An introduction from Shula:
Welcome! It's an honor for me to work with my students and their families.
My hope is for each of the kids I work with to experience the joys of working hard and learning well — in the context of a balanced life — and to begin discovering their own personal voice in music. Students can graduate from my studio with a strong foundation for whatever they want to pursue with their instruments in the years to come.
All families who want to do the work of learning an instrument are invited. I strive to make my studio a safe and productive place for people of all learning styles, backgrounds, identities, orientations, and family structures.
G., 6: Appalachia Waltz by Mark O'Connor
J., 14: Medieval & Renaissance polyphony
M., 9: Andantino by Shinichi Suzuki
Approach
I believe in supporting kids and teens by respecting them in two balanced, complementary ways. I hope to ground our relationships in a nurturing respect that welcomes the kids' personalities, learning styles, and needs for connection and support in the moment. I also want to honor their developing capabilities. In order for the students to be able to experience the satisfactions of success, I know that they will engage with a healthy degree of challenge, struggle, and growth in their learning. I respect my students in the belief that they can do it!
The greatest influence on my teaching style is Shinichi Suzuki’s visionary model of reaching every student with immersive learning, step-by-step mastery, and the active, encouraging support of a parent. My approach been profoundly shaped by my community of colleagues and by teacher-training courses through the Suzuki Association of the Americas with Ronda Cole, Danny Gee Cordova, Carrie Reuning-Hummel, and Ed Sprunger. I attend regional Suzuki institutes as often as possible to observe local and visiting master teachers in action. My students learn to both read music and play by ear.
In repertoire, I depart from the standard Suzuki approach: I use the Suzuki books in various ways, but not exclusively or in full, and not the same way for every student. My own experience studying and performing “early music” — pre-classical repertoire that lies outside the musical canon I'd grown up with — gave me an appreciation for the variety of musical paths that students may end up following. I like to incorporate as much diversity of style and culture in our studio repertoire as I can, and I introduce some knowledge of music theory and history so that my students will have more tools to understand our modern, pluralistic musical landscape. I like to think that this work has lasting value whether the students continue in later life as amateur or professional musicians in any genre, or simply as curious, thoughtful human beings.