Pioneer Violin Academy, based in Lake Arrowhead, California, provides children with the opportunity to pursue learning how to play the violin. Since 2021, all Pioneer students receive music lesson scholarships from Arrowhead Arts Association.
Neva has been playing violin for 9 years. She currently studies with acclaimed violinist Professor Ken Aiso of Loyola Marymount University.
Her violin accomplishments include recording for commission by a Danish Ballet company with Grammy and Emmy award-winning producer George Whitty, earning a full-scholarship to study at Idyllwild Arts Academy over the summer, traveling with the Mountain Top Strings of CA on a concert tour through eight cities in Italy, receiving several Outstanding Musicianship awards at Forum Music Festival, and holding various Concertmaster roles. She's performed solo repertoire such as Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 1, Sinding Suite Op. 10, and Beethoven's "Spring" Violin Sonata No. 5.
Neva began teaching violin to youth in her community in 2018. As a private violin teacher, she currently has seven private students. Ranging in age from 5-11, her students are mostly beginning to learn violin. She introduces her students to the AAA strings program to further their musical opportunities. She hopes to continue to do this for each of her students as they develop musically.
On Dec. 10th, 2021, we gathered in front of family and friends to put on a Christmas Recital program with many festive carols! The recital was in the works since mid-fall 2021, and it was so exciting to see the kids hard work pay off. Through preparing for the recital I encouraged them to practice their pieces at home and observed as they realized how much practice can lead to improvement. That was such a cool development for me to see as a teacher. I'm so proud of all of them!
On October 22nd, 2022 Hallie Joy and I performed at the annual Arrowhead Arts Gala. Hallie Joy first performed Concertino by Ferdinand Kuchler. Then, together we performed the "Mirror" duet by Mozart. It's a uniquely written piece of music that can be read right side up and upside down! We had a blast and are thankful to perform for the organization that makes music education in our small mountain community possible.
On December 15th, 2022 we held our second annual Christmas recital. Our budding violinists performed a range of music, from Christmas Carols to classic Violin solos and duets! They have all worked extremely hard and their improvement over the year was reflected in the diverse program they performed. We were honored to welcome two special guests from Arrowhead Arts Association, Chryl Russell and Ken Camarella, to our recital.
Lately I've been working with Sage on memorizing her music. Memorizing your music has a lot of benefits to playing because it can help the player focus more on the artistic qualities of their sound. But I've discovered that for kids it is also a great motivator and can be fun! We memorize measure by measure: play a measure looking at the music, turn around and play it again. Then, we start connecting the measures, and slowly a few lines are memorized. After a few lines are memorized, then we can start working on phrasing to really make music. For Sage especially, I've never seen her light up as much as after successfully playing her music from memory. She goes, "I did it!" with a bright smile on her face and the look she gives me makes me even prouder of her. Little by little, measure by measure, we're transferring what's written on the sheet music to muscle memory, and from there it really takes off!
Email: neva.hidajat@gmail.com
Cellphone: (909) 362-3644
