Katalena Hume 9th Grade for Martha’s Vineyard Charter School

Project Period Winter 2020

I worked on my past experiences with violin teachers. I reflected on things that I have learned from them.

What I Have Learned About How to Be A Good Violin Teacher from my years as a student. I've worked on a section of my music portfolio going into the past and recognizing what knowledge I have absorbed from all of my teachers.

As a violinist, I can say that I have had much experience with my teachers from the past. They have shaped me not only in my performing but also given me the foundation of how to teach. Not only what one should do as a violin teacher, but what one should not do. It takes many years to develop a solid teacher/student relationship so that true learning happens. I have learned that in violin, it is not just about the steps of form and style and teaching the notes, but it is also about the trust, respect and the discipline. It is about the relationship that matures through the common thread of the passion for the music and wanting to please my teacher as well as have that reflect back to me as a student and know I have succeeded.

I have seen many styles of teaching as well as many ways to become a teacher. I have been a different student with each teacher as well.

My first teacher was when I was only 3 years old. I began taking lessons from Ms. Sykes, a renowned Suzuki teacher who always boasted that she learned from Suzuki himself. She’s known to be quite strict but during my lesson time, she was extremely kind and patient to me. Because of her love and consistent investment in me as a student, Ms. Sykes felt sometimes like another grandmother. She taught me my first notes on the violin. Starting at twinkle and my real embrace and love of the violin blossomed under her lessons. I can remember when it all sort of clicked and I felt the first time having the ability to play a song through and then I knew I could reach for a song and learn it by ear. This gave me more confidence and I was hooked.

One thing I can remember about Ms. Sykes was when she would ramble into stories about her past during many of our lessons together. It seemed like her time with me and connecting was more important then mastering the song we where working on. She would say, “You know, as a kid, my brothers tricked me into finding a porcupine out in the woods so I’d get pricked.” These where fond memories and made my lessons not a chore or a have to, but just a pleasantry like starring notes with a family member. This gave me joy in my playing and feelings of warmth and love. It is important to know where we all come from and our past and sharing these stories became a anticipated part of our lessons together.

Ms. Sykes was firm with all of her students but in a loving way. She would sit me on her lap when I was little and spend a lot of focus on our time just singing and making sure I knew simple tempo and pitch. As I grew and was able to handle more, she would always say you practice every day you eat. So if you eat that day, you practice the violin. One time she got really mad at my mom because she felt my mom was not encouraging me to practice. I was falling behind a lot in my lesson book. My mom remembers very well how, not only did she teach me, but also thought my mom. She thought and how important it is for a parent to be supportive and have guidance especially when students are so young. My mom never forgot this and became one of my biggest advocates and cheerleaders in my passion for playing the violin.

I remember a story she told when I was about 5, she told me about how she used to be a daredevil. “One night I lead one of the horses out of the barn during a huge storm. I was not supposed to be out and I knew if I got caught I would be in trouble, but I rode off into a path in the woods bare-back, on a gallop. It didn’t take long for the horse to rear upwards in fright. I flew up in the air and landed hard on the ground. I had to spend days in the hospital and some of the injuries never went away.” She had suffered from problems with her joints in areas from that one ride. I sat there mesmerized by these stories of her childhood or her youth and somehow it helped me in my lesson as well. I felt like Ms Sykes was a master teacher and I will always be so grateful for my my earliest years being her student. All of her lessons where extremely valuable and she put all her heart into them.

What I learned from my first violin teacher, Ms. Sykes, is the following:

1. Be firm but loving. It gets more out of students than just one or the other. Don’t let the students or parents develop bad behaviors or have any excuses not to practice.

2. Tell stories, let the students into your past and your world but just be careful not to get too sidetracked and take precious lesson time. It is a delicate balance that most likely takes years to master. Sharing and growing the relationship while putting the time in teaching. A small insight into your world goes a long way.

3. Always encourage parents to be apart of a students daily practice. Have them instill the importance of practice and be able to guide their child along with the teacher. If a parent cannot take lessons and practicing seriously it can prevent the child to not take it seriously as well and then their potential may never be seen.

4. Always bow after a performance and dress appropriately to the occasion.

5. Trim your fingernails.

6. Practice every day you eat.

Things I learned you should Not Do:

1. Never cancel a lesson too close to it’s start time because parents need plenty of time to realize especially if driving from a distance.

2. Never make it too difficult for a make up if the teacher has to cancel.

3. Never ship you're expensive violin, they do get stolen. (Another story shared)

When I turned 6, my mom and I moved to Martha's Vineyard. I began taking lessons from a teacher named Becky Barcus Tinus. She was an Island teacher who also took lessons from Ms Sykes when she was younger. I learned several parts of book 2 with her, but it was a hard adjustment to go from Ms. Sykes who I respected so much, to Becky who had much less time for lessons. Also let’s just say that there where a few problems which came along with her teaching environments.

At first her lessons where in her home but later all of her private lessons where held in a tool shed in her yard. Yes. Literally a tool shed. First of all, the lighting was bad, it was cold, and the sound was very loud and flat. My mom could never come in to be a part of it like Ms. Sykes always required because there was not much room and it was just too loud for my baby brother who was just a baby then. One thing that a music teacher should never do is use a room with the wrong sound. Becky’s shed was not the right environment because every sound wave immediately bounced off the walls right back to your ears with a flat and unpleasant sound. This could actually cause hearing damage because the sound is too full-on when it comes right back towards you without any room to resonate, in an open space. So in other words, the bigger the space the better.

If you have a rug, couches or furniture, [specifically soft materials] covering the space, it will absorb the sound completely making every noise flat and tangy. This is not particularly appealing to any musicians ears. Then there is the opposite of that, when every inch of a room is hard material like a bathroom or a church. As some may know, in solid rooms, when there is nothing to absorb the sound, it bounces back in echoes which blends notes together and makes the melody sound more fluent. It is good to have the right balance of sound in a teaching space. The perfect situation for the best sound would be a good sized room organized, with a throw rug and acoustic panels on the walls or ceiling. That way the sound won’t be too flat, loud, or echoing.

Another problem with Becky’s space was the poor lighting. Good distributed lighting is key to a teaching space. Attempting to read music with no light is nearly impossible.

There was one final problem with Becky’s shack…it was the temperature. While summers are hot and humid and winters are cold and dry. All string instruments are extremely sensitive to weather shifts. There are rules that all violinists should follow:

1. Never leave your instrument in a car during any season. [It could easily crack under extreme heat or cool or get stolen.]

2. Make sure that the environment which your instrument is in on a normal daily basis is to too humid or dry.

3. Never leave your instrument case anywhere near a heater. [It will melt the glue and literally destroy the instrument.]

These temperature rules are not to be learned by experience.

As well, it is hard to play a violin if your hand are numb from the cold.

It is hard to say honestly when talking about a teacher whom you may like and even admire, but honesty is what I must be and with Becky I did feel like her heart just was not totally in it. I know she enjoys many parts of music I am sure, but I did always feel like teaching violin was something she was overjoyed to do. I know we all feel like the things we love can become less of that if or when forced to do it for a living, but it does have a great impact on the relationship as well as the progress of what you are trying to learn. I did learn a lot from Becky but more about what I would not do. She always did do a nice job in her concerts and seemed to really shine with these performances.

What I learned from Becky.:

1. A beautiful church is a great place to have recitals. It seats everyone , usually has great parking and it can be such a beautiful location to have everyone spotlight their talents.

What I learned you should Not Do from Becky:

1. Have your lessons in too small, too cold or too dark of a studio.

2. Should not teach a large number of students if your heart is not in it.

3. Have too small a parking space if having group lessons or roads that can tear up your car or damage your car to get to lessons.

4. You should not allow other students to come into your teaching space (esp. if very small) while the student is still in their lesson.

After about 3 years living in Chilmark, my mom, my little brother and I moved back to Woods Hole and I started taking lessons from a local teacher named Richard Bulken. By then, I was 9 years old. Richard was a good teacher with excellent methods, but immediately began introducing me to a completely different violin curriculum from the one I had been learning for years. As a teacher, you should always understand what the student is use to practicing. If you’re taking on a new student you should keep them on the path that they're going on, not a completely different one of your liking. Perhaps a slow easing into this would be the way to go. When a child is learning a musical instrument they should feel comfortable and welcoming to the new things that they are learning every day, not brace against it.

Unfortunately Richards wife passed away while I was still taking lessons. He said that he could still come for a lesson even though this tragic event was so recent. Just about a month after his wife passed my mom had him come while she was walking my baby brother down the street. The beginning of the lesson went fine until I was suddenly yelled at for “not paying any attention.” These where his exact words “well, are you going to just sit there, or are you going to pay attention.” His tone was out of the ordinary. After that he angrily packed away his violin and left, refusing his pay. He made me feel like I had done something really bad but I just don’t know what I did wrong. It was traumatizing to me and it made me feel very strange. I was extremely sad and just was in shock that it even happened. I called my mom and told her what had happened and she came right back. She was furious at him because she knew it was not me since I really never did anything that would cause such strange discipline behavior. I never took a single lesson from him again.

What I learned To Do as A Teacher from Richard Balkin:

1. Being nice goes with being a teacher

2. Keep an honest and open dialogue with your students along the way so that there are clear expectations.

3. Share stories of your own personal teaching experiences.

4. Give discounts or sliding fees if you feel the student is really going to be grateful.

What I learned to Not Do from being a student of Richard Bulken :

1. Don’t ever leave a child alone if the parent is not there with them, even if they are at their own home.

2. Don’t judge a student because they home school, have a certain belief, or come from a different set of ideologies than yourself. If one student who home schools is a lazy student, don’t assume that every child who home schools is going to be lazy as well. Keep an open mind.

3. Don’t teach if you are not emotionally or mentally stable for the job. A bad experience for a young child can last a lifetime.

4. Don’t make unclear or vague requests or requirements from young children that need more specific and clear rules and expectations. Students want to please their teachers, but they need to be clear what is requested of them.

5. Don’t teach a piece the wrong way. Make sure the lesson is true to the composer's wishes.

My mom soon discovered another teacher named Yoko Wagner. At first I found her strict Japanese teaching methods quite frightening. As time went on, I got used to it and realized that I practiced better under firm instructions. I had a good practice schedule and felt that I had finally discovered a good medium. Yoko’s teaching room was perfect, with good sound and lighting. Unfortunately it was located in a basement. At one point her house was getting renovated and the air was toxic for weeks. Sometimes I even got headaches. Upstairs, I could constantly hear her kids stomping around and quarreling. Sometimes she would have to run upstairs and tell them to cut it out [in Japanese of course.]

One important rule is that if you’re going to teach in your house, make sure the space is not affected by any chaos that is happening around it, most students are very easily distracted.

Another mistake that I have seen almost all of my teachers make is not giving a student their entire lesson without anyone interrupting that hour. Yoko had no rules against people coming in the lesson room five or sometimes even 15 minutes earlier while my lesson was not over yet. It is extremely disrespectful to barge into someone’s lesson when it is not your turn, especially when the other student is noisily unpacking just a few feet away with their parents asking about the concert schedule. Or coughing because they are not over a cold and bringing it to the practice space before I can safely leave. In these types of situations, it is important to have a separate area where your students can patently wait. If not, then they’ll just have to wait outside or in the car.

I had Yoko as a teacher for 4 more years before I was introduced to NEC [New England Conservatory Of Music]. There, I began attending their Preparatory Orchestra and Chamber music. The teachers were absolutely brilliant and I finally felt like there was a community that took their music as seriously as I needed to see, in order to take my violin performing to the next level.

What I learned as a student of Yoko’s what To Do:

1. It is good to be strict when it comes to violin

2. Be in the moment and present for the entire lesson.

3. Keep a solid schedule for your students. Have very clear requirements for them each week and practice notes and schedules.

4. Write down the parts of the piece need to practice or have a notebook there to write in the weeks practice parts.

5. Be professional even if lessons are in your home.

What I learned to Not Do from being a student of Yoko"s.:

1. Don’t allow anyone to interrupt your students full lesson.

2. Don’t ever have a lesson in a renovation area, there could be lead dust or particles that can harm and have long term affects

3. Don’t have lesson in an area where young siblings, elder grandparents or parents cannot come in and be apart of it.

4. Don’t expect the student to have easily make up available days if you the teacher can’t have easily available make up days .

5. Don’t let student work all year without any recognition . Even adults like ribbons, or a token for their hard work.

At NEC, we slowly added on Jean Chun and my mom had me go to her while I was still with Yoko because we felt to loyal to Yoko and she is a very good teacher. It was not until the Corona Virus pandemic that made us completely just go with Jean Chun. They are both very good teachers, but Jean Chun was able to focus more on tone and detail and posture and intention. After long talks and discussions with my mom, we decided it would be best if I had a new teacher to help me in areas where Yoko was not able to. Jean Chun seemed to be that perfect fit to where I was in my abilities. She is kind and strict but extremely picky about every detail. She is a true perfectionist to the highest degree. She was given a room to teach at NEC that was about 100 degrees and it was very difficult to learn. It is just too hot. The old boiler has a lot of problems with the heating. After the virus, we started zooming and it was so nice not to have to make the 5:45 am drive to Boston every Saturday for her lesson and Orchestra and Chamber music. I do miss being there live, but how nice to just have it all come to my room.

Things I learned from Jean Chun:

1. You can be sweet and strict at the same time and it is very effective.

2. If you show that you are invested in how your students are performing and learning , the students will do much better and be better performers.

Yoojin


In looking into and researching what I wanted to do for my Portfolio it led me to another teacher who is new this year, Yoojin , who me and my mom researched to help in my portfolio and with some of the things I need to do now to help me in four years with my goal of getting into the Eastman School of Music. We found Yoojin and my mom sent an email to her. She teaches a college student at Eastman and we were so excited and surprised when she said she would be able to zoom teach this year. I really have gotten better with Yoojin and also Jean Chun. Together they have lifted my lessons up and my skills are slowly increasing. I have put in more hours per week of practice and have been asked to do more than ever in my life with pieces I need to learn and adding new positions. I think she is an extremely good teacher. I feel so grateful that I am her student.

Things I have learned from Yoojin :

1. It is ok to challenge your students and have them set the bar a tad higher then they may be use to.

2. It is important to be in the lesson completely with 100% of your focus on the student even on a zoom lesson.

3. Playing the Violn should be in ease, in ying and yang. Not forced or akward. Even though I, myself or my mom cannot tell, this is how she sees my playing. Like a person tripping down the lane. Playing should be like the ease of walking lightly and gracefully. That is what my hope is someday to master.

Things I have learned from Yoojin to Not Do:

1. Leave students with no agreements of return. If a teacher needs to be in another country or has other more important obligations, make it very clear in the beginning the start and ending of the registered lesson.

2. Make sure you don’t tell your students that they can contact you anytime but then never be available for communication, you never know where your students will end up and they will remember if you did not follow through with the heart of a teacher who cares about the journey of each student.

3. Make sure the pieces you as a teacher choose is not to highlight the need of the teacher, but to more importantly showcase the talents of the student. Pieces picked for performing should reflect what the individual students skill level is and talents as well as to challenge them without being too far above their playing level at time they are learning that piece.

Magdalena Richter

Magdalena was a wonderful teacher who gave me more challenging compositions and introduced double stops as well as insights on tempo and ….

Peter Zozofsky

Peter is an amazing teacher who does not really mesh his words. Very straight forward and for this I truly appreciate his candid way of teaching and letting me know exactly what is expected in a piece of music. He is very advanced and I feel so lucky to have him as a teacher for the past two years.

From so many different teachers, I have learned that it really does matter when the teacher actually has a real passion for what they do. When the student see's how much they care then he or she will know that there are expectations to be met for each lesson.

I think that the chemistry between teacher and student is one of most underrated and important qualities for a young violinists development. The entire journey, from when learn your first notes, through the years leading from that moment are extremely valuable for becoming a successful violinist in the future and doing what you truly love. - "Every note counts."

My Lessons slide show click arrow to watch