Learning Life Skills through Violin Lessons
My mission for every student who passes through my Violin Studio is to help them discover their love of music that can be carried throughout their life. Whether the student decides to major in music in college, join an amateur orchestra as an adult, become a patron of the arts or decide to give their own children the gift of music lessons one day, my wish is to create a positive and joyful impact on each student’s life that can resonate for generations.
One might wonder what is the benefit of putting so much time and energy into perfecting the skill of violin playing if the student has no intention on becoming a professional musician. It takes years of dedication to nurture these skills without the pleasure of immediate results. However, studying the violin throughout childhood not only gives the student the obvious benefit of learning an instrument but it also teaches them important life skills that benefit them for their entire lives.
For my youngest students, the first thing we learn together in violin lessons is how to focus. Standing with good posture while holding an awkward asymmetrical wooden object under their left jaw while moving their right arm is a lot to ask of someone just learning how to hold a pencil. However, this lesson begins building the student’s ability to focus and concentrate for increasingly longer periods of time. We build on these skills as we advance through learning violin technique. Through practice, students learns problem solving skills by figuring out how to break down big challenges into manageable pieces. Through repetition of these small practice bites, the student learns study skills and how to stick with something difficult until it can be mastered. Mastering each new technique or successfully performing a piece of music inspires joy in the learner.
Learning music is an inherently personal and emotional endeavor. Sticking with learning the violin through all the ups and downs of the process, builds loyalty and perseverance in the student’s character. Through the accumulation of individual skills, they build mastery thus building confidence and self-esteem which can be carried into every other aspect of their life.
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