Elaine began playing violin at the age of 3, learning through the Suzuki method, and began playing trombone at age 10. She has been a dedicated teacher since 2013. As a certified Suzuki Teacher, Elaine believes music instills essential life skills like patience, perseverance, and a beautiful heart, as emphasized by Suzuki's philosophy. With over ten years of teaching experience, she is dedicated to nurturing young musicians with kindness and involving parents to strengthen family bonds. Elaine also instructs youth jazz combos and school programs at Jazz Arts Group. Currently, Elaine performs regularly with Conspiracy Band, Vaughn Wiester's F...

Learning to play an instrument involves practicing. Wow, what a stupid sounding statement. Practicing is only marginally profitable unless you know “how” to practice. I could tell you right here, in a few words, how to practice and you might say, “ Well, of course, anyone would know that.” The problem is, knowing and doing it two different things. I like to ask a new player, “What are you hoping to song or melody are you hoping to learn to play?” For me, this way of learning an instrument is a lot more fun than playing scales and arpeggios for years, in hopes to someday being able I to play some of the stuff really want. If this sounds