Violin with Ashley S.

I am a professional violist with a degree in Music performance from the Royal Academy of Music in London, England. I am also pursuing post-graduate studies in performance here in Kansas City and working as a substitute musician with the Kansas City Symphony. Although my performance focus is mainly classical, I have also performed with bands like Belle and Sebastian, singers like Amy Grant and even hip-hop artists such as Tech n9ne. I have many years of violin/viola/and piano teaching experience and have previously been on the faculty at Drake University. I also really enjoy teaching youngsters and worked as a classroom music teacher for the local catholic schools for a few years. Currently I teach for violin for two non profit charitable organizations - the KC Harmony project aimed at students age 5-18 in underserved communities as well as the KC String Sprouts which is a preschool preparedness focused program that enables four year olds and their parents to learn violin together. I enjoy meeting and getting to know my students and help them to achieve their musical goals, whether that be to ace an audition or to simply have fun with their instrument. My teaching focuses on developing a good understanding of the fundamentals of the instrument as well as those of music theory (writing and reading music) and creating a structured practice routine to facilitate learning. Students should expect to see weekly progress and to have so much fun learning to play music!