About Private Lessons

Frequently Asked Questions:

Am I currently accepting new students?

Yes! I accept all ages and levels. I offer free trial lessons to students who have played before, and “meet and greets” for new beginner students so that we can all feel comfortable before the first official lesson.

Things to consider before committing to lessons…

Learning the violin is a blast. It is also HARD! String instruments take a lot more time and patience to learn than almost any other instrument. Therefore, I always want to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before you commit…

1. Find a violin to rent or purchase. Please contact me if you need help with this! It is a headache when students come to the first lesson with the wrong size violin, or a broken one they found in their attic.

2. I require students and parents to establish a daily practice routine. Developing this discipline is a great life skill, even if they quit violin down the road! Students 10 and younger must practice with a parent (the same parent who comes to the lesson) for at least the first 3 months.

3. I require students or parents to take notes during the lesson.

4. I require beginners who are 10 and younger to participate in monthly group classes.

5. I require all of my students to participate in bi-annual recitals!

Note: For new beginners, I ask that parents try to give it their all for at least three months, or until the student has graduated from the Twinkles. These first important months are what build the foundation for anything your student ever learns on the violin and will determine how quickly they progress from then on. This stage can be frustrating for parents of little ones, because it requires a lot of small steps and patience. This stage is also my favorite to teach!! I love seeing their faces light up when they get to play with their bow for the first time. It is quite magical.

How long are the lessons?

I offer 30 minute, 45 minute, and 60 minute lessons. Choosing completely depends on the student’s age, their concentration threshold, how much time they practice at home, and how much repertoire we are working on. After our trial lesson, I can advise you on what I think would be the best lesson length for your child.

What do we do in lessons?

Lessons look completely different depending on the student’s age and level. I start young beginners with fun games and exercises for how to hold the violin and bow, how to create rhythms, how to stand still while holding their violin, how to put the bow with the violin, and how to put the fingers on the fingerboard. Then we begin Suzuki Book 1 by ear. While learning the twinkles, we will also begin to go through I Can Read Music book 1, with which I’ve had brilliant success in teaching students how to read music intuitively. All my students LOVE this book. Young beginners who put in 15-30 minutes of practice a day progress very quickly and have the most fun in their lessons.

For my beginning middle school students who learned how to play from orchestra class, we will start with selections from Suzuki Book 1 or 2, work on posture, technique, and scales. Usually there is a lot of unlearning bad posture and bad habits for these students. However, these students progress rapidly if they put in 30 min to an hour a day of home practice.

For my intermediate to advanced students, we will continue through Suzuki book 4 or 5, mixing in selections from Barbara Barber’s method book 2, Solos for Young Violinists, then continue through the standard repertoire with an equal mix of Baroque, Classical and Romantic composers. We will spend about 15 minutes on scales and etudes and the rest on solo repertoire. If we have time at the end, we will sight read a few fun duets. Depending on how much they practice at home, these students will usually be working on multiple solo pieces at once - such as polishing an older piece and learning a new one. For this much repertoire at this level, these students will practice 1.5 to 3 hours every day.

I try to keep lessons as enjoyable as possible and will occasionally ask the student if they have any pieces they want to learn outside of their books (like pop songs, fiddling, ect!) The whole purpose of these lessons is to develop the student as a musician, learner, and confident individual, and I’m always open to new ways to make that process fun!