Joshua T  
Instruments: Violin, Viola
Styles: Classical

I have been teaching since my late high school years. I have taught various private lessons part time in the Houston area and aided some of my teachers in teaching 5th grade strings. When I entered college, I started teaching middle school students privately in the Waco area and teaching general music education in Baylor's OsoMusical program for special needs children. I love seeing the interesting ties between elementary and secondary music education and the impact of the basic foundations of music! As a teacher, I have constantly stressed a consistent practice schedule to help with intrinsic motivation within students and love for their own instruments. My job as a private teacher is to facilitate string learning in a fun, safe, and nurturing environment for all students.

For beginning students of younger ages, I begin with the basics of body awareness with your instrument. Setting that awareness up on any student, regardless of age or skill level, is the most important aspect to me as a string teacher to best avoid injury and propel success in the future. To teach beginners I use a variety of methods from Hal Leonard's Essential Elements, various technique books such as Kreutzer or Wohlfahrt, and solo literature from Suzuki Violin/Viola. For more advanced players or even older students, I tend to match a certain technique book, Baroque-Classical literature, or Suzuki Book level to their skills sets, such as Mazas or Sevcik etudes, or Bach Suites/Partitas to further boost the skills they have while targeting skills that need more foundation. In addition, I have researched various method books and arrangements for fun small performances my students can create for their friends and family. I have made arrangements to tracks from various Disney films for my students and even have copies of some other published film arrangements that also aim in helping students with more string pedagogy foundations.