Teaching

Jessi has had an active teaching studio for over 15-years offering private and group lessons in violin, theory, and composition for all ages. Lessons are focused on supporting students' passion for music while developing the technical foundation for wherever their musical journey may take them. Covering classical, fiddle, popular, and film musics, Jessi is experienced in spanning interests and drawing the cross-strings between them. Outside of their private studio, Jessi has been a contracted instructor for many educational and musical institutions across the Seattle area including the Hamlin Robinson School for students with dyslexia and other language based learning differences and Creative Music Adventures.

From 2014-2019, Jessi was a Teaching Artist with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (SSO). As a Teaching Artist, they worked individually or as part of a team to offer one-off classes like Musical Storytime, regularly scheduled Pay-What-You-Can-Fridays, Link Up residency programs, and special projects. Jessi created a series of customizable Musical Storytime offerings following state and federal learning standards and piloted a longer-term Link-Up residency. They also co-created and co-led a collaborative composition class, We Are All Here, as part of a partnership with Path-With-Art to create an original composition performed by students and SSO musicians addressing Seattle's homelessness crises. A favorite annual project was the Lullaby project, in which Jessi and fellow Teaching Artists worked with mother's from Mary's Place to create lullabies for their children. Jessi arranged many of the lullabies and in 2016, also led the rehearsals and the recording session. Jessi and fellow Teaching Artist, Dana Staikides, created Kaboom City Music, in operation 2017-2020. They created and taught classes for ages 2-6, incorporating composition, instrument exploration, stories, and social and emotional learning which coordinated with school scope and sequences to connect music with classroom learning. Lessons covered everything from sea shanties to the music of insects and always produced some amazing quotes and stories to take home.

Contact Form

Lessons are available online, in-person, or a combination of both in Seattle, Port Townsend, and Missoula, MT on a weekly, bi-weekly, or one-off basis.

Provide your name, student's age and musical interests, preferred lesson format, and availability and you'll get a response in 24 hours or less.