Welcome, Fall!

Someone told me once that "you can never go wrong with pumpkin." Well, I refute this statement because I messed up four times trying to make pumpkin bread this weekend. By messing up, I mean that each of the four bread loaves deflated. I swear I followed the recipe step by step. Then again, I'm not the most meticulous baking person so it's possible that I made inaccurate measurements. After many cans of pumpkin puree and flour, I managed to make a beautiful baked product. This was a good start to Autumn for sure.

Now the only other thing besides pumpkin bread that I need to really start the season is to listen to Vivaldi's four seasons: Autumn played by none other than Sarah Chang. I say "none other than Sarah Chang" because my family absolutely adores her. We went to several of her live concerts growing up and have many CD recordings by her. Perhaps our idolization of Sarah Chang stems from the fact that she is a world-ranked solo violinist and we happen to share the same last name...In any case, I'm glad that I was introduced to her music early in my violin career because she has definitely positively influenced my violin playing.

Creativity in the art of teaching the violin.

My mom was a music professor in South Korea and instilled a true love for classical music since I was little. She encouraged me to play the violin starting when I was just six years old and I've been playing in orchestras, churches, and nursing homes ever since. It wasn't until I was in high school that I began to teach violin.

At first, I found it extremely difficult to engage students-most of them in elementary schools-during individual private lessons. I started to think that perhaps, strictly following the Suzuki books and other prominent violin exercise books were not enough. With this in mind, I decided to incorporate my creativity into the music lessons. For instance, I drew small cartoon characters such as a bunny or a puppy on the side of the music sheet. Then I explained to the students that the small bunny or puppy would be super happy if he or she would play the music two times. Incorporating this kind of creativity definitely improved the students' level of commitment and attention during the lessons. By doing this, the students seemed to not only enjoy every second of the violin lesson but they also saw tremendous improvements in their skills. Another profound thing I realized was that I also seemed to enjoy teaching violin by using my creativity to explain certain techniques, scales, fingering exercises, etc. 

Throughout past few years teaching violin, I developed a genuine passion for using fun and creative ways to help students learn the violin. I found that this makes it easier to engage students in learning to play the violin, which can often times be difficult and frustrating. This can be especially important and useful for teaching younger kids in elementary and middle school, whose attention spans are often more limited than the older students. I'm excited to keep pursuing my love for the violin and discovering innovative, exciting ways to help students fall in love with the violin.

Affordable violin lessons in Decatur, Georgia

A little bit about the instructor:
I've been a competitive violinist for over 10 years and played with following orchestras: All State Maryland Senior Orchestra, Maryland Classical Youth Orchestra, Metropolitan Orchestra at Montgomery College, The Fame Youth Chamber Orchestra, and the All State Maryland Senior Orchestra. I've also played at Carnegie Hall in New York City with my middle school orchestra. My teaching experience as private violin teacher has been mostly with individuals in elementary and middle school students. I'm open to teaching individuals of all ages. I will be holding lessons at my house that is at the Clifton Rd NE and North Decatur Rd intersection. 

$20 for 30-minute lessons
$30 for 1-hour lessons

Bruch Concerto from five years ago