Violin at YSM

The violin program at the Yale School of Music offers an individual approach, as faculty members encourage their students to become their own best teachers, first through explanation and demonstration and eventually through critical self-awareness. The School aims to offer a collaborative, non-competitive environment, in which violin students support one another. 

There are three violin studios, each with approximately 12 students. Weekly studio seminars focus on a range of topics, from technical issues such as vibrato or bowing to discussions of how to lead in a string quartet and strategies for managing practice time in a demanding schedule. Beyond their regular lessons with their principal teacher, students are encouraged to play repertoire for other teachers.

Violin students perform in chamber music group and in various ensembles on the New Music New Haven concert series, in addition to gaining orchestral experience as members of the School’s orchestra, the Yale Philharmonia.