VALERIE POULLETTE ALTMAN recently relocated to Asheville from New Orleans where she taught private lessons for 31 years and also held the position of Professor of Violin at Loyola University, College of Music from 1984-2006.  In addition to her teaching and playing solo recitals, Ms. Altman served as Concertmaster of the New Orleans/Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra, the Jefferson Chamber Orchestra and the Tulane Summer Lyric Orchestra.  She was violinist with the Loyola Piano Quartet and the Loyola Piano Trio for 22 years.  These two chamber groups were honored with New Orleans Big Easy Chamber Music Awards on four separate occasions.  Prior to her appointment at Loyola University, Ms. Altman was a first violinist with the New Orleans Philharmonic.

Although trained as a classical musician, Ms. Altman has great interest and appreciation for World Music and has taught and coached folk music from around the world.  “I believe that once the fundamentals of violin technique are learned, one can enjoy the making of music in a myriad of ways.”

Her music education began with private violin lessons at the age of 8 in Portland, Oregon and continued at the college level at the Peabody Conservatory, Yale University, and Boston University.  High School summers were spent as a violin scholarship student at the Santa Barbara Music Academy of the West in California.  Her violin teachers include Jacob Avshalomov, Raphael Spiro, Berl Senofsky, Joseph Silverstein, and Michael Stern.  Chamber Music coaches include member of the Julliard String Quartet, Eugene Lehner, Laurence Lesser, Walter Trampler and William Primrose.

LESSONS WITH VALERIE:

Valerie accepts students of all ages and development. In addition to the fundamentals and techniques of playing the violin, all students will be educated in the areas of music reading and ear training.  These skills will help students attain their goals, regardless of the style of music they wish to play.  Work hard, play hard, have fun!!!  Good Job!!!   

Testimonials:

 

Chris Neal, 1st violinist with Houston Symphony

 

"Ms. Poullette gave me a foundation for my professional life as a violinist.  She taught me how to practice, and that showed me how to teach myself."

 

Bonnie Gallagher, current Orchestra Teacher at Whiteaker Middle School in Keizer, Oregon

 

"I was very fortunate to have had private violin instruction by Valerie Poullette for five years at Loyola University.  Valerie Poullette is a person who puts her heart and soul into her students and their success.  Valerie sets high expectations for her students and gives them the skills and knowledge needed to achieve a high level of playing.  Valerie serves not only the role of a violin teacher but also as a fantastic mentor.  She is certainly the best violin teacher I have ever had and has been an inspiration to me on many levels, both professionally and personally.  Valerie approaches her lessons with deliberate care and concern and always has the students best interests at heart."

 

Tessa Copping Fisher, Guidance Counselor at Loyola High School in New York City

 

"Working with Valerie not only improved my skills as a violinist, but the lessons I learned have extended into my career as a school counselor as well.  Valerie's kind and patient instruction has served as a model for me with my own students, and her constant suport has given me confidence in my life as a musician and beyond."

 

John Vajner,MD.  Physician in Emergency Medicine

 

"I love music, and I can honestly say Valerie is the reason for that.  I am infinitely and indefinitely grateful for that gift of love of music that she has given me.  But, she has taught me so very much more.  For example, she taught me the delicate crafts of practice and performance--of having a task, analyzing that task, breaking it down into its constituent parts, practicing each part individually until learning to execute the parts in sequence, and then reliably reproducing this sequence of events in performance situations despite my own feelings of fear or anxiety.  Now a practicing physician, training to become a specialist in Emergency Medicine, I use these skills every day.  Every time I walk into a trauma bay and have to perform a physically and mentally complex procedure to save someone's life or limb, I am able to focus on my task, to put all the faculties of my mind to work in my hands, forgetting everything going on around me and using the chaos and emotion of the situation only as fuel to concentrate, to do better, and to push myself toward that unattainable goal of flawlessness."