Mission Statement:  To provide the best violin lessons at any age and ability.

Teaching Philosophy:  To meet the student at their current level and challenge the student in achieving the highest level of playing and performance. 

It is essential that the student have a clear understanding of the art of practicing.  Students will learn to maximize their time and effort when practicing and become efficient and proficient students of practice.  The key is being able to problem solve creatively and then use correct repetition.  Even for younger students with a teacher parent involved, they will eventually be capable of managing their own practice.  As they say, "you are what you eat!" I say "you play as you practice!"  

Methodology:  A unique blend of Suzuki and Traditional methods customized to each individual student that is dependent on their needs.

Perhaps the most important aspect of playing the violin is the training of the ear.  Ear training is the starting point and the primary sense guiding the student to mentally, and physically be able to accomplish the rigorous detail demanded of playing the violin at the highest level.  The way to accomplish this is through repetition of listening to a high quality source such as a recording, live performance, or hearing the teacher play in lessons (this is why it is so important that the teacher have the highest qualifications as a player themselves).  After all, its all about sound and one can only learn how to sound if they have a good representation of the sound. 

Second, is the tactile sense that the student has to have in order to manipulate and feel their way around the instrument.  Some may call this good “Body Mechanics”.  Like a good basketball player with a high free throw percentage, a violinist must learn to be able to replicate certain body movements perfectly over and over again.  These body mechanics can only be learned with thousands of correct repetitions.  Over the course of time, these learned body movements equate to mastery of the mechanics of learning the instrument. 

Artistry:  To develop the student at the highest artistic level possible.

How to teach artistry?  That’s where the term “Teaching Artist” comes into play.  Not only do good violin instructors need to know how to teach well, they must have the acumen to translate the art.  Music is a language.  There is a flow and syntax to the language that needs to be learned in order for the art to be communicated correctly.  Much of the art of music can be thought of as representational of cultural norms and gestures.  The study of these forms from one era to another is essential.  Different composers lived in different eras and with each there are specific tastes prevalent at the time.  In the end, the study of the violin is as much the study in history and culture as well as the mastery of the instrument.