Keenan P  
Instruments: Violin
Styles: Classical, Pop, Folk, Gospel, Opera, Showtunes

I have been teaching violin for the past four years. I took on my first student as a freshman in high school. Since then I have taught many students violin. Some of my students have been as young as 8 years old while others have been as old as 43. I have taught both beginners and well seasoned students. Some of my students have successfully been placed in regional and state orchestras and are preparing music for competitions. I believe that there needs to be a combination of flexibility and strict obedience to fundamentals when it comes to learning how to play the violin. I make sure that each student is individualistic and is playing exciting, memorable, and meaningful repertoire, but I also make sure to be committed to the fundamentals of violin technique in my teaching.

I have two different tracts for students: the first is the tract for students who want to potentially have a career in playing violin and the second is the tract for students who just want to play violin as a hobby. For students in the first tract, I find out what their natural tendencies are and assign them scales and etudes which complement and challenge their tendencies. This is to maximize their technical abilities. In addition to the assignment of etudes, I will add critical repertoire for musical development to their practice schedule. Typically, 70% of lessons will focus on technique and etudes and 30% will focus on repertoire. For students who desire to only play violin as a hobby, I’ll be more flexible with repertoire and assign etudes and scales which compliment that repertoire. Lessons will be 70% repertoire, 30% technique.