Viola Lessons in San Ramon, CA

Instruments: Violin Viola Electric Violin Fiddle

My biggest hope for my students is that they come away from lessons with a love for music. Every student is a unique player with their own pace, set of hurdles, focus, and interests, and I am committed to tailoring my teaching approach to each individual student. It is important to me that each student progresses at a realistic pace for themselves, tries their best, and has fun with the music they are learning. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Violin Viola Ukulele Keyboard Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Music has always been a part of my life. I became involved in music, theater and dance at a young age, performing in countless professional productions. In my teens and early adulthood, I began writing and recording music and became involved in a number of recording projects that led me to teaching. I gave my first lesson over a decade ago and I continue to perform when I can. I graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy with concentrations in Theater and Music, and I worked for Women's Audio Mission in San Francisco. Read More

Instruments: Viola

For beginners, we'll start with the ABCs of Viola, and Hal Leonard's Essential Elements for Strings, along with Suzuki, Vol 1. We'll work on developing skills as a soloist, and simple duets that the student and I can play together. For intermediate students, we'll go further into the Hal Leonard books, and the Suzuki series, 2 octave scales, double stops, vibrato, musical phrasing. It's very important to enjoy the process of learning the viola, so I always want to make it fun! Read More

Instruments: Violin Viola

I have contributed to the editing and creation of music for short films in the City of Colima, Col. Mexico, using improvised and contemporary styles. In the United States, I have performed as a member of the Camellia Symphony Orchestra in Sacramento, CA for two seasons and the Merced Symphony. I have served as a music instructor of violin, viola and piano lessons in the area of Sacramento, CA. In April 2018 I was selected to perform with Bay area based Delphi trio. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Violin Cello Viola Bass Guitar Organ Ukulele Electric Violin Music Keyboard Electric Guitar

Each student learns at their own pace and it's important to understand that not everybody learns the same. Setting both short and long term goals with the student helps me understand what they want out of lessons. This makes it easier for me to engage with them and bring it back to something relevant to them at the end of the day. For example, no child understands advanced rhythm unless you disguise it in familiar terms e.g. using the phrase "run po-ny run" to describe two eighth notes sandwiched in between to quarter notes. Read More

Instruments: Violin Viola

For beginning students, we always start with how to hold the instrument, parts of the instrument and string names, and then begin playing open strings. This may take a few lessons. Placing the left hand fingers is usually the last step before playing an A scale and then Twinkle. Setting a foundation is more important than going quickly, so many of my students spend a number of months on Twinkle before starting to move more quickly with Lightly Row. Read More

Instruments: Violin Viola Electric Violin Music

Faculty/LecturerApr 2013 - Present National University of Arts Buenos Aires, Argentina Seminars: "Violin: technical tools for expression and relaxation"; Workshop: "Inner perception and body awareness for musicians"; Coach: "Technique and interpretation in Tango music" International School of Tango for MusiciansOct 2015 - Mar 2018 Buenos Aires/Reed University, Portland FLADEM: Latin-American Conference for Music Pedagogy Apr 2016 - Dec 2016 Latin-American Association for Music Pedagogy Seminars: "Violin: technical tools for expression and relaxation"; Workshop: "Inner perception and body awareness for musicians"; Read More