Violin with Greg A.

Music is the universal language that, when tapped into, illuminates the joys of life and shows us how to open the doors of opportunity. When we study and play music, we are cultivating our curiosity and wonder of the world and are gaining a confidence to be expressive, creative, entrepreneurial, and playful. When we feel music, we feel love. The study of stringed instruments in particular is one of tremendous depth. The violin plays a vital role in a great number of music traditions across the globe and every time we play, we connect, we celebrate, and we contribute to that vibrating string community. I have been playing for 20 years and teaching private and group lessons for seven and I would love to show you or your child the wonders of playing music. My passion for teaching is as strong as my desire for personal musical growth. I believe that a one-on-one teacher to student relationship is the best way for the student to grow not only in the subject being taught, but emotionally as well. It is my goal for every one of my students to learn some life lesson or become acquainted with a non-musical philosophy through the study of music. From my personal life-long study of music I have learned about the importance of listening, dedication, compassion, respect, and of teaching oneself, and if I am able to pass on just a fraction of this experiential knowledge, then the student has found success. I have a style, structure, and discipline of teaching that has been passed onto me from my great teachers. There are core values that I maintain like ear training, good technique, playing etudes and scales, and reading music, but every student learns differently and develops their own way of learning and playing the instrument. I balance my curriculum with your own style and your approach to learning. We work on repertoire that you want to learn, and I will help you set your own achievable goals. If you want strictly classical lessons, we can do that. If you want to learn classical techniques and fundamentals, but play American fiddle repertoire, we can do that. I have experience playing in many, many styles such as jazz, rock, country, Americana, and various world fiddle traditions, and my experience at Berklee (the world's premier popular music school) has shown me how versatile our instrument can be. Although I am not certified, I use the Suzuki method with books and repertoire. I teach a lot of improvisation and although I emphasize learning by ear, I do place much importance on reading. I teach from my comfortable and charming pet and smoke free home studio near Mt. Tabor. A little more about me from my professional bio: Greg A. is a multi-instrumentalist and teacher who performs in a wide variety of styles and genres. He has used his classical violin training as a springboard for learning about improvising, jazz, world music traditions. His studies on the mandolin landed him a four-year scholarship at the Berklee College of Music in Boston where he studied Composition. He was a founding member of the ME/2 Orchestra, a nationally-recognized full orchestra based in Burlington, VT created for people with mental disabilities and those who support them. He also performed in the traditional middle eastern music ensemble Grup Anwar, and has travelled to Scotland with the Vermont theater troupe Spielpalast Cabaret. He currently lives in Portland, OR where he maintains a studio of violin, viola and mandolin students both at his home studio and with Keys to Life Music School and the Northwest Chinese Academy. He performs regularly with Three for Silver, Down Home Music, the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra, Cascade Chamber Orchestra and various local jazz, classical, and folk ensembles.