• Student Book Graduation Recitals—When a
student has mastered all the pieces in a given book and has them truly polished to performance level, we celebrate with a
recital entirely the student's own.
• Violinists' Performance, Technique, and Ensemble Class—This class is for more advanced violinists studying
concertos and showpieces. It includes performance opportunities and assessments, which are wonderful preparation for auditions,
competitions, and performances of all sorts. Also during the class is time devoted to the development of more advanced technique.
Truly, even drills can be fun when done in a group! A third aspect of this class is exposure through playing to the wonderfully
wide range of ensemble music for more advanced violinists. There are pieces from such a wide variety of times, places, and
styles, and it is great fun to have this opportunity to explore them!
• Performing Group: Vivace!—This
group has opportunities to play at malls, organization lunches, schools, parks, and special events. Participation is by audition.
The group is multi-faceted, open to students with a minimum of late Book 1, through students playing concertos and showpieces.
• Audition Experiences and Competition Preparation—Other
professional music colleagues are annually brought in for students to have the opportunity to gain audition experience. We
also enjoy in-house competition showcases, in which students perform their prepared solo piece and receive evaluation sheets
from each other and their teacher prior to their competition.
• Regular Recitals
and Other Performance Opportunities—With our own beautiful stage in an acoustically wonderful space, we get
to enjoy frequent recitals, including both solo and group performances on a variety of instruments. We also sometimes perform
elsewhere, including nursing homes, in order to remind us that music, far from being a self-centered endeavor, is a truly
meaningful gift that is at its best when it is being shared.
• Workshops—Guest
clinicians are brought into NWISC to give students and their parents a chance to interact with an unfamiliar teacher with
a new perspective and different ideas. These are wonderful opportunities to work with master teachers such as Ed Kreitman and Ann Montzka-Smelser.
• Parent Nights—For practical steps to implement points
learned in lessons, as well as for encouragement and answers to questions, our parent nights are for parents only. We bring
in the experts, including guest speakers, to present helpful tips that spill into all of life, far beyond music, and to answer
parents' questions.
• Special Classes—Also
available are special occasional classes, including groups for improvisation, composition, or music theory. Opportunities
such as these are often particularly offered as enrichment during the summer months.
