Dayna Li

I have played violin in a variety of settings, whether solo in recitals, or in chamber music groups and orchestras. I developed my skills in a chamber music orchestra through high school, where the orchestra was small and just strings, and I also played in chamber music groups like quartets. We toured and played in Alice Tully Hall and the Istanbul Youth Orchestra Festival. I took private lessons from age 7 to 18, and in graduate school from Chapman University music faculty, as well as for a year after graduate school. In graduate school, I also played in the Chapman University Orchestra.

Currently, I play in the Pasadena Community Orchestra, where I have been for three years. I have a BA from Princeton University, where I diversified my music training by taking music composition and jazz theory classes. In terms of teaching, I have more than two years of teaching experience, having taught private lessons and classes, primarily to elementary school students. One of my favorite teaching experiences was teaching with LA's BEST after school program in an under-resourced LA county neighborhood and leading my classes in a performance at Colburn School, a prestigious music school close to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. My experiences have taught me a lot about discipline, reliability, and how much progress can be made through consistent hard work and through acknowledging weaknesses. My teaching experiences have been very rewarding and taught me a lot about different learning styles and inspiring people.

I have taught people who are just beginning violin to people who are in the more intermediate/advanced levels. For people starting out, we talk about holding the violin and bow and the fundamentals of intonation and reading music. If the student does not have any experience reading music, we would prioritize developing that skill over the first few months.

The most important aspect of my teaching approach is identifying strengths and weaknesses. Some people might be stronger with intonation, while others are better with rhythm. I keep those strengths and weaknesses in mind when we approach any repertoire and try to spend more time on strengthening the weaknesses.

I do like to spend some time in the beginning working on technique, like bow hold and scales, but I aim to spend the majority of time working on repertoire. I feel it loses the fun of the lesson sometimes when we are too bogged down in technique and do not get the chance to play through songs. Depending on the skill level, we might spend several weeks to a month or two working on a piece, but I do want to prioritize trying different types of repertoire rather than spending months perfecting a piece. I have had teachers in the past that were overly rigorous or were not paying attention to what I really needed, and from that I've learned the importance of being supportive, very attentive to any individual students' needs, and tailoring lessons to them.