About Christina Castelli

TEACHING

not until after one attempts to teach a given subject can one amply gain appreciation for its learning obstacles. I began to play taking violin lessons when I was three years honest-to-god with a fantastic Suzuki teacher named Edward Kreitman .
Mr. Kreitman was good starting his teaching career when I began studying with him, and his music school – the westerly Springs School of Talent Education ( WSSTE ) — has since become a bombastic and crucial one that is known to musicians nation-wide. Mr. Kreitman showed me how all-important it was to have a fantastic teacher from the identical beginning : he insisted that I constantly play with the right bow keep and stance, that I listen to every sound that comes out of the legal document to make certain that it is beautiful, and that I push myself to excel while remaining careful and thoughtful of what I am doing. These are a few of the fundamental guidelines I have relied upon to grow as a musician .
I then spent about 12 years studying with Almita and Roland Vamos. They are inspiring teachers who encouraged me to follow my musical instincts and search for subtle nuances in every piece of music that I play. The Vamoses celebrated exciting moments of success with me and helped me move forward after moments of disappointment .
After studying with the Vamoses, I took two years to work on my own, without a teacher. I used this period of clock time to grow as an interpreter of music and to actually carve my own play style. During this prison term, I remained focused on learning new repertory and on fulfilling concert obligations.

ultimately, I finished my studying with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang at The Juilliard School in New York City. I was tidal bore to become acquaint with New York and all of the stimulate musical opportunities that abound there, and the know was made even more entice by the find to study with the legendary violin teacher Dorothy DeLay. When I arrived to study with Miss DeLay, she had over 100 students in her studio apartment. Three of us had the prerogative to be full-time students of hers, and I spent the first several months that I studied with her adjust to her teach vogue ( much more hands-off than I had previously experienced ), asking questions, and learning equally much as I possibly could from every comment and observation that she made.

When Miss DeLay became ill, I contacted Hyo Kang, one of her teach assistants who had a full studio individually from her, and asked him to take me as a student, which he graciously did. Mr. Kang and I worked together for about a year, until my commencement from the master ’ s degree broadcast at Juilliard.

After having studied with so many incredible and vastly different teachers, I feel I have a capital manage of ideas to share about playing the violin and interpreting music. I have been teaching since I was a adolescent, and it is one of the most authoritative ways that I can give back to the community what the community has given to me. My studio consists of a minor handful of young, talented violinists ( and occasionally a violist or two ! ). due to my concert schedule, I schedule lessons weekly, bi-weekly, or bi-monthly, depending on the student ’ mho needs and abilities. Often times, my students will work with me in junction with another teacher, to gain extra feedback and to have another teacher with whom to work when I am out of township. My teaching style focuses on an extremely potent proficiency, clearness of sound, memorization and memory, and developing a musical personality and dash that does not mimic recordings but that is well-suited to the performer. If you are interest in taking violin lessons with me, please email me with your mention, age, contact data, background, and playing goals .
I am presently working on a steer for students on effective learning methods – a book inspired by my late teacher Dorothy DeLay, who often stopped during a moral or master class to ponder why some students are able to memorize and perform with ease while others, who are precisely as technically and musically technical, are not. Below is an excerpt of the lead, which I hope students will find utilitarian as they strive to learn .

“Efficient learning is almost singularly achieved through efficient practicing; this is true in music as well as in athletics and academics. Violin playing is an art, and it must be rehearsed countless times in private before it is displayed for the public. There is an art to practicing, then, and those who achieve the greatest results in minimal time have indeed perfected the art.

Many find practicing a struggle and some even believe it to be pure misery. Often, young aspiring musicians hide in practice rooms for hours upon hours trying to improve a single passage’s accuracy and intonation. Yet, if asked, many would not be able to explain how they are attempting to tackle the trouble passage. Efficient practicing is crucial, not only in the initial stages of playing, but also in the teenage years and beyond. Learning efficient practicing habits early will ultimately save a musician a great deal of time, which can then be spent expanding the knowledge of repertoire, collaborating with other musicians in chamber music, studying composers’ histories, and searching for opportunities to perform. Ultimately, the fight of good practicing versus bad practicing is reduced to a mental game more than a physical one. The most impressive violinists have strategies for practicing that involve at least as many exercises for their mind as for their fingers.”

– excerpt from Efficient Learning Methods for the Advanced Violin Student by Christina Castelli