Category: Violin Lessons

I’m the type that likes to be busy so this December’s wild and wooly pace really suits me just fine.  We are 2/3 of the way through the Celtic Trio’s Christmas tour.  This is my second year participating in this ensemble with longtime American/Irish Contemporary Celtic duo Jeff Johnson & Brian Dunning.  So far we’ve been to the San Juan Islands, Seattle, Eugene, Corvallis, Albany and Portland playing to a lot of full houses.  Check the schedule at Ark Music for remaining dates!

Our new CD Under the Wonder Sky was recently chosen by John Diliberto, host of NPR’s Echoes program as the CD of the month for December.  Our interview airs December 14th.  You can listen online and read the online review by clicking here.

When I return from tour, I’ll be presenting two concerts of my own—the 7th annual Acoustic Christmas Concerts with Wendy Goodwin & Friends.  Joining me this year is a wonderful and eclectic cast of musicians including Violinist Alexandra Kazmierowicz, Cellist Ashley Peck, Bassist Nolan Staples, Mandolin Virtuoso Jacob Jolliff (home on Christmas break from a national tour with Joy Kills Sorrow), Guitarist Nate Macy, Pianist Bryan Clark, Percussionist Bill Nippoldt and vocalist Bethany Cibolski.  That’s a total of nine people including myself:  woooooo—hooooo! 

Tuesday, December 21st
7:30 PM
Cloud Seven Cafe (NW 10th & Johnson—Pearl District, Portland) 
Concert is Free. Desserts, espresso drinks and local wines available for purchase.

Wednesday, December 22nd
7:30 PM
West Chehalem Friends Church (16700 NE North Valley Road, Newberg) MAP
Concert is Free—family friendly and all are welcome.

I’m still teaching my private students too whenever I land for a moment back in town.  I have a few little ones who are on the verge of completing Suzuki Book 1… I keep telling them “before the sun sets on December 31st you WILL complete Gavotte!”  It’s fun having concrete goals to shoot for.  I am so proud of my kiddos.

Last night I was able to join vocalist Tasha Miller for a private party as a part of her “Educated Band.”  It was a real privilege to share the stage—er the fireside room—with pianist Kerry McCoy, Bassist Kevin Dietz and Guitarist Dan Balmer.  Tasha knows how to entertain… decked in a red taffeta party dress and standing in 5 inch heels the lady had the room captivated with sassy renditions of Santa Baby, gospel infused Silent Night and some folk and jazz standards.

It would be easy to get a little crazy with all of this coming and going, different music to prepare and all, but I just keep reminding myself to just enjoy every new experience and not to take myself too seriously!

How is your Holiday season shaping up?

I am passionate about inspiring children to explore their love of music through violin.  Many programs are one size fits all …you’re paying for a lease.  You’re paying for marketing.  This is not always the best for families as a whole.  

My lesson studio is tailored to the unique interests and learning style of your child.  You don’t have to be an expert musician yourself in order for your child to succeed at violin nor do you have to drop all of your other obligations so that violin dominates your family’s life.
 
Music lessons are about building confidence, creativity, relationships with both child and family, commitment to goals and…fun!

With 14 years of experience as a private instructor, I am also an active performing musician and recording artist in not just Classical, but Jazz, Celtic and Folk.  I hold a Master’s degree in Violin and have taught in public, private and collegiate school settings.  I have a very low turnover rate amongst my students and can provide many references.  Best of all, I am a mama and I understand intimately the privilege it is to be an influence in a child’s life.  I only want the best for my daughter and know that you feel the same about your child.

I welcome enthusiastic beginner, intermediate and advanced students from age 4-19 to my NW Portland studio.  For more information including references please e-mail me or give me a call! 

Fall schedule begins the week after Labor Day!

Recently, a parent brought up a question about her seven year old daughter’s violin practice that I felt was worth responding to here.

Q.  “How much involvement should I as a parent be having in my daughter’s at home practice?”

The reasons for playing violin are numerous and the rewards of hard work are a beautiful tone, an ability to express colors and emotions beyond the range of some other instruments, options to play many different styles of music from Classical to Jazz to Bluegrass, chances to play in group settings like chamber music and orchestras and the process of improving self discipline.

Once a student has played the violin for a long time, it becomes a tool of expression.  When just starting out, it CAN feel like a tool of torture for both student and listener because it’s not easy to initially get a good sound.

Although I in no way want to devalue the challenge of playing the piano, when a child hits a piano key, a nice sound comes out.  When a child places bow to strings, the resulting sound is often not so pleasant at first.  There’s a lot of technique that goes into making beautiful tone. 

Posture, bow hold, angle of the arms—both right and left, violin hold, vibrato, shifting, angle of fingers, pressure of the bow hand… these are all things that even a young violinist has to take into account when playing in order to improve.  It’s a lot more like learning a language than riding a bike!  With enough practice, these things become second nature and then it becomes more about expressing the music and learning the new songs than about the physical process of playing.

A good teacher has to balance the need for keeping the material mentally interesting and fresh while staying devoted to the numerous muscular and physical areas which must be trained and perfected.

This is also why it can be a slower process for a violinist to learn to read music than a pianist—he or she is concentrating so much on the actual playing that it doesn’t leave much room for thinking about remembering notes.

All of this to say that younger kids are probably going to need a lot more parental support in their at home practice than their piano or voice lesson counterparts.

Many parents are not themselves violinists or even musically trained so it can feel daunting to wonder “how can I assist when I don’t know how to do this thing myself?”  A good teacher will highlight to the parents what to watch for at home and give some ideas for how to be of assistance to the child.

One of my favorite tools for home practice is to have parents ask the child to show them how to do a particular technique—maybe even put the instrument into the parent’s hands and have the young violinist correct “bad” posture etc.

Another tip on at home practice success is to carve out a consistent time for practice—maybe it can’t be the same time every day because of various other activities but the same time on a given day of the week—for example, Wednesdays after dinner, Thursdays before school, Saturday after cartoons.  The practice time doesn’t have to happen all at once either—3 ten minute sessions in a day is going to produce just as strong a result as one 30 minute session!  The key is regular, focused practice.

As the child becomes more advanced there will be less need for parents to be heavily involved in the practice time—the young student will have developed expectations and momentum with technique… so if you can hang in there and help lay a strong foundation, everyone will win!

To all the parents of violin students out there… thanks for allowing your kids to experience this amazing instrument.  I hope that it will bring them as much joy and fun as it has brought me over the years.  Good luck and practice hard!