The NOW page will take you to my Youtube Channel

Visit the WHEN page to learn more about my DVD: 
VIOLIN FOR MUSICIANS 
You will understand things about playing the violin
 that some persons do not learn in a lifetime.
Andrew Victor, Maestronet


welcome!

Picture



Helen Martin, Director
  • Solo Violin, Sondheim, Into the Woods and Jason Robert Brown, The Last Five Years 2014
  • Founded and Directed DIVERTIMENTI, String Ensemble, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
  • Recital, 2008, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Frank, Piazzolla
  • Free-lance musician, Local #6, SanFrancisco Musicians Union
  • Recital/Drama: Vivaldi, THE FOUR SEASONS
  • Free-lance member, English Symphony Orchestra, Fine Arts Chamber Orchestra, Haydn Orchestra, Bach Festival Orchestra
  • Studio, Easton, Pennsylvania, 2000- Students ranking in top five at District and State Orchestras, Including Principals
  • String Staff, Raritan Music Center, Raritan, NJ
  • Summer Chamber Music Workshops, 2001
  • Faculty, Musical Arts Academy of Bucks County, 1999-2004
  • Orchestra Instructor, Charlotte-Mecklenberg, NC, Schools, 1996-98
  • Director, Summer Strings Day Camp, Napa, California, 1994
  • Instructor/String Coach, Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
  • Head of String Department, Community Music School Allentown, Pennsylvania
  • String Consultant, San Diego Creative and Performing Arts School
                London, UK
  • Center for Young Musicians: Violin, Viola, Curriculum Design
  • Pimlico Special Music Course, Theory, Music History, Violin, Viola, Chamber Music
   I am pleased to meet students of all ages and experience. My primary goal as a teacher is to find the maximum progress for time spent. 
    In 1979 I began teaching, full time, at the selective, music magnet school in London. My week also included non-selective, beginning string programs for at three elementary schools. Continuing to careers as musicians was a usual course for my magnet students. Talented children in the elementary schools won music scholarships to Private secondary schools. 
   Back in the States - I was born in Philadelphia - I taught String Technique Classes for Moravian College, coached the Strings for the Community Orchestra and founded and
directed DIVERTIMENTI, an ensemble for adult string players.   
Because my class included many advanced students with conceptual problems, I began to focus on how we develop as musicians. I found that - while drawing on my own studies with Josef Gingold and Jasha Brodsky, - the most time-efficient approach is to carefully focus on what Edwin Gordon calls "foundation building." A primary example being that the essence of playing in tune is singing in tune. 
    In March of 2013 I presented a lecture, "Gordon, Pros and Cons," at the American String Teachers Convention in Providence, Rhode Island.


Please visit
SoundStrings.net - My string teaching site

And -

I wouldn't want you to miss The Secret Life of Antonio Vivaldi

Comments from students:

    Ms. Martin teaches her students not just how to play music, but also how to be expressive, creative, theoretically and aurally literate musicians.  Her refined and common sense approach to teaching is a breath of fresh air in a field with so many contrasting ideologies.
Emily Orenstein, Violinist, Teacher, and Concertmaster of the Lehigh University Philharmonic (2007-2009), Masters, Music Education, Oberlin. 
Ms Orenstein plays Bach  
Helen Martin's extensive experience as a teacher has really paid off for me. Her understanding of technique continues to expand my security in performance and she always is able to offer an expressive, musical solution to any question. But her major skill may be in keeping it light. I know that each lesson will present a new challenge and that I will welcome her approach. 
Ron Stickle, Electronics Engineer, U.S. Army
    In my studies with Helen Martin I have found her to be a caring and dedicated teacher. Her focus is always the student's comfort and development. Her goals are well defined and her range of strategies seemingly limitless. She knows how to structure her material and when to change pace.  Needless to say her students respond, progress and look forward to performing. 
Gregory Cole, Member, Bethlehem Bach Choir, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
In Performance: Quartet No. 2. Rese Revak, composer and First Violin.

Please feel welcome to view this PDF of my Career History 
Video: Performance for the Vegesna Foundation. 
Bridgewater Middle School, Bridgewater, New Jersey. 
Camera at mid point in 800-seat auditorium.
Music Lessons: http://musicteachersdirectory.org/