James

Denise E. from La Crescenta, CA

James is everything a student could want in a violin teacher! He is not just a talented violinist, but he knows HOW to teach (some are gifted but really can’t teach—James has a gift for playing AND teaching). As a 55-year-old beginner, and not exactly a natural, I struggle with bowing, with first position fingering, you name it, but James is both quite encouraging and at the same time full of constructive tips, and after leaving a lesson, I GET it! He is patiently supportive, never intimidating, and efficient. He seems to know exactly where I need to slow down and spend more time on something and when it’s time to take on a new challenge. He has a relaxed and easy style, yet he is a professional. I leave each lesson feeling I have plenty to work on, but never too much. He encourages getting a strong grasp on certain techniques before moving on. I feel motivated to practice and am never bored but also never overwhelmed. My husband said, after my last lesson, “I don’t know what happened, but your sound is so much better.” Bottom line: I’m LEARNING from him and am tickled with my progress. What a find!

Julie B. from Chicago, IL

We have experienced many teachers in the past 13 years for viola and violin and James has that special gift to be able to reach children of all ages. My daughter is 15 and is an accomplished violinist and violist and she needed to prepare for two auditions during our stay in Los Angeles. My son is a 3 rd grader and needed to prepare for a violin seating audition and James was amazing with him too. They both had some very tough pieces for their auditions for their age levels and James spent many hours with both of them and really helped them to prepare. He took the time to explain musicality and dynamics to my son and worked on the fine points of the pieces for my daughter. My son is not easy to teach (he can be quite the jokester) and he looked forward to James coming over. James was able to use my son's sense of humor to his advantage, but keep him in line. He gave him real life examples and explained to him why he was doing things. James is a very gifted artist for piano, violin and viola. He lives and breathes music. But it is rare to find someone with that gift who can meet the child where they are at and make great progress. We visit family 4 to 6 times per year in LA and we always bring our instruments for practice and audition prep. James is first on our list for a teacher and I feel that he will be discovered soon and you won't be able to book him. If you want someone knowledgable and who knows how to teach music, James has that special gift.

Ethan A. from Los Angeles, CA

James is the best violin teacher that anyone could ask for. He just taught me how to play a full song on the violin in only 3 days. He will go out of his way to help you and practice with. He has a great sense of humor, he is an extremely experienced and talented violinist, and can teach you how to play any genre of music you want.