half an hour
$45a lesson
Music
Violin lessons in Woodside, Queens
One to one, with an ensemble to play in from the first year — which is the part that makes people stay.
“How long before it stops sounding like that?”
What violin actually is
Violin is a long instrument to begin and a wonderful one to have begun. The first months are genuinely difficult, for the student and for everybody within earshot, and we say so before you enrol rather than after. What shortens that period more than anything is playing with other people, which is why every violin student here is welcome in the string ensemble from their first term.
In the room
What is actually taught
- Posture, bow hold and left hand shape, in that order, taught slowly because they are expensive to correct
- Open strings and first position, with reading from the beginning
- The string ensemble on Wednesday or Saturday, where a beginner's part is written to be playable and to matter
- Instrument sizing checked every term, because a child outgrows a violin quietly and plays worse for a year
On the timetable
The classes
Every row is the real class: the day, the room, the teacher and the fee the enrolment system actually charges.
| Class | Day | Time | Room | Teacher | Places | Term fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ViolinMusicianship, foundation ages 7 to 10 | Wednesday | 5:30pm - 6:15pm | Music Room 2 | Priya Raman | 8 | $234 |
| ViolinString ensemble ages 10 to 17 | Wednesday | 6:30pm - 7:30pm | Music Room 2 | Priya Raman | 8 | $286 |
| ViolinMusicianship, teens ages 12 to 17 | Friday | 5:00pm - 5:45pm | Music Room 2 | Priya Raman | 8 | $234 |
| ViolinString ensemble ages 10 to 17 | Saturday | 11:00am - 12:00pm | Music Room 2 | Priya Raman | 8 | $286 |
What it costs
The arithmetic, for one class in full
String ensemble with Priya Raman is one example. Every other class in this discipline, and every class in the school, is the same sum with different numbers.
How that figure is arrived at
- Violin, String ensemble — an hourrate$22
- Wednesdays in Fall Term 2026, recess weeks removed× thirteen—
- Registration, once a school year per studentonce$30
- Fall Term 2026, this classthirteen sessions$286
$22 is the published rate for an hour, and it is on the fees page. That multiplication is the whole of it: no materials charge, no studio levy and no compulsory extras. A 10 per cent family discount comes off every class after the first, and a student joining part-way through the term pays for the sessions still to come rather than for the ones already gone.
Most of this discipline is not in the table above
Private lessons
String ensemble and musicianship are on the group timetable above; the violin lesson itself is one to one, booked into Priya's own diary.
forty-five minutes
$62a lesson
an hour
$78a lesson
The first six months, honestly
A beginner violinist makes a sound that is hard to live with in an apartment. This is not a failure of the student or of the teaching; it is the instrument. There are practical answers — a practice mute, a fixed short daily slot rather than a long weekend one, and an agreement with the person on the other side of the wall — and Priya will go through them with you in the first week. What we will not do is pretend it is not happening.
Who teaches it
One teacher, and no rota
In a school this size, the person watching a technique in the first week of a term is the same person watching it in the last.
Priya Raman
Violin and musicianship
Violin · here since 2018
Teaches violin, the string ensemble and musicianship.
Before the first lesson
What to bring
- The instrument, if it is one that travels; the school keeps loan guitars and violins for the first term
- A notebook, which the teacher writes the week's practice into
- Any music you have been given, in a folder rather than loose
- Nails short for guitar, violin and piano
You do not need to buy an instrument before the first lesson and you should not. Talk to the teacher first — the wrong size is worse than none.
Questions about violin
Why does a beginner violin sound bad at first?
Because it is a difficult instrument to begin and an honest one about it — the first months are genuinely hard to live with in a small apartment, for the student and for whoever is on the other side of the wall. Priya goes through the practical answers in the first week.
Is there a group to play in from the start?
Yes. Every violin student here is welcome in the string ensemble from their first term, and a beginner's part is written to be playable and to matter rather than to be padding.
What size violin does my child need?
The school checks instrument sizing every term rather than leaving it to be noticed, because a child outgrows a violin quietly and plays worse for a year on one that no longer fits. A private lesson is $45 for half an hour or $62 for forty-five minutes, and sizing is checked at no extra cost.
Violin · one free trial per student
Book a free trial lesson
A trial is a real lesson and the student joins in — the only evidence about a school that is not marketing, which is why it costs nothing.