My children have been taking lessons for 3 years with Jodie at ESMA. It has profoundly helped shape their lives in a deep and beautiful way.Jodie is an incredible teacher, and describing her is almost beyond words. She has a grace with the children, a thorough understanding of their various ages, and so much patience. My children are each recognized for their individuality and have her full attention when they are with her.Having this musical repertoire has helped them pick up other instruments and have songs that they know deeply to try to figure out. Learning the violin has been an ‘in’ to the musical world.Learning the violin is not without struggle, but Jodie has always been available for brainstorming on how to get more practices in or whatever may not be going well at home. She is always ready to switch things up if her first method isn’t working for a particular kid. There is just a magic in the method, making things seem ‘easy’ so the child can learn without too much strife.I hope my children continue to play the violin for a long time, and I will encourage them to. But if they decide to switch to another instrument I will be forever grateful for the time spent with Jodie and the Suzuki method. They have learned so much that it will be a huge stepping stone to get them to the next place.

We have just started taking lessons with Jodie and she is excellent with my 5 y/o daughter. She is very patient and engaging with her and she seems to motivate her to want to practice. I have a friend who takes her children to another school in town. Based on what she says I think Jodie understands children better (maybe because shes a mom) and has more reasonable expectations. Prior to starting here my daughter was taking piano classes locally and while the teacher and school were great it just didnt seem to engage her in the way violin has. My other daughter had also taken the little notes class which was a fun way to start introducing rhythm and getting to know the teacher!