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I so enjoyed arranging string parts and playing violin and viola (along with my cellist comrade April Maddox) AND singing backing vocals on this latest release entitled Falling Forward by Brian K & the Parkway!
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.)
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.
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
I had a wonderful time performing the Brahms Piano Quintet at the Fairfax Old Town Hall with some friends back in February!
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.
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!
I had the pleasure of performing one of my fave pieces from one of my fave composers recently - the Brahms Piano Quintet. It was a blast!
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!
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.
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!
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!
The West Potomac High School Pyramid presented their Pops Concert last night, and I loved having the chance to see SEVEN of my elementary, middle and high school private students perform! Highlights of the show were Songs from “Encanto” and a Grease medley (one of my personal high school summertime favorites).
My final student to be featured today is Jack. He selected this lovely and lyrical piece entitled “Reflections” as one of his solos for the upcoming recital, and I suggested we record it at a recent lesson. I can always hear a beautiful expressive quality in his tone, and am particularly proud of the gorgeous vibrato he’s honed over the past years. Hope you enjoy the color-coordinated sweatshirt-and-wall combo here.
So many things to be proud of in the studio this spring! I traveled down to Christopher Newport University last month to see senior Jaelyn perform in the All-Virginia Orchestra. Though she was accepted to All-State in the two previous years, this was the FIRST time she was able to attend the live event due to the pandemic. She made me proud sitting 5th chair in the first violin section. The students worked hard over the 2-and-a- half- day event, and sounded fabulous.
Student Chloe had the unique idea to perform a medley of Minecraft tunes for the upcoming recital. She chose a variety of songs from the game, composed an original violin part using online music notation software, and even created a piano accompaniment for me to play! Anyone who has arranged music before knows that this is an hours-long process. I am continually amazed by my students’ creativity and enthusiasm. Looking forward to unveiling this number on June 4!
Student Nikhil is amazing at making great violin arrangements of pop songs. He covered this Britney Spears classic, Toxic, for a recent school talent show, and I think he captures the mood of this song perfectly. Enjoy!
One of my graduating seniors this year, Brandon, has been honing his running skills for nearly his whole life. I remember us talking about running the local Turkey Trot when he was only in 5th grade or so. I finally got the chance to see him race a few weeks ago at a local high school track meet. He busted out a 4:38 mile! Aside from being a delightful, kind, and positive person who has always had the most enthusiastic attitude in his violin lessons, Brandon’s also the fastest runner I know. His hard work is an inspiration.
Student Kate and I were playing some duets at the end of her book a couple weeks ago and they sounded so great that I decided to hit record. She’s been taking lessons for about nine months and is doing beautifully! One of my very favorite things about being a musician is experiencing the joy of chamber music (i.e., small ensembles). Duets like these give even young students the chance to take part in the absolute joy of playing with others.
Today is a cold and rainy day in this area, but the spring weather will be here to stay soon. Until then, I give you the appropriately titled, “In the Bleak Midwinter.”
I had a wonderful and inspiring experience at the American String Teachers Association National Conference a couple of weeks ago! I attended some fascinating educational sessions and heard awesome performances by fiddler Jeremy Kittel (Kittel & Co.) and the Air Force Strings. It’s always invigorating to trade ideas with string teachers from around the country. One of the foci of this Conference was music from under-represented composers, and I was delighted to hear great new and old music that is being more widely publicized!
Alexandria, VA
