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 guinea pigs for the newly published Suzuki Viola School Book 5, which is where the repertoire diverges from the Violin School books.
Teaching alongside Michele Higa George at Preucil and having received Suzuki teacher training from both her and William Preucil led to her inviting me to form the viola program within her new Suzuki program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Here we believed in beginner violists, and did not feel the need to make them wait to switch after however many years/books of violin study.
I moved with my husband to New Jersey and worked at the Suburban Community Music School in Madison, which has now morphed into the Judith Wharton Music Center, named for the SCMC founder and one of my great champions.
Soon after moving to Northern Virginia, I began at Georgetown University as adjunct instructor of viola and chamber music, where I remained for several years.
Now I am an adjunct at Sheridan (WY) College, at the behest of Dr. Mark Bergman, another colleague to whom I owe much. I teach Skype lessons and sectionals, and have been able to travel to campus each semester to enjoy real life lessons where I can actually poke students' positions and play along with them.
My home students in Virginia comprise a small but select group of young violists and yes, occasional violinists, who have excellent records of winning local auditions and getting into their chosen colleges, sometimes as music majors but more often as music minors and enthusiastic chamber music/orchestra aficionados. My goals for all of them start here: get them sounding better by the end of the lesson than they did when they came in (or logged on).
I have become a believer in distance learning and I know that a Skype lesson is waaay better than no lesson at all. Ideally, some occasional face-to-face contact should be arranged, to allow me to tweak your posture and for us to play together. If you are interested in lessons but don't live near a teacher, Skype or FaceTime is the answer. Contact me if you'd like to arrange a session.
Teaching alongside Michele Higa George at Preucil and having received Suzuki teacher training from both her and William Preucil led to her inviting me to form the viola program within her new Suzuki program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Here we believed in beginner violists, and did not feel the need to make them wait to switch after however many years/books of violin study.
I moved with my husband to New Jersey and worked at the Suburban Community Music School in Madison, which has now morphed into the Judith Wharton Music Center, named for the SCMC founder and one of my great champions.
Soon after moving to Northern Virginia, I began at Georgetown University as adjunct instructor of viola and chamber music, where I remained for several years.
Now I am an adjunct at Sheridan (WY) College, at the behest of Dr. Mark Bergman, another colleague to whom I owe much. I teach Skype lessons and sectionals, and have been able to travel to campus each semester to enjoy real life lessons where I can actually poke students' positions and play along with them.
My home students in Virginia comprise a small but select group of young violists and yes, occasional violinists, who have excellent records of winning local auditions and getting into their chosen colleges, sometimes as music majors but more often as music minors and enthusiastic chamber music/orchestra aficionados. My goals for all of them start here: get them sounding better by the end of the lesson than they did when they came in (or logged on).
I have become a believer in distance learning and I know that a Skype lesson is waaay better than no lesson at all. Ideally, some occasional face-to-face contact should be arranged, to allow me to tweak your posture and for us to play together. If you are interested in lessons but don't live near a teacher, Skype or FaceTime is the answer. Contact me if you'd like to arrange a session.
