FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Monthly tuition is due at the first lesson of the month.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
For students with past experience, my main job in a first lesson is to find out how you play. What method books you have worked out of? What pieces have you studied? I will ask the student to play for me their most recently worked-on piece and a scale of their choosing. I also spend some time discussing your goals with studying the violin or viola. For complete beginners I begin by teaching the bow hold. Then I move on to holding the violin and dropping the fingers down in tune. Finally, we put them together and work on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Suzuki Book 1. All this happens over the course of about six lessons. I teach using the Suzuki method books, but I do not call myself a Suzuki teacher. I supplement the Suzuki books with other etudes and exercises. I really like Fiddle Magic by Sally O'Reilly and the Sevcik exercises.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I have been training as a violinist since 1992 (six years old). Even today I still seek out the top performers in the classical music world to learn from. It's not uncommon for me to fly round trip to Dallas, TX, for a one-hour lesson with Alex Kerr, former concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (the top orchestra in the world, in my opinion). I am currently a tenured member of Orchestra Iowa and a substitute violinist with the Minnesota Orchestra.