FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
My fees are $30 for a half-hour lesson and $50 for a full hour. I'm totally focused on my students accomplishing the objectives of the lesson and not on the clock.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
From the beginning, I emphasize solid “physical” fundamentals that are immutable over the life of a good violinist, such as the correct bow "hold", proper holding of the violin, good posture, a stable stance, the basic bow stroke, the “frame” of the left hand, etc. In all this, I emphasize the importance of relaxation and naturalness at all times. Tension in either hand or in holding the violin or in anything else is the biggest and most common impediment in learning to play the violin. And if anything feels or looks unnatural or ugly in violin playing, then it's likely to be wrong. Once the physical fundamentals are established, I begin to impress upon my students the idea that great violin playing is so much more than the physical control and coordination of the hands. It is a willful and deliberate act of the mind and the heart. And I work with my students to develop critical hearing and objective listening skills. What the player hears and what the audience hears is not always in agreement! In addition, the violin is a singing instrument (and not a percussive one like the piano), so I stress the importance of singing. As a former music theory teacher of mine once said, “if you can’t sing it, you can’t play it!” A violinist who cannot make the instrument sing is not making music, only noise. And finally, my motto that encompasses everything I do with the violin and in music is this: “Practice carefully, play courageously!”
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I have been performing as a soloist and member of various music ministries for over 40 years throughout several South Florida churches in Miami Dade and Broward counties (All Saints Catholic Church, Church of the Epiphany, St. Hugh, St. John Neumann, St. Edward, St. Gregory, etc.) I have also appeared as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral member at Florida International University and the University of Miami. I especially enjoy playing for the sick and the elderly in lifting their spirits with the joy of music.