My Approach
General Approach
My approach is root-based. Every surface-problem that you notice (whether it’s a sound quality you don’t like or poor intonation) is likely part of a larger pattern that has a deeper biomechanical root. This means that after identifying the surface-problem, we look for the broader pattern and go beneath to understand what is going on at the level of kinematics, kinetics, and even mind-body connection, and we make a precise intervention at this level. If you’ve ever had the experience where you fixed an issue with a certain passage on one day only for the same issue to immediately re-appear the following practice session, you likely didn’t identify the broad pattern or understand the biomechanical root of the issue. Making interventions at this root-cause level allows you to make much faster progress and spend far less effort while doing so.
My approach is adaptable depending on the age, level, goals, strengths, and learning style of the student. What does not change is my earnest effort to help you improve as quickly as possible. For example, if you are learning the violin for fun, I won’t treat you any less seriously or hold you to a lower standard than I would a student with high goals or professional ambitions. We’ll just adjust your workload to allow for a much lighter practice load.
My approach teaches you how to be your own teacher. I am your teacher one day of the week during your lesson, and you must be your own teacher during the other six days. This means that teaching you how to practice effectively is central to my approach. Without being told explicitly how to approach practicing, students often default to playing through their repertoire repeatedly from front to back at full tempo, which is a very inefficient and ineffective way of practicing. A student who practices well for 1 or 2 hours per day will make faster progress than a student who practices poorly for 3 or 4 hours. Who wants to spend hours and hours in the practice room anyway? I have seen students who get discouraged over slow progress come to the conclusion that they are “not talented” or that the violin is “too hard,” when the real problem is that they simply did not know how to practice well. This is not the student’s fault; it is the responsibility of the teacher.
This means that lessons with me are a dialogue, not a lecture. You should be prepared to take an active role in the lesson! During the lesson, I use elements of the Socratic Method to encourage the development of mindfulness, concentration, somatic awareness, and critical thinking. Instead of simply giving you feedback, I ask questions to facilitate self-discovery. The first question is usually a what-question that identifies a surface-problem, such as “what did you hear in the sound quality?” Answering a what-question requires mindfulness and concentration. A what-question is often immediately followed by a why-question, such as “why do you think the sound quality was scratchy?” Answering why-questions develops critical thinking by integrating concentration and somatic awareness with prior and contextual knowledge. Through why- questions, we can understand the broader patterns, drill down to the root cause of the issue, and identify a precise solution. This process is the basis of effective practice. Armed with these capacities and with a practice plan, you will leave the lesson feeling empowered to take charge of your practice time over the week.
Beginning Level (1-2 years)
Violin
As a beginner, we will work on developing strong foundations of violin technique. The position required for holding the violin is not as natural as playing the piano, or even the cello, and it can feel awkward at first. It’s important to learn to minimize muscular effort, economize motion, and maximize efficiency, keeping in mind the words of Feldenkrais: “In good action, the sensation of effort is absent no matter what the actual expenditure of energy is.” 75% of playing the violin is in the bow arm, so we will begin with just the bow for a few weeks before even picking up the violin. We will then work on open strings for a few weeks, before setting up the left arm and beginning to play notes.
Music Theory
The first steps of music theory are learning what musical notes are and how they work together, learning the basic principles of time and rhythm in music, and learning how to read music.
Intermediate Level (2-4 years)
Violin
At an intermediate level, we will work on scales and arpeggios, exercises targeting the development of specific aspects of technique, Études, and more demanding repertoire. Instead of separating technical and artistic development, we will explicitly draw the links between the two, approaching technique not as an end in itself, but as a means to the end of musical phrasing, character, color, and expression.
It is common for students to feel like their progress starts to stagnate or reach a “wall” around the upper intermediate stage. There are a few reasons for this, the most common being persistent physical tension, especially in the bow arm. This is common especially in students who were not set up with a foundation of physical ease as beginners, and/or whose teachers have focused on left hand development at the expense of the bow arm. While one can work around physical tension up to a certain level, there comes a point where excessive tension stands directly in the way, blocking the transition to a more advanced technique. If I’m beginning to work with a new student who is struggling with excessive tension, rather than pushing ahead with advanced repertoire, it might be necessary to back-up and re-learn some bow arm foundations. While this might seem like a step backward, I’ve found that this often enables a great leap forward!
Music Theory
Once we’ve learned the basics of how notes and rhythms work, we can move on to studying harmony, beginning with basic chords, and moving into functional/tonal harmony and formal structure. At the same time, we will start to draw connections between the theory you are learning and the violin repertoire you are practicing, so you can look through a window into the mind of the composer and understand the music you are playing on a deeper level.
Advanced Level
Violin
At an advanced level, the focus shifts toward learning a higher volume of repertoire, while we continue to study more advanced exercises and Études to develop more fluency and specific advanced techniques. As your technical ability gradually becomes second nature and your inner artistic voice begins to shine through, our emphasis will shift toward developing an informed and nuanced interpretation of a work. The reason I encourage music theory lessons all along is so that by this stage, you have the ability to write complete analyses for the pieces you are working on so you can ground your artistic interpretations in the musical structure.
Music Theory
At an advanced level, we can focus on the areas that most interest you! We can tackle late-Romantic developments in harmony, post-tonal and atonal theory, and concrete methods of analysis such as Schenkerian analysis. At this stage, you will be capable of fully understanding the complete structure of your violin repertoire, and will be able to write complete analyses of violin pieces you are working on.
By the end of this stage you will be able to pass out of any undergraduate music theory program and jump straight to graduate-level music theory classes.