Ms. Marjorie Bagley

• Music Performance
• Professor of Violin, 2014

Principles of Violin Playing and Teaching, by Ivan Galamian

Galamian's book is the definitive book on violin pedagogy for the 20th century. He was a masterful teacher, able to find the root of any problem in a student's playing, and provide creative, targeted solutions. He developed a system of exercises and practice methods that work for beginners as well as the most advanced players. Many of my most influential teachers were Galamian students, and I attended the summer camp he founded as a teenager (although he was no longer alive), so I feel like I grew up with this way of thinking about how to play and teach. I always turn to this book, and the ones that have followed from his students, when I need inspiration or direction as a teacher.