ELM TEACHING ARTIST, ANNAMARIE ARAI
by Kate Fitzsimmons
Photos by Tim Porter
ELM staff and students will be the first to tell you how lucky they feel to work with teaching artist, Annamarie Arai. That is only half the story. She credits much of her current success to the professionalism, trust and immense generosity she experienced when she joined ELM nine years ago, which still exists today.
Annamarie grew up in a musical family. One of four sisters, her two older sisters played the violin. She admits that “As the classic middle sister, I wanted to be exactly like my sisters, so it was natural for me to play the violin. My mom is also incredibly musical and though my dad didn’t play he was always so encouraging.”
After graduating from UCLA, where Annamarie studied violin, she continued performing and exploring career choices. For as long as she could remember, she’d seen musicians in her life who were professional performers, who also taught. From her first teacher to an amazingly gifted cellist she knew in Sacramento to her accomplished professors in college, so many of the elite musicians were teaching full-time while performing. Teaching seemed a natural path.
Annamarie was drawn to ELM because the program is unique in offering children instruments and high quality music lessons for free from a very early age, right through high school. It wasn’t until she secured a position as a teacher that she learned how complex teaching can be. She’s been teaching violin to children attending 3 rd through 6 th grade with ELM for 10 years. She explained, “I was such a baby when I joined ELM. I was just finishing up in grad school. I will say, Jane Kramer, to her credit, knew that I did not have much experience. I’d been teaching privately but only one-on-one with students for a year at that point.”
Annamarie added, “The first year and a half was hard because I just was so new to group teaching. I was very open to learning anything about teaching because I knew I didn't yet have all the tools that I needed to teach beginners. My six years of undergraduate and graduate learning focused on how to interpret concertos, how to study quartet scores, and how to master this higher level of musicianship. Not necessarily how to translate any of that exactly into teaching beginners.”
Along with Jane, Annamarie credits one of ELM’s early lead cello teachers, Maaike, who became her mentor. Both Maaike and Jane were a force. They believed the same thing and trusted Annamarie to go as slowly as needed, especially in the kids’ first year to set the beginning foundational technique. A slower pace could often lessen the discomfort that can be experienced when learning something new. Jane and Maaike encouraged the teachers to find the best way to help the students learn how to listen and achieve a beautiful tone from as early on as possible. They all shared so much pedagogy, the art and science of teaching.
When reflecting on what her years of teaching at ELM have taught her, she smiles broadly and says, “Patience, and the realization that every child’s journey is different. I am still learning, when collaborating with new teachers who join ELM, and from new groups of students. I love the group teaching, the comradery and most of all, it is so much fun!”