I am currently living in my hometown of Syracuse, NY. I just bought my first house and will be teaching many of my private students here!
I teach 5th grade orchestra two and a half days a week in the Fayetteville-Manlius school district. The rest of my work is with my private studio, and one morning a week at Syracuse University where I teach non-major violin lessons. I gig whenever I can and was thankful to have the chance to sub with the Syracuse Symphony last fall before financial trouble left them defunct.
I have received training in the Suzuki method and the more I learn, the more I love this pedagogy. The parental involvement and the listening skills are so valuable. I hope one day soon to expand my Suzuki studio, and start advertising more toward younger students. It's pretty fun to begin a violin student correctly and see the success and confidence of playing that comes!
The violin grant I received over ten years ago helped make all of this possible. From the time I was ten years old, I knew I wanted to be an orchestra teacher. I am blessed to say that this came to fruition! While a high school student, it became clear that my old instrument was not going to get me through college auditions, and the sound it produced was very limited. My grant violin got me through college and into graduate school where I studied violin performance. At that time, my teacher and I wanted to find a different instrument for me, so I purchased another violin from a violinist in the symphony. He accepted my grant violin as a partial trade-in. I am now playing a German-made Roth violin dating 1918. The symphony violinist I purchased my current instrument from told me he still has my violin and plays it often.
Music has played an enormous part in my life. I can still remember receiving the phone call from the MHOF, telling me I would be receiving a new instrument. It was my mother's birthday, and we were sitting down for dinner. I remember the day the violin arrived and how many hours I played it for that evening! It felt so easy to play compared to my old instrument. I remember feeling confident with my instrument at auditions. All of this was made possible by the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, and for that I will always be thankful.
Best wishes to all of you.
Gratefully yours,
Alyssa Blount