Cello Lessons in Weymouth, MA

Instruments: Cello

Teaching should never revolve around the notion that "perfection" is the ultimate" goal. This way of thinking not only provides my students with a false sense of hope, but more importantly is simply unattainable. In the modern age of playing, too often do I feel students losing sight of what is most important: the music. While good intonation and rhythm are certainly important, what I hope to instill in each of my students is a level of understanding far beyond learning the "notes" on the page. Read More

Instruments: Cello

Some of my core values are quality over quantity, consistency, breaking down obstacles into their smallest chunks, gamifying technical and musical challenges, and developing a young musician's ear for error detection. It's important to me that my approach is holistic and doesn't just improve students in their technique, but in their musicality and collaborative skills, so I aim to meet every student where they are at and talk through the "whys" of everything. Read More

Instruments: Piano Violin Cello Viola Music Keyboard

I began teaching Piano and Violin at the age of 15 to people between the ages of 4 to 65. This eventually moved on to classroom settings for strings and Chorus. One thing Ive learned from all this time is that people want to be able to actually PLAY and have FUN. Music Theory and the Fundamentals are are important but the engagement and the motivation to maintain consistent work over the course of our time together! Read More

Instruments: Cello

I believe patience and versatility are very important, as each student learns a different way. I set goals for each lesson and try to guide the student during the lesson into achieving them. Sometimes the goals are achieved during the lesson, and sometimes while practicing on hteir own time. I don't believe in achieving "perfection", but rather developing a solid understanding and connection with the piece, which is accomplished through putting in hard work and effort.  Read More

Instruments: Cello

I primarily use Hal Leonard's Essential Elements books for all of my beginner and intermediate students, and for adult students, I supplement them with Gabriel Koeppen's Cello Method books. For more advanced students, I will work with their current repertoire to determine what skills they can further develop by assigning them new and more challenging pieces or etudes (such as Popper or Piatti) based on their needs. I assign all of my students age and level-appropriate pieces at regular intervals in addition to their books or etudes, ranging from short and simple pieces to highly technical showpieces or concertos. Read More

Instruments: Cello

I believe a major key to success in learning music is finding the methods and concepts that click for you. There are infinite ways to think of a phrase or harmonic relationships and I work to learn which connections make sense to you. One major takeaway from my own education has been how to listen to my playing objectively and free of self-judgement. I constantly encourage my students to develop a similar mindset, since I see self-encouragement as much more important than encouragement from a teacher or an audience. Read More

Instruments: Cello

I do not typically use method books.  With younger students, I rely on Suzuki text materials but teach using my own ergonomic, technical and musical methods that I have developed as a cellist in my own playing.   Beginner/Youth Etudes: -Scale Book -Rick Mooney Position Books -Selected Repertoire For more advanced students, I enjoy explaining and/or assigning pages to read from Diran Alexanian's Treatise on the Theory and Technique of the Violoncelliste. Read More