Toby Goldstein Violin Studio
For the Love of Violin
WHY PLAY VIOLIN
The joy of music. It touches the soul. It is a gift, whether just for ourselves or to offer to others. Choose to play because it is your passion. Because it speaks to you. Because it is something uniquely yours that you carry with you for the rest of your life. Let's take this journey together.
How the Studio Works
LOCATION
All lessons are held in my home studio in Covedale. This allows me to have the materials and resources readily available for your customized lesson.
Studio Fees and Rules
Fees: $50 one hour, $25.00 half hour, $40.00 45 minutes.
If you are passionate about learning this glorious instrument, then I want to see you. Contact me directly if you need assistance with lesson fees.
Students are expected to come prepared and with all equipment and music.
Parents are welcome to wait in the living room while the student is having a lesson. I firmly believe that it is the student who owns the experience. Mistakes are okay...that's what I am here for.
A full 24 hours is REQUIRED for cancellations or the studio fee will be due. The only exceptions are illness or inclement weather.
I am also a professional performing musician, therefore your lesson will begin and end ON TIME. If the student relies on transportation from a parent or other individual, you must ensure that the person responsible is punctual.
Beginner to Advanced
This studio is strictly Traditional in methodology. There is no Suzuki style training available.
My experience runs the gamut from beginners to university level training. We include periodic Performance Classes to give students the opportunity to play for their peers at no additional cost. All lessons will encompass scales, basic theory, and technique along with repertoire. Come for the joy, come for the training, come to enhance your playing and your life.
HOW TO PRACTICE (abbreviated)
First Rule: YOU CAN ONLY PLAY AS FAST AS THE MOST DIFFICULT PASSAGE PERMITS
Now that you have been playing this piece for a while, it’s time to break it down and rebuild it, just like learning to tie your shoes. Velcro works only so long.
Select the most challenging passages, and pencil brackets around them:
Pencil in the note names of any notes that you don’t know immediately.
Then work them two bars and one note at a time, so slow that you can play them perfectly. MAKE SURE THAT THE NOTES ARE CORRECT, AND THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO PLAY THEM THREE TIMES IN A ROW PERFECTLY.
Now do the same starting with the note you left off on, and practice two more bars and one note the same way.
Next, put together the four bars plus one note until you can play them three times in a row perfectly AT THE SLOW TEMPO. USE A METRONOME IF YOU HAVE TO.
Next, take the next two bars and one note and keep going the same way. Learn two bars + one note, then add them to the other bars until you can play the entire passage that you put in brackets perfectly at a slow tempo.
ALWAYS START BY ENSURING THAT THE NOTES ARE CORRECT (FOR NOW)
Now you are going to go back and add in the rhythm. AGAIN, two bars and one note at a time, as we did with the notes. Counting and rhythm is simple math put into motion. Think of a clock:
The whole clock is like a whole note, and the time for our clock can be faster or slower depending on the tempo. Now imagine a “half-hour” . That would take half the time, just like a half note. Each time we divide the time in half, we have the next period of time in music:
One quarter of the time = a quarter note. And so on.
Now imagine that we can set the clock to chime as often as we want. It can chime once an hour (a whole note), every half hour (a half note) etc., AND we can mix it up so that it chimes at the top of the hour and on the third quarter of the hour. That might sound like a dotted half note plus one quarter note.
You can set your metronome in a similar way.
Now we move the tempo up a little and do it all over again, until everything is at the right tempo AND that it is the SAME tempo.
FINALLY, AFTER YOU’VE DONE THIS WITH EACH OF THE CHALLENGING PASSAGES, YOU CAN PUT IT ALL TOGETHER.
Practice for about ten minutes at a time. Really focus. Do this as often each day as possible. You will be surprised.
HOW TO PRACTICE (abbreviated)
First Rule: YOU CAN ONLY PLAY AS FAST AS THE MOST DIFFICULT PASSAGE PERMITS
Now that you have been playing this piece for a while, it’s time to break it down and rebuild it, just like learning to tie your shoes. Velcro works only so long.
Select the most challenging passages, and pencil brackets around them:
Pencil in the note names of any notes that you don’t know immediately.
Then work them two bars and one note at a time, so slow that you can play them perfectly. MAKE SURE THAT THE NOTES ARE CORRECT, AND THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO PLAY THEM THREE TIMES IN A ROW PERFECTLY.
Now do the same starting with the note you left off on, and practice two more bars and one note the same way.
Next, put together the four bars plus one note until you can play them three times in a row perfectly AT THE SLOW TEMPO. USE A METRONOME IF YOU HAVE TO.
Next, take the next two bars and one note and keep going the same way. Learn two bars + one note, then add them to the other bars until you can play the entire passage that you put in brackets perfectly at a slow tempo.
ALWAYS START BY ENSURING THAT THE NOTES ARE CORRECT (FOR NOW)
Now you are going to go back and add in the rhythm. AGAIN, two bars and one note at a time, as we did with the notes. Counting and rhythm is simple math put into motion. Think of a clock:
The whole clock is like a whole note, and the time for our clock can be faster or slower depending on the tempo. Now imagine a “half-hour” . That would take half the time, just like a half note. Each time we divide the time in half, we have the next period of time in music:
One quarter of the time = a quarter note. And so on.
Now imagine that we can set the clock to chime as often as we want. It can chime once an hour (a whole note), every half hour (a half note) etc., AND we can mix it up so that it chimes at the top of the hour and on the third quarter of the hour. That might sound like a dotted half note plus one quarter note.
You can set your metronome in a similar way.
Now we move the tempo up a little and do it all over again, until everything is at the right tempo AND that it is the SAME tempo.
FINALLY, AFTER YOU’VE DONE THIS WITH EACH OF THE CHALLENGING PASSAGES, YOU CAN PUT IT ALL TOGETHER.
Practice for about ten minutes at a time. Really focus. Do this as often each day as possible. You will be surprised.
My Bio
Training and Experience
Education:
My serious training began when I was accepted to the Juilliard Preparatory Division at the age of thirteen. Summers were spent at the Meadowmount School of Music where we practiced five hours a day in addition to our lessons, chamber music and concerts.
I went on to Study at New England Conservatory with Joseph Silverstein, who was the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony at the time. My bachelor's degree was completed at Indiana University where I studied with Josef Gingold. I later went on to achieve my Master's Degree in violin performance at CCM.
Professional Experience:
I spent two years working in Australia with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, where I was also a recording artist.
When I returned to the U.S. I became a member of the Kansas City Symphony before making a strategic decision to move to Cincinnati Ohio.
I have been a member of the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra, performed in concerts with artists running the gamut from Luciano Pavarotti to Rod Stewart, and especially enjoy performing in the pit for the touring Broadway Series musicals.
My teaching experience includes a time as adjunct professor of violin at Wittenberg University, where I also performed as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra. I have continued to teach in my personal studio for over twenty years.
My experience with multiple genres of music, from Symphony to Ballet to Broadway, enhances the possibilities for you. I have taught violin to the very young, and to the very old. Some have gone on to professional careers, some have just found a place for their heart.
I'd love to help you take this journey
