Sequim, WA 98382
Parent and Student Testimonials
From the mother of a high school junior
Peggy is a wonderful violin teacher! She does an outstanding job of tailoring her lessons to keep our son's interest and enthusiasm high. Since starting with Peggy, we've been so pleased with the growth in his artistic expression and desire to practice. It's been so gratifying to see him fall in love with violin again! We can't recommend Peggy enough!
From a parent of a 12 year old student
Finding Peggy has been a blessing. Since relocating from Germany and starting lessons with Peggy our son has excelled beyond our expectations. She carefully tailored music selections to compliment his style, while also challenging him with more complex pieces. He’s thoroughly enjoyed the lessons and has seen great improvement in only six months!
From an adult student
Peggy is an exceptional teacher. She sees each of her students as valuable and important, corrects without criticizing, teaching classical form at the same time as instilling a love for making music. I've watched as her youngest proudly and confidently share their little songs, one boy even asking if he had been born to play the violin. Her advanced students work ardently to hone each note and give meaning to each phrase, accomplishing the most difficult of compositions. . . . As an adult I signed up for lessons to keep my brain healthy, only to find myself unexpectedly in love with the violin. Peggy combines knowledge, caring, astuteness and humor, making me want to practice and learn all I can of this magical instrument.
From the mother of an advanced student aged 12
My son has been Mrs. Peggy's student for almost 6 years now, and every week he looks forward to his lesson. He has grown so much with her guidance; it is amazing to see how far he has come. Mrs. Peggy's ability to challenge a young mind, keep it focused, and make playing an instrument fun at the same time is incredible. He would have never come this far without her. Thank you for being a fantastic teacher!
From the mother of a very young student
Over the summer my 6-year old visited her grandma in Wyoming. Grandma plays cello in a Celtic band, and my daughter accompanied Grandma to band practice. All the members of the band let my daughter try out their instruments. She tried out the cello, bag pipes, penny whistle, flute, and several other instruments. My daughter fell in love with the violin. All I heard about for weeks was the violin. She checked out books from the library about the violin. She drew pictures of violins. She told everyone she met that she was going to play the violin. So, I started looking for a violin teacher. I called a violin shop in Olympia, and they gave me the names of several teachers. I called three of them, but they didn't seem right. One day I went into a music store in Yelm and asked if they knew any violin teachers. The man behind the counter gave me Peggy's card. I e-mailed her, and she e-mailed me back. She then called me, and after talking with her I knew she was the right teacher for us.
Initially I chose Peggy, because she has experience teaching very young students, and she seemed very friendly, relaxed, and personable. Other teachers seemed anxious or outright reluctant about teaching a 6-year old. Peggy seemed very willing to teach our daughter, and enthusiastic about our daughter's desire to learn the violin. And, I was right about Peggy. She is very friendly, relaxed, and personable. But, she also has a wonderful rapport with young children. My daughter adores her. My daughter greets Peggy with squeals of joy every lesson. Peggy makes the lessons fun for my daughter. They play games that help my daughter work on good technique. Peggy has cute little rhymes and diagrams to help my daughter remember how to hold the bow and violin correctly. The lesson is filled with laughter. Peggy is patient and encouraging. She makes my daughter want to keep on learning and playing the violin. And, Peggy has stickers for my daughter to stick next to a line of music once she has mastered it. My daughter is very proud of all the stickers she has earned from Ms. Peggy.
My daughter has only been playing violin for about 7 months. She is by no means a virtuoso. However, she is playing songs that her little brother can sing along to. She looks forward to practicing every day, and her enthusiasm for the instrument has grown even stronger since she started playing. She is about to have her first recital, and she is very excited. I think this is something she will enjoy for the rest of her life.[Note from Peggy: My usual policy is to begin little ones at seven, but I made an exception for this student because she was unusually focused and receptive. I teach her in her home because of special circumstances.]
From Judy, an adult student
Peggy is a wonderful instructor. She's patient, gentle and has a great way of explaining what is needed in a way that I understand. I took 7 years of clarinet in High school (50 years ago) and have to re-learn a lot of the basic fundamentals again as well as learning an entirely new instrument. She is always positive about my slowly progressing skills which is very encouraging and I've had many "Aha" moments with her style of teaching. I recommend her for any age student.
From Joanne, an adult student
Sometimes we fulfill our dreams, and sometimes they stay just that and never come into reality. Back when life was full and I was raising three kids, my father mentioned to me that he had seen a remarkable sight while visiting the Grand Canyon--a woman perched on a promontory, playing her violin over the canyon. In my mind's eye, I could picture her and the beautiful music floating over vast space in a magnificent natural setting. That was when I first wanted to play. I mentioned this to my sister, who sent me a violin. It was an affirmation of my dream.
Fast forward. The kids are gone and I have moved from Dallas to Yelm. Life is busy still with a full time job. You know how it is--never enough time...
For my birthday, my sister gifted me violin lessons with Peggy. And so it began at the age of 58 for me. Life should be full of new and ever-changing dreams, and I found myself, never having had a music lesson, taking weekly lessons on my instrument of choice. That was two-and-a-half years ago, and I am still enjoying this new and marvelous experience, this challenge that has proved so satisfying.
Peggy is an excellent teacher. While highly skilled with a master's understanding of her instrument, Peggy demonstrates patience with her students, who know that she expects practice in order to see improvement. Peggy seems to sense how to take each student to the next level and patiently adjusts her teaching style to suit individual learners with our varying degrees of ability. I truly see that she believes in each of her students, adapting teaching style to allow us to attain proficiency according to our levels of commitment...
From Kristen, a high school student
When I was 5 or 6 my family went to a bluegrass concert that had a fiddle player. I fell in love with the music and asked if I could learn to play the violin. My parents wanted me to wait to make sure I would maintain interest. Later, I found an advertisement for a fiddle festival and concert in a nearby city, showed it to my mom and demanded that we go. While there, my mom found out more about where fiddle lessons were offered.
My parents bought me an inexpensive mail-order violin and I started lessons with a teacher in Tacoma. I had two fiddle teachers from when I was 8 until I was about 11, when my teacher (a student) decided to move to Montana with her boyfriend. We started the search for another fiddle teacher.
We found Peggy because she had played in our church's choir before, and chose her because she played fiddle music as well as classical violin music. When I first started, I hardly knew how to read notes, because I had previously played only with fiddle notation. I took off and have improved drastically since when I started 4 years ago.
I enjoy Peggy's teaching style because I have learned basic skills, improved my positioning, intonation and bow work, yet I still have a lot of fun. Peggy is open to my suggestions for what pieces I would like to play in recitals, and is always encouraging me and pushing me to do my best and go up to the next level. Without Peggy, I would probably have been satisfied to pull out my violin and play old folk songs every once and a while. Now, I have gone to a level I never would have imagined before. I can read notes, shift positions and even can use vibrato. And, as a plus, my older sisters no longer complain about me practicing in the living room.
Peggy has been supportive of me in my desire to continue to play folk music, but I have also appreciated her push to try traditional classical. I even found that I enjoyed some of the classical pieces. One of my favorite things about lessons is that Peggy takes the time to ask me about my day, my activities, or my classes in school. It makes the whole lesson seem more relaxed. I'm looking forward to my remaining year and a half I have with Peggy before I graduate.
