Ryan Youk (Violin) – Santa Ana branch
Valencia High School (Class of 2024)
During the spring of my 10th grade year, I joined Love In Music. When I first started teaching, I was nervous, since this was my first time teaching music. However, as someone who had received violin lessons himself, I also felt excited to finally teach what I had been learning from other instructors.
Teaching was hard at first. Some students barely spoke a word, while others would not be able to focus on the music at all. As we did more lessons, however, we developed bonds. By playing board games or asking them how their weeks went in addition to teaching them, we became closer and violin became much more engaging for them. One time, a week before the winter concert, a student was struggling to play a single note of her part. After an hour of working together and connecting with her, she became able to play the notes much better. Eventually, by the day of the concert, my student at the time played the song extremely well as if she had known it for over a month!
Teaching students about how to improve their rhythms and intonation also helped me to improve as a player. There is a method called the Feynman technique in which you learn better when you teach others. By using this method, it reinforced these skills in my own playing, helping me become a better musician for my school’s orchestra, also helping students learn new techniques.
Overall, through Love in Music, I learned the value of the friendship that I could make with the students by connecting with them on a deeper level, shaping them into better musicians. I recommend the program to anyone who enjoys music and wants to further their interest by helping others in their community!