I started teaching in preparatory departments while still in college. First at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota, later at the Preucil School in Iowa City, where my viola class were the first to explore from the then newly published Suzuki Viola School Book 5.
Teaching alongside Michele Higa at Preucil and having received Suzuki teacher training from her and from William Preucil, Sr. led her to invite me to establish the Suzuki Viola program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Here we believed that beginning violists could have an identity of their own, and did not need to begin on the violin and wait to switch to viola sometime later.
I had another large class of students at the Suburban Community Music School in Madison, NJ, founded by Judith Wharton, more recently the head of the eponymous Judith Wharton Music Center. This included viola and violin private lessons, beginner and group classes for all ages and summer camps. I worked as faculty guest clinician at Suzuki play-ins and workshops around New Jersey and the occasional more distant city.
Soon after moving to Northern Virginia, I set up my own home studio and also began teaching at Georgetown University as adjunct instructor of viola and chamber music, placing string, piano and woodwind students in appropriate chamber groups and organizing concerts for the program each semester. I regularly taught "community" students at GU - adult learners who signed up for lessons through Georgetown's extensive catalog of non-credit offerings. It's rewarding to guide someone back to playing after they have been away from it for years, or to show them that it really is never too late to try something new and enjoy the challenge.
Currently I am the viola instructor at Sheridan College in Wyoming. I teach Zoom lessons and sectionals, and, combined with Wyoming Baroque performances or faculty recitals, I travel to campus each semester for some intense in-person lessons where playing together is a luxury not available online. Sheridan is another school with a popular program for local residents, and I have had many non-degree students there.
My private students in Virginia have collected a lengthy list of awards in the form of acceptances to their chosen colleges, successful auditions for local and state honors orchestras, and the Virginia Governor's School, other local orchestra and chamber music programs, and even solo performances with their high school orchestras. Many go on to study with majors in music education, performance or music technology degree programs, but more typically enter as music minors (often receiving scholarship offers as an inducement to play in the school orchestra), and go on to become enthusiastic chamber music and orchestra aficionados. My weekly goals for all of them are the same: get them sounding better by the end of the lesson than they did when they came in (or logged on).
After more than 7 years of teaching online lessons and coaching sessions, I have become a believer in distance learning. A Zoom lesson, even with its limitations, is waaay better than no lesson at all. Ideally, some occasional in-person contact should be arranged, to allow me to tweak the posture and also for us to play together. If you are interested in lessons but don't live near a teacher, Zoom or FaceTime is made for you. Contact me if you'd like to arrange a session.
Teaching alongside Michele Higa at Preucil and having received Suzuki teacher training from her and from William Preucil, Sr. led her to invite me to establish the Suzuki Viola program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Here we believed that beginning violists could have an identity of their own, and did not need to begin on the violin and wait to switch to viola sometime later.
I had another large class of students at the Suburban Community Music School in Madison, NJ, founded by Judith Wharton, more recently the head of the eponymous Judith Wharton Music Center. This included viola and violin private lessons, beginner and group classes for all ages and summer camps. I worked as faculty guest clinician at Suzuki play-ins and workshops around New Jersey and the occasional more distant city.
Soon after moving to Northern Virginia, I set up my own home studio and also began teaching at Georgetown University as adjunct instructor of viola and chamber music, placing string, piano and woodwind students in appropriate chamber groups and organizing concerts for the program each semester. I regularly taught "community" students at GU - adult learners who signed up for lessons through Georgetown's extensive catalog of non-credit offerings. It's rewarding to guide someone back to playing after they have been away from it for years, or to show them that it really is never too late to try something new and enjoy the challenge.
Currently I am the viola instructor at Sheridan College in Wyoming. I teach Zoom lessons and sectionals, and, combined with Wyoming Baroque performances or faculty recitals, I travel to campus each semester for some intense in-person lessons where playing together is a luxury not available online. Sheridan is another school with a popular program for local residents, and I have had many non-degree students there.
My private students in Virginia have collected a lengthy list of awards in the form of acceptances to their chosen colleges, successful auditions for local and state honors orchestras, and the Virginia Governor's School, other local orchestra and chamber music programs, and even solo performances with their high school orchestras. Many go on to study with majors in music education, performance or music technology degree programs, but more typically enter as music minors (often receiving scholarship offers as an inducement to play in the school orchestra), and go on to become enthusiastic chamber music and orchestra aficionados. My weekly goals for all of them are the same: get them sounding better by the end of the lesson than they did when they came in (or logged on).
After more than 7 years of teaching online lessons and coaching sessions, I have become a believer in distance learning. A Zoom lesson, even with its limitations, is waaay better than no lesson at all. Ideally, some occasional in-person contact should be arranged, to allow me to tweak the posture and also for us to play together. If you are interested in lessons but don't live near a teacher, Zoom or FaceTime is made for you. Contact me if you'd like to arrange a session.
