I’m Caitlin Smith, Creator Of Practice Pizzazz.
I’m Passionate About Making Violin Practice Fun!
I’m a professional violinist who teaches, performs, and researches. Practice Pizzazz was born from my experience teaching violin for 20 years and playing violin for over 30 years.
I have two degrees in violin performance, including a graduate degree from the Royal Academy of Music in London, one of the best music schools in the world.
And I have taken Suzuki violin teacher training courses for all ten books, plus extra Suzuki pedagogy classes. (Check out my Suzuki teacher bio here.)
But if you had known me as a kid, you would never have believed it.
I started playing violin as a rambunctious four year-old. I’m the youngest of five in my family, and I was the last kid at home during the day while my older siblings were at school. I was driving my mom crazy, so she put me in violin lessons.
My parents and teachers were loving and patient, but practice (the dreaded “P” word in our house) was a constant source of frustration.
From ages 4 to 11, I slowly plodded through Suzuki Books 1, 2, and 3. Emphasis on slowly—and sometimes painfully.
Around age 12, I caught the vision of being a violinist and started working hard, almost overnight.
By age 16, I had finished the Suzuki books and was morphing from the little kid who pestered her parents to a passionate musician. (I don’t pester you guys anymore, right, Mom and Dad?)
Fast forward several more years
I have performed in concert halls all over the world, from Budapest’s Liszt Academy to Beijing’s Poly Theater. And I took my violin studies all the way to London, where I rubbed shoulders with some of the best musicians alive today.
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Now let’s get practicing!
