Violin teacher recommendation in the Rockville/North Potomac/Gaithersburg area

[Anonymous]

Any recommendations for a violin teacher in the Rockville/North Potomac/Gaithersburg area for my 8 year old son? Willing to travel, but not to DC or VA. May be asking for the impossible--I'm looking for a teacher who won't push too hard, but who will still teach good technique and musicality.

[Anonymous]

DD studies with Emil Chudnovsky (search for his name here; there is a VERY good/informative thread about him, and it's 100% true), who is technically in DC, but draws from MD mostly. He is VERY good at what he does, but if you're looking for a warm and fuzzy kind of teacher, he's totally not it. He is very conservative, technical, and Russian in his approach, and unforgiving with sloppiness.

[Anonymous]

OP, what does it mean to "push"? Is it too pushy to expect daily practice? Too pushy to ask the student to listen to recordings of the repertoire they're working on? Too pushy to ask the student to attend the occasional live concert? Too pushy to point out all the mistakes? Too pushy to insist on correct technique even when it's hard to do so? Too pushy to expect that measurable progress will be made?

Or does "pushy" essentially mean "competitive"? Is it too pushy to ask students to enter competitions? To expect them to actually win? To audition for other opportunities?

Could you define what you're looking for more precisely?

[Anonymous]

OP here. By pushing too hard, I mean expecting daily practice and giving him a hard time if he doesn't practice daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. By pushing too hard, I mean expecting daily practice and giving him a hard time if he doesn't practice daily.

yeah you don't want a music teacher. Daily practice is how you learn. If you're not prepared to do that get a penny whistle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. By pushing too hard, I mean expecting daily practice and giving him a hard time if he doesn't practice daily.

Good teachers know that it’s impossible to make progress as a musician, without efficient practice. It doesn’t mean the kid has to practice for hours, but it does mean that the child, when they practice, have to be focused. Focused practice is exhausting. At your child’s age, there should be minimum expectations around practice.

In your shoes, I would ask the ES/MS strings teachers for recommendations. Most serious strings teachers will have a problem with students that are not serious about their instrument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. By pushing too hard, I mean expecting daily practice and giving him a hard time if he doesn't practice daily.

yeah you don't want a music teacher. Daily practice is how you learn. If you're not prepared to do that get a penny whistle.

Way overstated. My kids play instruments and we always take Fridays off from practicing. Why? Because they're tired from their school week and choose to spend the afternoon with their grandparents who don't want to supervise music practice. We've done it this way for years and they still make progress every week.

Not practicing is a problem. But every day isn't necessarily required as long as you practice enough each week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD studies with Emil Chudnovsky (search for his name here; there is a VERY good/informative thread about him, and it's 100% true), who is technically in DC, but draws from MD mostly. He is VERY good at what he does, but if you're looking for a warm and fuzzy kind of teacher, he's totally not it. He is very conservative, technical, and Russian in his approach, and unforgiving with sloppiness.

Emil will not tell you how long to practice, or even if you need to practice daily. It's all about intentional and effective critical thinking applied to your playing - your brain should be tired before your arm. But what that means in practice for children, especially primary-aged kids who have no idea what the previous sentence means, is that they do need to put in the work, every day. Otherwise they'll come into the next lesson without adequate preparation and will be told so in no uncertain terms.

Perhaps not what OP is looking for...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. By pushing too hard, I mean expecting daily practice and giving him a hard time if he doesn't practice daily.

yeah you don't want a music teacher. Daily practice is how you learn. If you're not prepared to do that get a penny whistle.

Way overstated. My kids play instruments and we always take Fridays off from practicing. Why? Because they're tired from their school week and choose to spend the afternoon with their grandparents who don't want to supervise music practice. We've done it this way for years and they still make progress every week.

Not practicing is a problem. But every day isn't necessarily required as long as you practice enough each week.

Taking only Fridays off is almost daily practice. It's amazing that you don't know that. OP wants occasional practice and that's just BS and won't cut it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. By pushing too hard, I mean expecting daily practice and giving him a hard time if he doesn't practice daily.

yeah you don't want a music teacher. Daily practice is how you learn. If you're not prepared to do that get a penny whistle.

Way overstated. My kids play instruments and we always take Fridays off from practicing. Why? Because they're tired from their school week and choose to spend the afternoon with their grandparents who don't want to supervise music practice. We've done it this way for years and they still make progress every week.

Not practicing is a problem. But every day isn't necessarily required as long as you practice enough each week.

Taking only Fridays off is almost daily practice. It's amazing that you don't know that. OP wants occasional practice and that's just BS and won't cut it.

Many teachers aren't okay with almost daily. Know your teacher.

OP never said occasional practice. You're putting words in her mouth.

[Anonymous]

Chris Sanchez from Capitol Strings. Excellent teacher.

[Anonymous]

Different poster here (but familiar with Emil Chudnovsky's studio).

I don't think all of Emil's students practice daily. He understands that students have commitments and life events that may mean that they barely pick up the instrument during a given week (or don't pick it up at all) -- students get sick, have finals week, have travel sports that take them out of town, etc.

Most teachers in the DMV that don't have explicitly preprofessional studios are tolerant of students who don't practice daily, although they certainly encourage it strongly.

However, students will certainly make far more progress if they practice daily. To simply maintain physical strength, speed, and flexibility, a student needs to be playing at least 30 minutes daily, although some may get away with as little as 10 to 15 if very efficient (and blessed with the physical traits).

Emil does expect that if he asks a student to do something, they'll do it with what time they have available, rather than faffing off, though. In other words he expects some focused effort to follow instructions, even if that focused effort isn't applied daily.

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonconservatory.org/music-lessons/suzuki-string-academy/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. By pushing too hard, I mean expecting daily practice and giving him a hard time if he doesn't practice daily.

yeah you don't want a music teacher. Daily practice is how you learn. If you're not prepared to do that get a penny whistle.

Way overstated. My kids play instruments and we always take Fridays off from practicing. Why? Because they're tired from their school week and choose to spend the afternoon with their grandparents who don't want to supervise music practice. We've done it this way for years and they still make progress every week.

Not practicing is a problem. But every day isn't necessarily required as long as you practice enough each week.

Taking only Fridays off is almost daily practice. It's amazing that you don't know that. OP wants occasional practice and that's just BS and won't cut it.

Many teachers aren't okay with almost daily. Know your teacher.

OP never said occasional practice. You're putting words in her mouth.

No I am using my own words.

[Anonymous]

Retired Violin teacher with 30 years here: All of my colleagues were professional players as well as teachers. We all understand that not everyone can practice daily. None of us were impressed with "Russian style" teaching which btw isn't really a thing. We did frequently discuss parents and their unrealistic ambitions for their kids which often kacked in authentic appreciation for the very music the purported to value.

OP : call and ask the teachers what their expectations are and how they run their recitals. There should be one recital a year. It helps motivate the students.

You can also find a graduate performance major. We were all teaching while in school. I taught my first student when I was 16 and had entered college on scholarship. Positive exposure on the first engagement is always good.