I believe every student has potential, and it is my job to bring that potential out. As a teacher, my goal is to open as many doors for my students as I can. To this end, all of my students learn good posture, how to read music, improvisation, and as many different styles of playing as possible. Once the basics are achieved, students can choose what music they want to play, and I will help students be successful with those pieces.
Specifically, posture elements that I begin with are how a student stands and holds their instrument. Students are taught to stand up tall, with feet shoulder width apart and weight equally distributed. When the instrument is on the shoulder, I adjust their shoulder and chin rests so that their neck is straight up and down while both shoulders are relaxed and back. Once these elements are accomplished, next we look to the hands.
Hands are developed separately. The right arm remains loose and relaxed, and movement is primarily in the elbow, wrist and fingers, as opposed to the shoulder. This produces a bow movement that is straight and remains in control. The left hand remains relaxed, with a straight left wrist. To facilitate this wrist posture (which is often problematic), I begin students in third position, and only transition to first position once they display strong control of their left wrist. In third position, it is impossible for students to collapse their wrist, so we can focus on other elements of their playing without them damaging themselves.
Additional qualities that I look to develop in my students include determination, perseverance, dedication, and responsibility. I encourage parents to help their children develop good practice habits, and parents of very young children really need to help their students with every aspect of practicing. However, at the same time, I encourage students to take responsibility for their own playing, particularly once they begin reading. Each student receives a notebook in which their practice expectations are recorded at each lesson. Students are expected to refer to this notebook daily to inform their practice techniques, and children that cannot yet read are encouraged to ask their parents to help them read their notebook each day.
I focus my teaching on beginning students, usually aged between 6 and 9 years old. For younger students, I have an "Introduction to Violin" group class that moves at a slower pace and uses the Pascal method. However, most of my students begin with private lessons, and these I begin with Strings Fun and Easy, by David Tasgal. I prefer teaching these ages mostly for practical reasons: children have begun to develop fine motor control, but are still very flexible, so they can achieve success easier than either pre-school aged or older students. They tend to not be as over-involved as older students are, so they still have time to practice. However, the biggest reason is that I simply really enjoy working with this age group. They're fun, inventive, imaginative, eager to take risks, and eager to succeed. Simply put, they're a joy to work with, and beginning music lessons at this age only enhances these great qualities.