It all started when I was 4 years old with a hair brush in hand as a pretend microphone, a mirror, my voice, and a dream! I used to live in an apartment building (with very thin walls) and sang my heart out all day long with or without my neighbors blessing. At first, my mom received requests that I (at least) keep quiet between 3:00pm and 6:00PM when people used to take naps in the afternoon. After a while, nobody complained about my voice and as a matter of fact, my neighbors encouraged my mom to have me tested by the music school. I passed the music school’s exam with flying colors and out of the blue I was given a violin to play because apparently I had a very good ear and therefore, the instrument picked me, not the other way around!

Little did I know that my “sing for pleasure” episodes would soon transform into long, assiduous violin practice hours trying to live up to my parents’ desire for me to do “better than them in life.”

After the first year and a half I started to like it!

Soon enough, violin practicing became my main source of entertainment! I played it when happy, I played and cried when I was sad and the violin responded to me with kind, soothing tones. I used to dream of becoming a famous violinist, just like Itzhak Perlman or David Oistrakh, my childhood idols.

By the time I was 12 years old, my parents hired a private tutor to help me pass a very laborious music theory exam. At that point, I knew I wanted to be just like my teacher, visiting my students and sharing with them my passion for music. I lined up my imaginary students in my imaginary classroom and by using my imagination, I easily found my preferred way to repeat and reinforce the material I was supposed to learn by heart from one week to another.

Towards the end of my last year of college, I wanted to become the teacher I always wished to have: demanding yet kind, with a genuine interest in what my personal struggles are. A teacher who would be able to customize the material and choose the right methods to get me from where I was to where I needed to be. Even at this day, I am true to this desideratum. I look into each student’s potential and start from his/her strengths to build him/her up into a stronger, more confident musician.

I feel this is what I can do best in life and hope to perfect this art as the years go by. There is no such a thing as an “untalented” student,” but only an unfortunate student-teacher combination. Everyone that has the desire to learn music, is perfectly capable of doing so at ANY age with his/her own abilities. The old saying “if there is a will, there is a way” or “if there is a student willing to learn, there is always a teacher ready to teach” are true!

Besides the fact that learning and practicing an instrument has a dramatic impact on brain structure, enhancing memory, spatial reasoning &language skills, music is a natural stress suppressor, and induces a feeling of happiness!

Today, after 26 years of active teaching, I take pride in my students’ accomplishments and sometimes pinch myself to make sure all this is real! I love helping my students dream big, or simply open a new window toward whichever horizon they wish to look out and explore!