Cello Lessons in San Diego, CA

Instruments: Violin

What musical accomplishments are you most proud of?
Getting to perform in many places and work with other musicians have been great experiences in my life as a musician. I've also had the opportunity to play in Broadway performances like The Phantom of the Opera, Damn Yankees, Shrek, and some others. I've even started my own YouTube channel to record my progress over the years of me learning and playing the Violin. I now have over 1000 Subscribers and am proud of my accomplishments to be able to share my music with the world and to be able to collaborate with many musicians around the world. I have also performed in retirement homes, weddings, and church gatherings as the lead 1st Violinist. It is my pleasure to help spread my passion for music with my students and many others.

Have any of your students won awards or been selected for special honors? How have they succeeded?
A large group of my students have achieved awards for competing in CMEA. It is an organization of musicians and judges that rate the performance of a soloist on their primary instruments. My students have scored A's and even Superior ratings which are outstanding in the music world of judges and competitions. I feel that is very rewarding for me as a violin teacher since seeing them progress and achieve goals so early on makes me so happy. It helps my students to stay confident and for me to keep teaching all of my lovely students the way I do. I couldn't be more proud of them and wish them the best.

What do you think is the hardest thing to master on your instrument?
This really comes down to passion, for any instrument. “Difficult” has to be placed in the avenue of passion. For some, mastering a violin would not be the most difficult instrument. They love the instrument which evens out the road of difficulty. For others, they would find a violin tremendously difficult to master. To some degree, all instruments are difficult to “master.” It takes a lot of time and energy and commitment. If there was anything to really point out though I noticed that more students struggle with intonation and bowing but with practice and dedication that can be greatly improved.

Do you use specific teaching methods or books? (Ex: Alfred, Bastion, Suzuki, Hal Leonard) Why did you choose them if you did?
I am a Suzuki teacher so am speaking from that perspective—I have had students take a year to get through Book One (that’s very quick) and I have had some take 3 years to get through Book One (especially if they start very young). There are certain things I am looking for students to do with ease before going on—mainly because over many years of teaching I know which things in Book One are going to be important for playing more advanced songs later. In Book One the whole foundation is built for what students will learn in the following books—many of my students take 2-3 years on book one and then move much quicker through the following books.

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