VIOLIN & VIOLA LESSONS IN A friendly, comfortable setting. Anthony Serafini is Adjunct Professor of Violin at Centenary College of NJ in Hackettstown, which draws students from all parts of the globe.(Contact Professor Carl Wallnau at wallnauc@centenarycollege.edu for more information) His wife Tina is a noted musician specializing in Suzuki methods as well as more traditional methods such as those of Ivan Galamian. (Note that many are under the impression that if you want Suzuki methods you just have to go to \"your local Suzuki school." The fact is in the entire state of NJ there are only three cities that even claim to be Suzuki schools. By all means check this out for yourself.) NOTE: Good teachers understand that sometimes it takes a couple of trys before you find the perfect match and should not be offended if you decide to try another studio. Please note that Hackettstown is about an hour's drive west of Newark, NJ (NOTE: You do NOT have to be a student at the college to take lessons from me.) Beginning to Advanced/Children&Adults Welcome. Violins are available at time of 1st lesson.
MY BACKGROUND Anthony Serafini won the 1st prize in the Premier New York Violin Competition and numerous other awards. He first studied with Ralph Wade, then going on to further studies with Karl Husa at Cornell University and then at Syracuse University\\\'s Setnor School of Music with legendary violinist Louis Krasner(first to premier and record the Berg Violin Concerto. Further studies with University of Minnesota Violin Virtuoso and Professor of Violin Young-Nam Kim and Arnold Steinhardt of the Curtis Institute and first violin of the legendary Guarneri String Quartet. In 1978 he was one of two violinists selected by Professor Albert Hoose of the University of Massachusetts to record Professor Hoose\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Sonata for Two Violins.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" He has won three Distinguished Teaching awards. He is also senior member of the American String Association. He is listed on the web site VIOLINISTS ON THE WEB (www.angelfire.com/music5/violinistspage/) among about 400 violinists.
He has been the interim Concertmaster of the Binghamton Symphony Orchestra and Concertmaster of the Cornell University Symphony. Very recently he was invited by Maestro Giacomo Franci to play with the New York Chamber Players. Mr. Franci is the Artistic Director and the Conductor of the Chamber Players and made his debut as a major concert pianist in 1998 at Carnegie Hall. He has composed a violin solo titled \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Shades of Mendelssohn and Paganini\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" which is available on youtube and has been seen by over 5000 persons. In addition to his music studies, Mr. Serafini has a graduate degree in philosophy.
His wife Tina is a Certified Reading Specialist and taught at Rutgers University for twelve years, teaching test preparation for the SAT,PSAT, the GRE, the LSAT and Reading Comprehension & Speed Reading. Now retired, these days she concentrates on teaching these skills to private students.
OUR METHODS We concentrate heavily on the basics, such as left and right hand position, the three essentials of tone production -- bow speed, bow pressure and sounding point; we also teach various types of bowing, including detache\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\', ricochet, martele\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' etc. We work on developing a good vibrato, sight reading, music theory, ear training and so forth. We schedule recitals for our students at regular intervals. With a child, where we rely heavily on the Suzuki method, reading music is put off until later, in keeping with this approach. Also in keeping with the Suzuki method, we encourage parents to sit in on lessons, though of course we do not require this.
That said, one can easily forget that there are many good teaching methods: No one approach is right all the time for every student. With many students, we feel that it is most productive to use the best parts of more than one method, thus tailoring teaching to every pupil.
Part of our philosophy also is that since not every student will become a professional musician, it\'s important that the teacher be able to provide cultural enrichment as well as lessons. Thus we regularly let students and parents know about upcoming concerts, music appreciation software, books and recordings that will benefit the student, and so forth. SPECIAL NOTE: we have considerable experience dealing with disabled students, primarily because of our experience in teaching numerous students from the Perkins School for the Blind in the Boston area some years back. Teachers without such experience can become easily frustrated in teaching such students.
COSTS $35/half-hour,or $70/hour (Other lesson lengths are possible)
A special feature of our teaching is our policy of promoting the development of our students in ways other than merely offering private lessons. To this end, we encourage regular recitals(even for our beginners), entrance into competitions when the student is ready, auditions with orchestras and even auditions with renowned schools of music such as Juilliard, NYU, Curtis, etc. We have many, many contacts throughout the music world and from a practical point of view, this is all to the student\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s benefit. Every year our students give recitals and prepare for prestigious competitions.
NOTE: many of my students are already advanced violinists, some of whom have already held positions as concertmasters in various orchestras. However beginners, young or old, are always welcome as well if they are enthusiastic and willing to work.
Email us using the link above for more information and either my wife or I will be happy to set up a trial lesson. For a reference, contact the father of one of our current students, Mr. Nilo Enriquez, 908 832-0862 or Professor Carl Wallnau, Chair of the Performing Arts Division of Centenary College -- wallnauc@centenarycollege.edu or 908 852-1400.
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LETTER FROM STUDENTS BELOW:
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Mr. Serafini you are, quite simply, an excellent teacher\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" - Wendy Davis former concertmaster of the Pomona College Symphony Orchestra and lst violin of the highly regarded Mes Amis String Quartet
Hello Mr & Mrs. Serafini, It\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Alexia, one of your students from this summer. HOw are you! I am very excited to tell you that I made first chair in my High School Orchestra. I also joined a local orchestra called Tucson Junior Strings, Your help in vibrato helped me get into Sinfonia 1 they\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'re highest level Sinfonia. They also expect us to play in third position and shifting is so0o0o0o much easier now. I hope you are well to and your wife. I started missing New Jersey the minuet I got on the plane and I am excited for the coming summer. Can\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t wait to have more violin lessons. I hope to hear from you soon. Alexia Porto
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From Gino Villam
Posted on September 25, 2007 at 04:10 AM
I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ve tried 4 different NJ violin teachers and only really GOOD ones are the Serafinis in Hackettstown, NJ. Their playing is excellent and their teaching is very caring and thorough. When I first went to him and asked him to play something, he played two Paganini caprices at lightning speed(hardest music written for violin). They are very personable and patient; don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t waste your time with anyone else. Mr. Serafini is a Professor of Violin at Centenary college as well.
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This is one of my favorite pieces, and it is masterfully done here. Serafini is really fantastic! I will be playing this video over and over again! Thanks, Anthony Serafini! You are a great violinist!!!
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