Julia B  

5

  5.0 (13)

Instruments: Violin, Viola, Electric Violin, Fiddle, Music
Styles: Classical, Pop, Opera, Showtunes

I have been teaching for the past seven years since I started teaching as part of my Violin Performance degree at Northwestern University. In the Bay Area, I have been maintaining a private studio as well as teaching at the ViVO El System Program in Sonoma, Amabile School of Music in the Sunset area of San Francisco and the Northern California Music & Art Culture Center in San Francisco. In Chicago, I maintained a private studio as well as studios at the Chicago School of Music and Music House Inc. I also taught group violin lessons through the YOURS El Sistema Project, Skinner North Classical School and South Loop Elementary School. I was a sectional coach for Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and University of Illinois at Chicago. I teach in the style of Mimi Zweig from Indiana University, which focuses on natural physical motions nurtured in a non-judgmental environment. The goal is to play with complete freedom and independence. I was taught her techniques while developing as a violinist at Peabody Conservatory Preparatory under one of her contemporaries, Rebecca Henry. I also attended her summer program at IU for three summers. I continued to study her technique in my pedagogy classes at Northwestern with another one of her trainees, Stacia Spencer.

I typically start with the Suzuki Method or the ABC's of Violin, as well as the I Can Read Music series. I believe ear-training and note-reading are equally important to a students' development, as well as mixing in genres other than classical that interest my students, such as jazz, fiddle or celtic. The goal is to have fun through excelling and making rapid and permanent good habits. I believe performing (preferably by memory) on your instrument is the best part of learning an instrument, so encourage my students to perform at least twice a year in a recital. I believe anyone can learn violin with patience and persistence!