violinist & educator

Wow. My tropical vacation in HI ended so abruptly that it’s hard for me to focus right now. I’ve been back in Boston for a week now, and the only thing that’s forcing me to be productive are my summer students. Sometimes, being a teacher is the most difficult job… but I love it.

The week at PMI started out slowly, but we ended up working so hard that time felt like it just flew by. I was very impressed with all the students there who exhibited focus, persistence, and determination, and maintained the high level in all the performances. I had the pleasure and honor of coaching the first movement of the Mendelssohn Octet (one of my favorite pieces of all time), and it was a learning experience for me and the students. It was a technically challenging piece for them, and I’m glad they pulled it off in 5 short days of coachings and rehearsals. I’m already think of the piece for next year… maybe Barber’s Adagio for Strings? This PMI was also special in that most of the clinicians performed alongside the students in the concerts. Thanks to them, I was able to recount all of my youth orchestra moments :) BRAVO to all the PMI students and it was great working with HYS and the coaches once again!

So here’s a quick update… The month of June was full of traveling.  I had gone to Buffalo, Fort Lauderdale, and then finally Lake George, NY during three out of the four weekends.  The two latter getaways were tiki festivals—Hukilau and Ohana: Luau at the Lake—where I participated for the first time as a music vendor and attendee along with my husband and Waitiki bandleader, Randy.  Not having to deal with the stress of performing and traveling with instruments, I actually enjoyed the nice change.  We did surprisingly well in our sales of CD albums, vinyls, comic books, and other related merch.  For those who don’t know, Waitiki 7′s new album came out on June 7th and is selling like hotcakes!  Get yours NOW.  Also available for download on iTunes and Amazon.com.

The weekend that I managed to stay in Boston was also eventful with super nice weather.  My brother who had just moved to Providence, made his visit for the weekend, and that coincided with a visit from my cousin’s family, the Davis’s.

My cousin Cathy is a budding professional photographer, and has her own business: Cathy Clicks Photography. She does a lot of her artistic work in Maine capturing young love and families, but is also interested in traveling and working with musicians and working professionals on the side.  We had a great photo shoot in the North End, which had really nice backdrops for shots. Her beautiful pictures can be found throughout this site.  I hope you like her style as much as I do, and if you do, don’t hesitate to contact her based on my referral.

I’ve also been really happy with the student recitals at Bradford.  The quality has definitely gone up not only in terms of student performances, but also the organization and expectations of teacher, student and families.  Congrats to all my students who performed and I look forward to the next one!