Viola Lessons in Santa Monica, CA

Instruments: Piano Violin Viola Trumpet Recorder Fiddle

I am passionate about helping students at any level improve their skills. I have Bachelors and Masters degrees in Violin Performance and have played all over the world. For 10 years I was concertmaster of the Fresno Philharmonic and have performed as soloist and concertmaster of the Heidelberg Chamber Orchestra touring throughout Europe, Canada and the United States. I moved to the Los Angeles area in 1996 and have been a member for over 20 years of the first violin section of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra with Placido Domingo as the Artistic Director. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Violin Cello Viola Flute Drums Bass Guitar Organ Electric Violin Double Bass

I have an interactive yet focused style of teaching. I can(but don't recommend) to use the Suzuki method. I feel that all aspects related to the instruments weigh much importance in teaching the student. However, with the Suzuki method, the student's primary focus is to learn pieces rapidly and climb the level of difficulty as fast as possible. This prevents him/her to fully understand and analyze the piece and lesson and it can also turn the student away from pursuing the instrument further.  Read More

Instruments: Viola

I have been teaching students viola/violin both privately and in group settings since I was in high school. I did a teaching internship for a year at the middle school level for a year while in college as well as running all the viola sectionals for my university orchestra as the principal violist for 4 years. After graduating with my bachelors, I did an internship shadowing the high school orchestra director in my college town for 6 months and taught many of their students privately as well. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Violin Cello Viola Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Drums Bass Guitar Organ Synthesizer Harp Accordion Harmonica Lap Steel Guitar Banjo Ukulele Mandolin Recorder Lute Electric Violin Fiddle Double Bass Euphonium French Horn Tuba Piccolo Mallet Percussion Orchestral Percussion Shakuhachi Oboe Bassoon English Horn Conga Latin Percussion Keyboard Electric Guitar Djembe Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar

Hello and thank you for having an interest in my teaching profile! My name is Derek, and I am a 24-year-old musician originally from Indiana. I am a passionate and motivated instructor and look forward to meeting you and sharing my love of music with you. I have been teaching students of all ages for 10 years now. If it would interest you, please take a minute to read my biography to find out more about me! Read More

Instruments: Violin Viola

I would like to inform little of music theory as needed for better understanding of music. Mainly I would focus on letting students make their goal and achieve it. The way I teach students is starting with setting a goal for each lesson time. After setting a goal, I will organize time to spend to go through anything we need to work on together. I will assign my student to read next part until we meet next lesson. Read More

Instruments: Violin Viola

For beginning students, i like to start with the Essential Elements method book. The pieces in this method book are good for beginners because they are short and simple. For more advanced students, I like to delve into the Suzuki method books and then into more advanced solo repertoire from there. However, each student is different, so each student's lesson may look different. I also like to see what pieces or scales the student is interested in learning and incorporate that into the lesson plan. Read More

Instruments: Piano Violin Cello Viola Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet French Horn Piccolo Oboe

For stringed instruments, I uses the Suzuki method for teaching the basic repertory of the instruments. This method is an ear training method in which the student plays by ear. It starts out very simple so students of all ages can learn and progress very quickly. For learning to read music I use one of the method books like "A Tune a day" or Strictly Strings which teach the fundamentals of read music and music theory. Read More