Like Teacher, Like Student

I enjoy serving as concertmaster (most recently a month ago with the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra), and so do my students. It gives them a chance to be recognized for their musical talent and leadership, without the stress that a soloist has.

Here is my student Yiqing Rose Chen, serving as concertmaster of Tufts Youth Philharmonic in May 2015, with conductor John Page. Looking great, Rose!

Sounding Good at the Recital

With regular practice, all of the beginners at my violin studio quickly learn to sound good. They progress at their own pace, which depends on a combination of effort and natural musical talent. If someone is musically gifted, learning violin is that much easier. An example is Ellie Wang, who came to my studio as a beginner in late May 2014. Here is her performance of Rieding's Violin Concerto, mvt. 1, at our last recital on November 15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p-I8dwjQKU. Congratulations, Ellie, for achieving such beautiful results in less than 6 months!

2014 Fall Recital at my Studio

On November 15, my violin studio is having our fall recital. More students will be performing than ever before, ranging from beginners who just started in September, to advanced students who are applying to undergraduate programs in music for next year. It is always a privilege to have my students perform in public, and it's a great opportunity for the students to show off their achievements in their violin studies. As always, this recital is open to the public and is followed by refreshments, giving our families and guests a chance to meet each other and socialize.

Audition Workshop Season

We are back to fall season, which is the time of auditions. I encourage my students to participate in ensembles, and I am happy to help them get ready for their auditions. This fall, several students took audition workshops at my violin studio, and the results are now in! One of them is now concertmaster of her college orchestra at BU, another is concertmaster of her middle school orchestra in Weston, and one more was admitted to the chamber music program at the Rivers Conservatory and placed in a good group. Congratulations to all my students on their successes, I am proud of them all!

Member of Needham's Honors Ensemble after a Year

Congratulations to my student Luke Zhang, a third grader from Needham! After studying violin for just one year, he has been accepted into the Needham Elementary String Orchestra (NESO)! NESO is a town-wide Honors ensemble for talented young musicians in grades four and five, by audition only. Luke is looking forward to playing with NESO next year.

Here is a photo of Luke performing at my studio's recital earlier this month. I am so proud of him!

Valentine's Day at My Students' Recital

Tomorrow, on Valentine's Day, I am going to a violin recital by my student Subaiou Zhang. Subaiou is currently studying in the Masters' of Music Program at BU on High Merit Scholarship.

WHEN: Friday, February 14 at 8:30pm (FREE)
WHERE: Concert Hall of BU College of Fine Arts, 855 Comm. Ave., Boston
PROGRAM: J.S. Bach, Sonata for Solo Violin No. 1 in G minor; César Franck, Violin Sonata in A major; Saint-Saens, Introduction and Rondo Cappriccioso

It's a very beautiful and challenging program. I hope she is not as nervous as I am for her.  Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Success at the MA District Orchestra Auditions

Congratulations to my student Yiqing (Rose) Chen, who recently auditioned for the Massachusetts Eastern District Senior Festival Orchestra. Yesterday, I learned that she has successfully passed her auditions, and is now a member of the orchestra.

Rose has been studying with me since September 2012. During this time, she has made great progress with her technique and musicianship. She is also a member of the Junior Repertory Orchestra at the New England Conservatory, where she auditioned last spring. It always makes me happy when my students are succeeding.

Very First Recital for Three of my Students

This past Sunday, I went to a recital by the students of reknowned Russian violin teacher Saveliy Shalman.  These young prodigies from the St. Petersburg Special Music School reminded me of my own childhood at the Special Music School in Riga, Latvia, when my life revolved around music and all my free time was dedicated to the violin.

And Mr. Shalman reminded me of my violin teacher in Riga, Oyars Kalninsh. Oyars was great at teaching the students proper technique while inspiring them to love music and to strive for constant improvement with their instrument. These are the values I aim to pass on to my own students, while recognizing that their lives are more balanced than for the young Russian violinists.

My studio had our own recital a week earlier on October 26. I am very proud of all my students, and especially the three for whom it was their very first recital. They come from Brookline, Needham, and Lexington, and they had all been studying violin for under six months but they have made huge progesss in this time. Here are the photos from their performances. I wish them, and all my students, a wonderful and fulfilling journey along their path as violinists.

Performances by my Students this Month

My student Subaiou Zhang, who is now in the Masters of Music program at the Boston University School for the Arts, had her first appearance yesterday as assistant concertmaster of the Boston University Chamber Orchestra. The program included Wagner's "Prelude and Transfiguration" from Tristan und Isolde.

Subaiou will also be performing at the Fall Recital of my studio on October 26, where she will be playing Bach's Ciaccona and Sonata #3 (Ballade) for Solo Violin by Isaye. She will be preceded by younger students from my studio, with a variety of pieces including Rieding's Violin Concerto, Swan by Saint-Saens and Double Violin Concerto by Bach.

This recital is a great opportunity for the students to show off their achievements in their violin studies. It is always a privilege to have my students perform in public.

Accepting New Students for September 2013

My studio is accepting new students for September 2013! We especially welcome intermediate and advanced students who would like to study violin at conservatory level, with the goal of obtaining high merit scholarships to study music in college.

Our studio is known for teaching the Yankelevich (Moscow) School of Violin, which has produced such violinists as Viktor Tretyakov, Leonid Kogan, Ilya Kaler, Vladimir Spivakov, Tatjana Grindenko, etc. We provide an individualized and creative approach for each student, with a focus on sound quality and proper technique. Our advanced students have been admitted to the best music schools (Longy, Boston Conservatory, Boston University School of Music), obtaining high merit scholarships everywhere.

We also offer instruction in jazz technique, specializing in the Grappelli school, to supplement the traditional classical school for which our studio is known.

Please contact newtonviolin@gmail.com for a 30-minute no-obligation trial lesson. For more details, please visit the studio websites: www.newtonviolin.com, www.facebook.com/newtonviolin

Summer Festivals for My Students

This summer, my student Subaiou Zhang was accepted to attend the prestigious Killington Music Festival, where she was invited to be the student of the well-known concert violinist Irina Muresanu.  The festival's violin faculty include Magdalena Richter, Joseph Silverstein, and Ilya Kaler.  It is an amazing opportunity for Subaiou to work with such great violinists, as she prepares to begin her Masters' Program in Violin Performance at Boston University with Yuri Mazurkevich in the fall.

Another student of mine, Rose Chen, has also been accepted to participate in a summer festival.  She will be attending the Philadelphia International Music Festival, where she is doing the Two-Week Pre-College Program. As part of this intensive music program, Rose will get to study violin with the members of the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra.

Congratulations to both Subaiou and Rose on these accomplishments! May these festivals serve as positive and influential experiences on their musical journeys!

Violin 101: Obtaining an Instrument

An inevitable issue for new violin students is how to obtain an instrument.  This issue comes up so often that I would like to comment on it here.

One thing I do NOT recommend is going out and buying a violin before you or your child begin lessons. It is easy to overpay, as you strive to get a quality instrument.  And if you try to avoid paying too much, it is unfortunately even easier to end up with an instrument of very poor quality, so it starts impeding your child's progress within a couple of month of lessons, or it is altogether unusable from the start.  This happened last week to a new student of mine, whose parents found a violin for him on eBay before coming to me. It saddened me to see them in this situation.

Unless you are lucky to inherit a violin from a musician friend or relative, it's better to rent at first.  Rental violins are usually of good quality for beginners, and they can be exchanged if there are problems. Then after several months of lessons, I will help my students find an affordable violin of their own, that is the best fit for them.

Accepted with High Merit Scholarships

We would like to congratulate my student Subaiou Zhang, who applied this winter to Masters Degree in Music programs at Longy, Boston University, and the Boston Conservatory. I am very proud to announce that Subaiou was accepted with high merit scholarships at every program where she auditioned!

For these very competitive auditions, Subaiou prepared a variety of challenging pieces, including Bach's 2nd Partita in D-minor, Sibelius' Violin Concerto, Shoenberg's Fantasy for Violin and Piano, Beethoven's Sonata, Saint-Saens' Introduction & Rondo Cappriccioso, and Paganini's Caprice. Congratulations on this wonderful accomplishment!!

Needham Concert Society's String Festival

Last weekend, my younger students participated in Needham Concert Society's String Festival. The pieces they played ranged from Boccherini's Menuet to Massenet's Meditation from Thais. They all played beautifully! It was a wonderful experience that has inspired them to keep growing as musicians, and made them look forward to performing more challenging pieces next year.

My gratitude to the Needham Concert Society, and especially to Ron Lowry, for organizing this event.  Here is a photo of my student Abigail Chang; it was her very first recital! Abigail's older sister Caroline and brother Emmanuel also performed in the recital.

Observing Masterclass by Midori

I feel blessed to have had a chance to observe yesterday a 3.5-hour violin masterclass by the acclaimed violinist Midori, at the New England Conservatory.  Having given similiar masterclasses myself before, I appreciated her ability to teach gracefully yet very effectively under the stress of having many eyes on her. She is a true artist, with an exquisite sensibility for the sound of the violin, that she uses so well in her playing and teaching. My admiration for Midori has gone up.

Proud of my Student

I have received photos from the September 22 concert by the Needham Concert Society, that took place in Needham's Great Hall. I am posting one of the photos here, taken during Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C major. It shows me on the right, violinist Peter Zazovsky on the left, and cellist Ronald Lowry in the middle.  The petite woman next to me is my violin student Subaiou Zhang. Subaiou was my assistant in this concert, and I am very proud of her work! I believe she has a big future as a violinist ahead of her.

A Big Day for my Students

Yesterday, my studio (www.newtonviolin.com) had a children's recital.  The repertoire ranged from "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in A minor, depending on how long the student has been taking lessons. I would like to thank pianist Tanya Shrago for serving as our accompanist, as well as for giving a short performance afterwards.  After the recital, Tanya mentioned that, having accompanied many violin recitals in her life, ours was exceptional for the tone quality and intonation that all the kids exhibited, even though most of them are beginners.

Yesterday was a big day for my students, because another student of mine from Needham Music had a concert at his school, where he played Rieding's Violin Concerto in B minor. I heard from his mother today, she wrote: I wanted to let you know that our son did a wonderful job at the concert... Several people came up to him after he played and complimented him and asked us where he took lessons. There was a family there with three children... Their father also spoke to us and complimented our son.  He said he has also played violin as a child so he understood the technique involved. He said he could tell that our son was taught well because his technique with the bow was so good. I wanted to let you know and thank you for all of the hard work you have put in to our son.

I would like to thank the parents of all my students for their dedication in helping their kids practice at home; the sound quality and good technique that their kids exhibit would not be possible without everybody's hard work.

Thanks to the Needham Concert Society

This weekend, several of my students performed in the String Festival organized by the Needham Concert Society, performing pieces by Bach, Rieding, and Paganini.  They did a great job, I am very proud of them!  I thank the organizers of this festival for providing a venue in the MetroWest where young violin students have the opportunity to perform in public.

Student Recital last Saturday

Last Saturday, June 18, my violin students at Needham Music had a recital, as part of the school's end-of-year showcase.  They played pieces by Bach and Vivaldi. They did a wonderful job, and the audience seemed to enjoy them very much. I am very proud of them.

Inspiring Students with My Music

I was very inspired by the audience who came to my concert last night, but I was most thrilled to see three children, who came with their parents to listen to my music and watch me perform -- my students. While I was playing, I could see in their eyes the excitement of their involvement with the music.  As a teacher, I think it's very important for students to have opportunities to observe music-making in action (in addition to recital opportunies of their own). It gives them an inspiration and a goal to reach for. Maybe some day, one of them will also experience the joy of serving as a concertmaster, a soloist, or a conductor.