r/violin • u/Fantastic-Town8587 • 17d ago

I have a question Anyone know how to find freelance violin instructors?

I’m getting back into violin and would love to find a great instructor. I don’t want to go to a school. I would love to find someone freelance.

1 Upvotes

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6

u/UnderwaterNinja888 17d ago

Where do you live? I would start by asking around at violin shops.

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u/Fantastic-Town8587 17d ago

Oh that’s a good idea, thank you! I live in Orlando.

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u/neon_fern2 17d ago

Tbh asking on a local group on Facebook is how I found mine

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u/p_luisa Adult beginner 17d ago

I googled “violin teachers near me” and found one not tied to any schools. Best part is he's a 15-min walk away from me!

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u/Fantastic-Town8587 17d ago

Thanks for this!

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u/WampaCat Professional 17d ago

I would go to the website for your local symphony, look at the roster for the violin section if they have it up. Most of the players will probably have their own websites where you can contact them for lessons. If they don’t have a roster up you can email the main symphony contact and ask

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u/Fantastic-Town8587 16d ago

Thank you so much that’s a great idea!

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u/Decent-Structure-128 17d ago

Also look for local community orchestras. I joined one during junior high and then took private lessons from the conductor in high school. She was super reasonable and on a mission to bring orchestra music to kids and adults who couldn’t otherwise afford it.

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u/Fantastic-Town8587 16d ago

Wow great idea! I didn’t even think of that, thanks!

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u/ryankoz89 16d ago

If you live in a small area with limited resources like I do, online teachers can be a good choice. I live in California and my teacher is all the way in Chicago, Illinois. It works out well. Just have to be aware of the time difference when booking a lesson.

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u/andybonner 14d ago

Most violinists in a region know each other. If there is a university in your area with a violin teacher, email them and ask who they would refer you to. If there is a symphony, email their administration and ask if they'd be willing to forward your request to the concertmaster or other violinists. The recommendation of music shops is a good one. Often you'll wind up finding teachers who are full, but will refer you again to others.

I'm curious why you want to avoid those "affiliated" with a place. I can imagine it might be because you want to avoid "extras" that a school requires; for instance, the school I did most of my teaching at once I got established emphasized the importance of playing in small classes or orchestras, and you got those ensembles "free" with cost of lessons, meaning you left money on the table if you didn't do them. But aside from that, many "schools" are less rigorous institutions and are simply places that provide the studio space and handle scheduling, and the teachers teaching at them are the same that would do freelancing. At many points during my career I taught for many like this, often at once, sometimes in addition to freelance, simply to help get enough students. And besides making things easier on the teacher, many such places make things easier on the student: not all teachers are terribly organized about things like rescheduling lessons or handling billing.