and ask them to voice their goals for 6 months, 1 year and beyond. From there, I suggest pieces and exercises (etudes etc) that will support them getting to their goals. The channel of communication is always open as we work together.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
Undergraduate MA degree from Ohio University; graduated summa cum laude with a double major in Music and Psychology.
Masters Degree (with Full Scholarship) in Violin Performance from Carnegie Mellon.
Post Graduate work at New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Training Academy.
Do you have a standard pricing system for your lessons? If so, please share the details here.
There are different tuition rates depending on whether you want to participate in bi-annual recitals and/or my monthly group Musicianship Classes (where students share their process by talking, sharing You Tubes of pieces and performers who inspire them, and by playing what they're working on and learn from my lectures on various topics about music and performing) as well. Otherwise, they simply pay the hourly private lesson fee.
How did you get started teaching?
I've studied violin since I was 5. It was a natural flow to teach what I had learned when people asked me to. My first student was when I was still in HighSchool, and I have gone on to teach privately, be faculty at a private boarding school, coach orchestras and chamber groups at every level and give Master Classes at Summer Festivals.
What types of students have you worked with?
Ages 3-93. Every type. All are fascinating to me.
Describe a recent event you are fond of.
I love watching the "ah-HA" moment happen when a student answers a question or finds a way to make it sound as they want by themselves (often using what I call "tools in their toolbox" that we've worked on)! My goal is to teach the students to teach themselves.
We are all teachers and students in the wide world of MUSIC.
What advice would you give a student looking to hire a teacher in your area of expertise?
Be clear inside yourself that you can communicate with this teacher and that you see something in them (how they play or how they interact with you) that makes you want to open to more.
What questions should students think through before talking to teachers about their needs?
Be sure you're ready to back up with your own practice-work at home what you're asking the teacher to help you learn.