Suzuki viola lessons in Kernersville

Learn with Dr. Eric Eakes

Dr. Eric Eakes teaches Suzuki violin and viola at our studio. Dr. Eakes holds a doctorate in viola performance from the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, and performs with orchestras across the region, among them the Greensboro Symphony and the Winston-Salem Symphony.

Read Dr. Eakes's full biography

The viola's voice

The viola is the middle voice of the string family. It is held on the shoulder like the violin, but it is a little larger and plays a fifth lower, with a rich, dark sound (University of Georgia String Project). Its four strings are C, G, D, and A, and the top three are the same notes as the violin's lowest three.

In the orchestra, the viola most often plays the harmony, the part that gives the music its depth (University of Texas String Project). Violists read their own clef, the alto clef, which only one other instrument in the orchestra shares, the alto trombone. Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Dvořák, and Britten all played the viola (London Symphony Orchestra).

Suzuki viola

Suzuki violists have books and recordings of their own, the Suzuki Viola School, in nine volumes (International Suzuki Association). Its music was adapted from the Suzuki violin books and written a fifth lower (American Suzuki Journal). Students learn the way Suzuki violinists do, through the "mother-tongue" approach: private lessons with group lessons alongside, and listening to the recordings at home (Alfred Music, which publishes the Suzuki books).

Starting viola

Most young beginners at our studio start on violin. Violas have no standard size (Miles Hoffman, South Carolina Public Radio), and a well-made small viola is hard for a family to find, so a child usually begins on violin and moves to viola once a good instrument fits.

The move is a natural one. The playing technique is much the same, and the first Suzuki viola books follow the violin books closely, so many musicians play both (Suzuki Music Victoria). Because Dr. Eakes teaches both instruments, a student can make the switch without changing teachers. Adults can start on viola from their very first lesson.

Reading alto clef

New violists learn to read the alto clef. Our free Alto Clef class explains it step by step, and Name That Note lets you practice reading it in a quick game.