Arioso Violin Studio
Mary Page Block, violinist
Mary Page Block, violinist and teacher, offers private violin lessons at her home studio in Cary, North Carolina, or virtual lessons online. She uses traditional and Suzuki methods. During her 30 years of private teaching experience, Mary’s students have been leaders in the NC Chamber Music Institute, Philharmonic Association Youth Orchestras, local high school orchestras, and All State Orchestras.
Along with private study, Mary offers a variety of learning experiences: twice yearly recitals, master classes with visiting artists, competitions, virtual lessons, and access to group classes for younger students.
About Mary
After completing her undergraduate studies in Violin Performance at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, Mary moved to Cary, North Carolina, and began performing and teaching in the area. She has freelanced for the North Carolina Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, and performed recitals at the North Carolina Museum of Art for their series “Rembrandt to Rubens,” the NC Theater and many other professional groups in the area. In addition, she was a founding member, soloist and composer with the Celtic music group Bragh Adair. They released two successful CDs and performed for sell-out crowds at Meymandi Concert Hall, Regency Amphitheater and the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. Mary has also been a chamber music coach for The North Carolina Chamber Music Institute.
In addition to teaching she owns the company Arioso Strings which provides chamber music ensembles for weddings and events in the Triangle area.
Education and Training
- Eastman School of Music: BM Violin Performance
- University of North Carolina School of the Arts: Violin Performance, High School
- Masterclasses with Dorothy Delay, Itzhak Perlman, and the Cleveland String Quartet
- Eastern Music Festival
- Brevard Music Center
- Tanglewood Music Center
- Snow Bird Chamber Music Festival
- NCSA European Tour Orchestra
Teaching Methods
The Suzuki Method is terrific for the young beginner. The Suzuki approach for a young child is similar to learning a language. Children are immersed in listening to music and to the simple pieces they are learning to play. They are free to play what they hear instead of focusing on reading or technical studies. This gives us the opportunity to match pitch, tone and play melody and allows for time to set up a strong foundation of basic techniques needed to play the violin with a beautiful sound and in tune. Parents will attend lessons and be involved in practice time at home.
Traditional methods begin to be integrated into their playing as children mature. Each child is different, but usually by age 6 most children are ready to add a variety of technical studies, scales and music reading skills to the early Suzuki repertoire. My background training in traditional teaching is based strongly in the methods of Ivan Galamian and Paul Roland. Parents can begin to taper from attending lessons when their child is in 5th–7th grade and allow the child to take over the responsibility of taking notes and organizing what they practice.
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Student Success
Mary’s motivational approach helps students grow and develop into outstanding musicians. She helps them set goals and gets them involved in performing as soloists, in chamber music, and in orchestra. This creates friendships, and music becomes something they have for their whole life, not something they leave behind in childhood.
The Studio
The studio has a separate entrance from the house. There is a grand piano for rehearsals. Mary also plays piano and accompanies most younger students on a regular basis. The room is large and comfortable and the house sits on a two-mile greenway around Lake Pine. As students get older and attend lessons on their own, parents are welcome to use our access path to walk around the lake during lesson time.
During this time of social distancing and quarantines, there is a large screened porch adjacent to the studio which allows 15 feet between teacher and student. Feel free to request a lesson here, though it is subject to reasonable temperatures (between 65 and 90).
- Dedicated teaching studio
- Screened porch for social distancing
- State-of-the-art streaming setup
Virtual Violin Lessons
The Arioso Violin Studio is fully equipped with state of the art microphones, camera, and even a green screen, generating the best connection, picture, and sound quality through the Zoom platform. Additionally Mary Block opened a YouTube Channel called Virtual Violin Lessons which is designed for younger students and their parents. There are recordings of Mary performing many of the pieces and exercises her younger students play, along with instructional videos on how to practice certain techniques.