Vibrato!

i came across this Ray Chen video recently while searching for supplemental content to share with my students. Ray Chen is so down-to-earth, and his recommendations for working on vibrato technique here are spot on! Thought I’d pass this along.

Piano and friends!

I performed some very fun and exciting works a couple of weeks ago as part of the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Association’s Summer Chamber music series. The concert was titled “Piano & Friends,” and this annual concert always features chamber music works that include piano with varied instrumentation. My friend and collaborator John Sutherland Earle (the “piano” in Piano & Friends) leads the show and assembles the chamber ensembles. The most recent concert featured Bach’s Musical Offering BWV 1079, a Mozart Wind Quintet, and the Ravel Trio for piano, cello, and violin. Chamber music is near and dear to my heart ,and I love having the opportunity to share this wonderful music with others!

Fiddle Camp!

I switched things up a little bit this summer and headed down to Vero Beach, Florida for the Mike Block String Camp. This is an all-ages and all-levels weeklong program where string players gather to attend tune classes, form bands and arrange tunes for a performance at the end of the week. My band, Burn it Down, was an absolute blast to work with. We were all freelance players and teachers from all over the US AND Switzerland. We performed a tune called “Flickflach” by Henriette Flach. I always find that I can improve my own teaching when I learn new things. The camp itself was a super fun and enriching experience with awesome, friendly, gifted faculty who were so enthusiastic about coaching and sharing their knowledge.

Farewell to summer 2025

It’s so hard to believe it’s almost back-to-school time! I’m fondly looking backing on a wonderful 2025 summer, which was kicked off in June with my students’ lovely recitals. It’s always amazing to see how much they progress and mature over the years. I said goodbye to one senior, Toni, whom I will miss so much. (But I’m so excited for her to attend an Ivy League university in the fall!) The recitals included performances of a Mozart Sonata for Violin & Piano, Bach’s E major Preludio, as well as tunes by Adele and ABBA. A wonderful variety of music!

I ❤️ chamber music!

I had a lovely “double header” evening of concerts recently when I performed Beethoven’s lovely “Spring” Sonata for Violin & Piano with Master’s student Hannah Pierre at George Mason University, immediately followed by a performance of the Brahms Piano Quintet at a senior community in Alexandria. Both such gorgeous and fun pieces of music! It’s been a great year performing some amazing chamber works including the Dvorak Piano Quintet, Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2, and Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 59 No. 2. Looking forward to more!

Beethoven’s Spring Sonata

Adult Learning: Lessons a bit later in life

This year I have been enjoying working with some wonderful adult students. It is so rewarding to have a hand in teaching someone the ins and outs of music making. Learning an instrument can be a wonderful hobby to take up as an adult - it’s an excellent practice that is so challenging for 4 out 5 of our senses and requires intense focus. I always tell my adult learners that developing the skills to play a string instrument can take a lot of time and a lot of patience, but it is so worth it! I was delighted that all 3 of my adult students performed in our most recent recital. Just having the courage to pick up an instrument as an adult takes a lot of courage, but performing in front of an audience is a true feat! Pictured below are two students collaborating on a violin duet arrangement of Imperial March from Star Wars!

Winter Recitals 2024!

Everyone did a lovely job performing for our Winter Recitals last month! We had a few first-time recitalists who did an awesome job bravely sharing their solos with the audience. There was an awesome performance by student Timmy of “Bosun Bill,” who was accompanied by his grandmother on accordion (!) and also a lovely rendition of the first movement of the Bach Double Violin Concerto by Brianna and Richard, seen below, before (during a joint lesson) and after (post recital)!

Brahms C minor in Concert!

I was thrilled to get the chance to perform one of my favorite chamber music works of all time this month, the Brahms Piano Quartet in C minor. I’ve loved this piece since I first heard it as a college student. It was wonderful to collaborate on it with wonderful musicians John Earle, Helen Fall, and Kenneth Law. (Photos by Angela Anderson.)

End of Year Recitals

Everyone shared stellar performances at our end of the year recitals back in June, though I was sad to say farewell to 4 (!) graduating seniors whom I will miss so much. 😭 Some highlights were student collaborations of the slow movement of the Bach Double Violin Concerto and a quartet performance of the perennial classic, Pachelbel’s Canon in D.

Jukebox the Ghost

Such a fun show recently joining Jukebox the Ghost for one of their sold-out performances at The Atlantis DC. They are the nicest trio of guys, and their fans were fabulous!

Adulthood

All for Love

Man in the Moon

Spreading Musical Cheer

I was delighted to bring some of my high-school age student violinists, violists and pianists to the local senior home to deliver some holiday tunes to the residents! Students performed duos and trios together. It was so fun to see and hear the residents singing and nodding along to the music.

District Orchestra bound!

Very proud of these wonderful students for being accepted into their respective Senior and Junior District Orchestras! Special commendation goes to Zoë B. for getting 1st chair viola in her orchestra!

Farewell and Godspeed!

I am sending my well-wishes to four students who will be starting their college journey this month! I will cherish many wonderful musical moments and great conversations from their lessons and am so excited to hear about this next chapter of their lives.

This summer I also had the pleasure of working with a few former students who were home for summer break from college, and looking to take advantage of the extra free time to brush up on their playing. It’s so much fun to see all these young people grow and progress!

Cathy

Cathy began taking viola lessons with me via Zoom at the start of the pandemic. She is actively involved in theatre, so naturally was interested in learning some of her favorite musical theatre tunes on the viola. It was so much fun working on songs from musicals like Beetlejuice, Moulin Rouge, and Hamilton. She is headed abroad to study in the UK this fall.

Chloe

Chloe has studied violin with me since the third grade. She is a wonderfully creative musician who has always carved her own unique path on her journey through life. She is a gifted all-around artist. Chloe will be attending George Mason so I look forward to continuing to work with her!

Devin

Devin has been taking viola lessons with me since the end of his 6th grade year. He has always been self-motivated to tackle new and challenging pieces, all while keeping a constantly positive and enthusiastic attitude. He’s started his first year at University of Virginia this month.

Matthew

Matthew began taking viola lessons with me during middle school. Always a kind, open-minded and easy-going student, I know that Old Dominion University will be lucky to have him this fall!

Senior Tributes

I had THREE graduating seniors in my studio this year, all of whom I’d worked with for quite a long time. I’ve seen them go from great kids to fabulous young adults and am excited to hear about their adventures in college! I will miss seeing these folks so much, but am delighted to know them.

Brandon

I’ve taught Brandon since he was in third grade. He has come to every single lesson with a big enthusiastic smile (see left), and has always been eager to learn the next piece of music. I think he had a positive thing to say about nearly every piece we worked on in our 10 years of lessons! He has one of the most upbeat personalities I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. I was delighted that he has continued to study music through his busy high school years while he was also challenging himself academically and athletically - as you may have seen in my previous post, he’s a serious runner with a 4:32 mile time. He heads off to Florida Tech this fall to study aviation and plans to become a commercial pilot.

Claire

I started teaching Claire when she was in sixth grade. For many recitals in a row, she performed some of the great music from Star Wars on solo viola - no easy feat! She’s always had a self-driven enthusiasm for improving her skills on viola and has eagerly auditioned (and been accepted) to her District Honors Orchestras for many years. She’s a fabulous musician in her attention to detail and was principal violist in her South County High School orchestra. Claire’s a wonderfully kind, smart, and funny person. She’ll be studying electrical engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology this year.

Jaelyn

Jaelyn began taking lessons with me in second grade. In addition to being a fabulous violinist, she is also an accomplished pianist - pictured at left at her piano & violin senior solo recital in May. She’s filled her time with music-making since she was quite young, participating in the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras for many years, Governor’s School for piano, and was accepted into the All-Virginia Orchestra for 3 years. She is fun, light-hearted, and humble, while also being a dedicated and highly-focused musician and student. Jaelyn is heading to the University of Virginia to major in mathematics.

Wedding season

A few weeks ago I had a fun “first”: First ever wedding gig with a student! A close family friend of Chloe’s asked her to play violin for their wedding processional, and I accompanied her on piano. After performing for thousands of weddings with my string quartet, it was very special for me to fulfill this exciting role as wedding musician alongside one of my beloved students!

Spring Recitals 2022

The students performed beautifully for our Spring 2022 recitals last weekend. We had a wide variety of repertoire selections, from Mario Kart to Taylor Swift to Led Zeppelin to Lili Boulanger. I love when students get creative and involved with their solos and develop a personal investment in their performance. Several students even created their own arrangements of medleys to perform. I couldn’t be prouder! We said a sad goodbye to 3 graduating seniors who have been with me for many, many years and whom I will miss dearly. Stay tuned for my special senior tribute in a future blog post!