Get to know Susan Stephenson, Toledo, Ohio violinist!
Susan is a professional violinist and violin teacher in the Greater Toledo area specializing in early childhood development. You can check out her fantastic studio website here.
Susan started working with my challenges in 2017 and enrolled in Gorgeous Tone Academy where we had the opportunity to make a few incremental changes that made a huge impact in her violin playing and practice routine.
I chose Susan for our February violinist of the month because of her daily dedication and drive. Not only does she gig and have a private studio, she has a day job too! With all of that on her plate she still makes the time to practice on a daily basis.
Susan’s tools of choice to keep her on track is her practice journal, 30 minute practice routine, using a timer and most recently using trello online to organize her practice projects.
In Susan’s interview, we talk about how Susan found that by incorporating Trello and her daily practice journal in her violin journey it keeps her in the groove and helps her to stay motivated. Her favorite amount of time is 1 minute and 30 seconds with the timer.
Susan is super passionate about her teaching and working with babies. The youngest baby she has taught was 6 WEEKS. She is in the midst of creating her own website and blog called www.yourmusicalbaby.com.
Susan is such an inspiration to all violinists that struggle with daily practice. If Susan can do it, we all can right?
In February of 2019, on Susan’s birthday, she took the train from Ohio to Chicago to have a private session with me while I was in Chicago for a short period of time on my way back to Bulgaria.
It was a joy for me to work with Susan in person and get to meet her live!!! It is always such a unique experience for me to work with my violinists live because after working with them online, I feel that I have known them for years before we actually meet in person.
Susan’s performance goal is to hold a Fall recital performing the Franck Sonata, William Bolcom’s Graceful Ghost, and select pieces featuring women composers.
Susan introduced me to a VERY cool website that I can’t wait to explore further called www.violinmusicbywomen.com.
As a composer myself, this thrilled me to pieces that someone compiled violin pieces composed by women! These books are definitely on my to buy and discover list.
Jann as the studio violinist of the month for January reminded me of why I started to play the violin in the first place by sharing her spark.
Susan reminded me that one minute and 30 seconds is better than none and is living proof that daily incremental implementation has a massive impact in the long run.
This is why I love working with violinists all over the world to help their violin journeys become easier and in turn they reflect back to me my own teaching methods. lol
Thanks Susan for sharing your violin journey with us!
Now, I would love to hear from you!
- Do you struggle with daily practice?
- How do you keep yourself organized and motivated?
Please share in the comments below.
In violin magic,
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