Sophia K  
Instruments: Violin, Viola, Electric Violin, Fiddle
Styles: Classical, Pop, Folk, Country, Avant-garde

I first discovered my love for teaching during my college years.  I maintained a private studio for three years of my time there, and have been instructing privately and in local schools since that time.  With a recent teaching history including Cazadero Music Camp, Berkeley High School, West Portal Lutheran School, The Mark Music School, and the Northern California Music and Art Culture Center, I hope to offer you the tools, motivation, and insight to make your learning experience positive and rewarding.  My teaching style is structured, but compassionate, as I believe that the right balance of difficulty and fun is the key to continually motivating my students.  Though learning a new instrument can be frustrating at times, regular, scheduled practice time, and knowing how to practice effectively is the key to breaking through the invisible walls sometimes encountered in violin playing.  As a teacher, my main goal is to serve my students and instill in them a love of music.  Due to this philosophy, I am always thinking of new ways to adapt to my students' needs and explain/work through difficult concepts and areas of the music. Lastly, I believe that playing music with others is a crucial factor in motivating a student to practice and learn on their own.  Therefore, I highly encourage all of my students to participate in recitals and ensembles where they can share their accomplishments, make new friends, and admire joint achievements.  I teach all ages, and currently specialize in starting beginners out on the violin.

For my beginning students, I start out with a mixture of my own exercises, as well as basic songs using open strings, string crossings and rhythms, before moving to songs with basic fingerwork on one string (scale plus rhythm based).  I usually supplement this beginning process with Essential Elements, before intruducing the Suzuki Method Book 1, Doflein Method Book 1, and rhythmic exercises from the Kodaly method.  For my intermediate students, I use a mixture of Galamian bowing technique, emphasis on etudes and position work, Suzuki method, Barbara Barber scales and rep. books, and level-appropriate classical literature, combined with solo repetoire of the student's interest/choosing.  Advanced students are encouraged to steer the direction of the lesson towards their area of interest in music!  I am willing to tackle a concerto with you, and will gladly offer you practice plans, technique advice, and guidance with expressions, but ultimately you'll be making the stylistic choices.