Quick Facts about Amanda
- Teaches violin and viola
- Open to teaching all ages and experience levels
- Specializes in Suzuki and Etude Study books
- Patient and flexible
- Currently playing with Philharmonia Northwest.
- B.A. in Multimedia Arts & Sciences concentration in Animation. Minor in Music. From the University of North Carolina, Asheville
Inspirational Moment
The first time going to musical summer camp. It was very motivating to be around so many peers and teachers doing music pretty much every day for an entire month. And when we weren't practicing or in class, it was very enlightening to be hanging out with friends who also were enthusiastic musicians vs. your own clique in regular public school during the year
Top 3 Desert Island Albums
- Best of Soundtrack [emU] - Hiroyuki Sawano
- Distant Worlds II or IV - Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy
- The 2nd Law - Muse
Learn more about Amanda
General Teaching Style
I would like to teach focusing on the basic techniques off of what the student already knows. Once we get the basics down, we can learn to play fun songs. And along with songs the student wants to play, we can introduce other songs/exercises they can work on to increase technique.
I like Suzuki and Etude Study books. Pair with another fun classical or arrangement of something the student wants to play at their appropriate level would be plenty to work on at a time.
My training is Classical but I also love Video Game Music and Soundtracks. My library at home includes many soundtracks for video games, movies, and anime.
Focus & Goals of the First Lesson
The first lesson will go depending on what level the student is at adult or child. Students will demonstrate what they know already and we can formulate a curriculum from there. Every person is different, so teaching must be flexible.
Unique Strengths
I'm really patient and detail-oriented, but I also know how to differ things that will improve over time vs. what we can fix now. I'm a partial Suzuki student and a great listener so I want students to work on intonation and tone because once those things are natural, it is easier to focus on learning and sight reading the pieces they want to play.
I dabble in some composing/arranging of video game music since high school, so I am very open to putting something together for a student that does not already exist in the sheet music library. Weapon of choice is Finale. The nice thing about arranging is you can tailor the song to fit the student's level.
Additional Experience & Instruments
In the past, I volunteered annually at our youth orchestra's "musical petting zoos" where we got to show young kids instruments and let them try them out for the evening.
Also my background working part time retail at a bookstore can at times be very much like teaching. Everyone who comes in has different needs and I'm accustomed to quickly identifying those needs and making recommendation based off what I've learned. An added bonus is a lot of times I can offer a suggestion to further their interests or studies which is very much like a teaching moment to me because they will continue to pursue if they are interested and find it fun.