Teaching Philosophy
The purpose of music education is to give students the opportunity to develop their unique musical identities to express themselves and participate in musical communities. I carefully design a flexible curriculum to meet each student’s needs, and I help students acquire musical knowledge and skills by balancing experiential and conceptual ways of learning. It is my responsibility as a teacher to respect my students and value their unique experiences. Students grow most when they have the opportunity to be curious and open-minded, so I create an environment that is welcoming, positive, and engaging.
I collaborate with students and their parents/guardians to develop long-term and short-term plans that align with their goals. I support my students by incrementally building upon foundational concepts, asking interactive questions, and providing specific and constructive feedback. My students keep a practice journal to document their progress, maintain motivation to practice consistently, and explore their own ideas and questions.
My Experience
My experience in education includes teaching students ages 4-15 at Flower Mound Music Academy in Texas for two years, and I continue to integrate classical and jazz approaches as a teacher with In Home Music Teachers. Starting in 2022, while studying at the University of Denver, I taught in-home lessons, took Suzuki pedagogy classes, and worked as a substitute teacher for group classes at Primavera Place. I further honed my teaching philosophy in my Pedagogy of Jazz and Introduction to Research in Jazz Studies courses at the University of North Texas, and I performed at the 2026 Jazz Education Network Conference with the Jazz Strings and Fiddle Society of Texas to promote jazz and improvisation education in the strings community.
I continue my journey in Denver, where I am building a violin studio that emphasizes improvisation and community connections. I am currently accepting students of all ages and levels, from beginner to college-level, who are interested in a well-rounded, challenging, and fun musical education.
Listening
My young students learn music as a language—they learn to recognize and mimic musical concepts before labelling them. I use the Suzuki method, which teaches music as a language by listening and “doing” before learning how to read it. Beyond the Suzuki method, I use my experience in jazz to engage in call-and-response, modeling sounds and skills for students to repeat and internalize, reviewing often. This focus on listening extends to students further along in their musical path. All my students learn how to listen actively, and this skill requires knowledge of common musical forms, history, instrumentation, rhythm, melody, and harmony. I give students listening assignments and help them discover both common and distinctive features of the music.
Improvisation
Taking this listening practice even further, I teach students how to transcribe (playing along with a musician in a recording exactly as they played) to build a foundation for improvisation, a skill not commonly addressed in strings education. I encourage students to learn improvised solos by artists they admire—by ear and from memory. I have found this meticulous but enjoyable process to be the most beneficial for learning the aspects of music that cannot be written down easily, like timbre, groove, articulation, intonation, and interaction with other musicians. Once students have internalized the transcription, I help them find ways to modify it and connect it with theoretical concepts to apply their own ideas to new contexts, cultivating a musical identity of their own in relation to musicians they admire.
Community
In jazz, improvisation includes much more than just the notes played. It allows us to express ourselves within a collective setting. Jazz is a social music inseparable from Black American culture and struggle, so I connect its history and practice with the sound of the music. For example, memorizing jazz solos is an exercise in collaborating with great musicians of the past and present. Developing a practice of listening to music means recognizing artists’ individual voices and hearing how they influenced each other. It also means learning how to connect the music with its cultural context—by going to libraries and record stores as well as talking with other musicians and browsing online without getting overwhelmed.
Technique
Creative musicianship also requires strong technical foundations. As students progress, they learn the classical repertoire helpful for success in the music industry—including concertos and orchestral excerpts for auditions into schools and symphonies; and solo Bach, Paganini caprices, and piano duets for recitals and other performances. I focus on relaxed technique that allows for the most stylistic flexibility, assigning scales, etudes, and patterns to give my students the opportunity to choose the path they want to take in music without running into technique limitations.
By solving problems and being curious, students learn how to listen actively, think critically, and create imaginatively. I teach music as a process—something we do—rather than a product. It is a human activity and is inherently worth understanding and experiencing. I teach music because it helps students express themselves, connect with others, and transform the ways they understand the world.
Private Violin and Viola Lessons
60-minute lessons: $250/month
45-minute lessons: $190/month
30-minute lessons: $130/month
I offer in-home and online music lessons to students of all ages and levels. Monthly flat-rate tuition includes 38 lessons throughout the year and is due on the 1st of the month.
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