Arden Goldberg
About
Hi, I'm Arden! I've been playing Celtic, Ukrainian, Scandinavian, and Eastern European fiddle for 13+ years, and professionally for about 6 years: everywhere from Renaissance Fairs to Salem World Beat. I'm only an occasional teacher, but I really enjoy doing it; and my students have progressed rapidly.
Teaching Style
From beginner to intermediate, I'll meet you exactly where you're at and provide the tools and coaching you need to build comfort and skill with your instrument. My style is encouraging and supportive, but I'll still be listening with a keen ear to help you figure out exactly where to focus your practice.
Curriculum
I'm very much a 'learn by doing' teacher.
Here's my method for beginners: you'll pick your own starting tune -- any simple song that you like the sound of -- and we'll work through it together; starting out with correct finger placement, wrist positioning, and arm positioning, and moving on to good tone, intonation, and rhythm as we go. If you'd rather I choose a song, we'll start with the first song I learned: a classic Irish jig titled "The Unfortunate Rake."
If you already read sheet music, I'll be providing all necessary music files as PDF, otherwise we'll use the time we spend working through the first few songs to also learn the basics of reading sheet music. I fluently read sheet music, and look forward to teaching you how.
For intermediate to intermediate-advanced students, I'll have you play a song to gauge your strengths, and we'll work from there to build your proficiency and comfort with your instrument. We can use songs from the Celtic, Ukrainian, Scandinavian, Klezmer, or Eastern European traditions to build skill with specific ornamentation and playing styles.