Violin with Jerry Y.

I've been playing and loving music for well more than half a century, now. I got started in second grade when my grandpa brought home a little violin one day, and I've been at it ever since. I was fortunate to take lessons for more than ten years with Carita Page, a teacher who was very warm, encouraging, and caring. I do my best to pass that on to my students in addition to the technique of playing and the theory of music, fascinating as those are. I feel that playing in groups is very valuable experience for students and gives you a side of music that private lessons alone cannot. I encourage students to look for opportunities to do that. To help provide those opportunities I organized the Cranbury Scout Band, one of very few continuously-operating Scout bands in the country, which I have directed for more that ten years now. I've also been on the staff of several Jamboree Scout bands. *** Lesson Details *** Every student is a different individual and learns in different ways. I try to make lessons as interesting and as useful to each student as I can, and include different things based on your interests and capabilities. Most students find duets are fun, so I include them often - both duets with the same instrument you are studying and duets with other instruments as well so you can learn the sound of such combinations. I encourage you to "play with your ears" as well as your fingers, to become a critical listener to your own performance and to decide whether you sound the way you want to sound. I encourage students to try different things to become a more rounded musician. This might be something closely related - a flutist trying the piccolo or a clarinetist trying the bass clarinet. Or, it might be further afield - a flutist trying the guitar or a violinist learning movable Do and solfeggio singing. Every aspect of music is good to know. *** Studio Equipment *** My music studio is in a separate building - actually a renovated barn about two centuries old. The studio contains a piano and all the other instruments that I teach, and is roomy enough not only for private lessons but for musical groups up to about ten. I have many other resources there as well, including files of music, a small music library, and a computer that we can use for many purposes. *** Travel Equipment *** Students need their instruments, music, and stands. I bring my own instrument. *** Specialties *** Classical, Marching Band, Ethnic (such as Jewish, Irish)