Technology is venturing into a new frontier: It is upending and democratizing the world of music lessons.
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Israeli violist Yehezkel Layoun (1991) earned his bachelor of music (2014) from Temple University as a student of Che-Hung Chen of the Philadelphia Orchestra and a master of music (2016) on full scholarship from Wichita State University, where he was a student of Boris Vayner of the St. Petersburg String Quartet. Most recently, he studied three years in an artist diploma program (2017- 2020) from Rutgers University on full scholarship, under the tutelage of Daniel Panner of the NYC Opera.
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Rachel Halvorson currently enjoys a career as a freelance violist and dedicated music teacher based in Houston, Texas. Most recently, she served as an acting section violist in 2023 with the San Diego Symphony. Previously, Rachel spent four seasons as the principal violist for the Sarasota Orchestra and the Sarasota String Quartet.
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Bulgarian Violist Raisa, is a member of the English Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Symphony Orchestra, and performs regularly at The Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Festival Hall, and in many international music festivals in the UK and Europe, plus appearing on ITV and BBC broadcasts. She is an experienced chamber musician, currently performing on a 1845 viola by J.B. Vuillaume and is completing her PhD in solo & chamber Viola repertoire. Raisa teaches at the Junior department of Trinity Laban Conservatoire, in addition to private teaching.
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Unrestrained curiosity and a devotion to fundamentals fuel Dan Pappalardo's relationship with music. Performing on both upright bass and bass guitar, Pappalardo has served artists from Billy Hart, Wallace Roney, and Sullivan Fortner to Cautious Clay and John Mayer. Dan has taught across different mediums for more than 15 years. His approach is simple: joy is infectious. He hopes to empower students to break perceived impossibilities into manageable pieces, with and without the bass.
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Hunter Farley is currently a Doctoral student at Boston University as well as a Freelance Tubist and Teacher. He also is the director of athletic bands at Bentley University. Before moving to Boston, he received his Masters degree from Northwestern University in Tuba Performance and Undergraduate degree in Music Education at the University of Memphis. While at these institutions, he was an active member of the National Association for Music Education organization and the President of the International Tuba and Euphonium Association Chapter.
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All our teachers are from top music conservatories, such as Juilliard or Oberlin. They also must have extensive teaching experience and be recommended by conservatory professors.
We never expect you to pay for a lesson that you aren’t satisfied with. After your trial lesson, if you are not satisfied, please contact hello@virtu.academy, so we can set you up with a new teacher.
That’s great to hear! Our teachers always appreciate if you mention their name in a positive review on Google of Facebook.
If you would like to contact your teacher, you can add a message to the “new student information” form you received in your confirmation email. You may also email hello@virtu.academy and we can pass along the message.
Some of our teachers limit the number of students they can work with to ensure they have enough time to dedicate to each student. If you cannot find another teacher that looks like a good fit, please email hello@virtu.academy and we can reach out to your desired teacher.
We do have teachers that specialize in most common teaching methods. If you would like to request one of these teachers, please email hello@virtu.academy.
If it is fewer than 24 hours before your lesson, you will need to contact us at hello@virtu.academy or call/text us at 202-919-8082 to reschedule.
You can reschedule or cancel your lesson anytime online by clicking the “change/cancel” button in your confirmation email or logging in to your account.
In certain cases, we are able to waive the late cancellation fees for emergencies. Please text or call 202-919-8082 as soon as possible to let us know.
If you need to reschedule or cancel a lesson, we require at least 24 hours notice to avoid late cancellation fees. You can reschedule or cancel your lesson anytime online by clicking the “change/cancel” button in your confirmation email or logging in to your account.
After choosing a teacher and purchasing a lesson, all you need is a computer with a built in microphone and webcam. After booking you will be sent a link that connects you with your teacher at the scheduled time with two clicks.
Although there are some differences, multiple studies on distance learning, including a study from UNC, have shown that students are 36% more focused and perform 22% better when compared to in-person lesson. We also take advantage of Zoom’s High Fidelity Music Mode, which was developed in partnership with Yale School of Music. This ensures that your teacher can hear every detail of your playing during each lesson.
You can also use the “reserve without paying” button to reserve lessons without being charged. 1 day before each lesson, any credits on your account will automatically be applied to those lessons. If you do not have any credits on your account from a package/subscription, you will be billed for that lesson individually.
If you and your teacher agree that 45 minute lessons would be best for you, please email hello@virtu.academy and we can provide you with a link to get those scheduled.
Each student should have their own lesson time booked in the calendar to ensure the teacher can create lesson plans for each student. If you have multiple children working with us, a package or subscription can be shared by both students for a larger discount. You can view those pricing options at https://virtu.as.me.
In general, you can schedule lessons up to 1 year in advance.
Our teachers generally require that you schedule a lesson with at least a 24 hours notice. That means that you should be able to have a lesson as soon as tomorrow!
Generally, each student is allowed to take one trial lesson per instrument. If you were not satisfied with your first trial lesson or would like to try out another teacher before making your decision, you ARE allowed to book an additional trial lesson with another teacher at the 50% off rate.
The easiest way to book lessons is to log into your account to redeem any lesson credits you have and book additional lessons. You can also schedule a lesson at https://virtu.as.me.
You can view our teachers and purchase a 50% off trial lesson at https://virtu.academy/trial. From there, you can filter by instrument, experience level, genre, and age to find the perfect fit.
You can pause or cancel a subscription at anytime by clicking the “change/cancel” button in your purchase confirmation emails or by logging into your account. If you have any trouble, you can email hello@virtu.academy 24 hours before the next billing date, and we can ensure it gets cancelled for you.
Lesson credits never expire and rollover each month.
You can redeem your package or subscription by logging into your account and selecting the package or subscription you’d like to redeem. You can also click the “schedule” button in your purchase confirmation email.
You will be able to redeem your package or subscription at checkout instead of entering your payment information. At checkout, you should see a “redeem” button where you can enter your code or email address to redeem any credits on your account. You can also use the “reserve without paying” button to reserve lessons without being charged. 1 day before each lesson, any credits on your account will automatically be applied to those lessons.
Purchasing a package or subscription will add lesson credits to your account but NOT schedule any lessons for you. You will need to log in to redeem those credits or click the “schedule” button in your payment confirmation email.
A package is a one time purchase of a set number of lessons. Weekly and monthly subscriptions are billed every week or month for a set number of lessons.
If you are unsatisfied with your trial lesson, we can provide a refund. We cannot provide refunds, however, for any packages, subscriptions.
We are unable to refund unused packages or subscriptions. If you accidentally schedule a lesson, please email hello@virtu.academy, and we can get it credited back to your account.
If a teacher cancels a lesson, you can reschedule that lesson free of charge.
If you cancel a lesson at least 24 hours prior to the lesson, you will be receive a credit back to your account to use anytime.
If a lesson wasn’t paid for at checkout, any package/subscription credits will be applied automatically 1 day before the lesson. If you do not have any credits on your account, you will be charged automatically 1 day before the lesson.
After you log in to your account, you will see all of your upcoming lessons as well as any packages or subscriptions on your account.
If you forgot your password, you can reset it by clicking the log in button then “reset my password”
You can log in to your account by clicking the log in button at https://virtu.academy
You can create an account by clicking “log in” on our homepage then clicking “Sign up here”. Please be sure to use the same email address you used when booking lessons.
We recently added our new dashboard feature, and you’ll need to register for a new account to view that, even if you have already registered or taken lessons with us. You can click the “log in” button on our home page then click “sign up here” to register for an account.
If you're not completely satisfied with your first lesson, we will find you a new teacher and pay for your first lesson.
Trial Lesson offer only valid for new customers. Limit 1 per customer. Customers that purchase an invalid trial lesson will be charged the full price of the package.
