Music with Toby

I’m 11 years old and I have loved taking violin lessons from Toby for the last 3 years. She gives lots of useful, but not criticizing advice, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in a bad mood! She is just a happy and positive person. I look forward to violin lessons every week because she is a wonderful teacher. I think kids would definitely enjoy learning with Toby as much as I do!

In addition to being a really patient and extremely capable teacher, Toby is just about one of the best people that you’re ever going to meet in this life. My son and daughter have taken violin lessons from Toby for close to 2 years and they absolutely love and adore her. Her music skills are top notch and she is able to reach my children and her other students on a level that they can understand and relate to. If you’re looking for a drill sargeant to get your prodigy ready for Carnegie Hall there are other options out there. If however you want your child to love violin and music in general then Toby is the way to go. I can not say enough good things about her and how she has been such a positive influence on my children (and me too)!!

Toby is the kind of person you want your child to spend time with, and learn from. Toby’s personal values, inspiring educational approach, creativity, and thoughtfulness make her a very special part of our lives. Toby has all the ingredients to help your child thrive while learning violin. She provides an extremely safe learning environment that is non-​judgmental, yet she holds our daughter to very high standards that keep her constantly motivated, and us too! Toby was able to create a wonderful community around her private violin classes. For instance, every few months she holds group events, where her students have the opportunity to share their progress with their peers and family members. This is one of the things that Toby does in order to increase commitment, and support around the learning process. Violin is a challenging instrument to learn, and thanks to Toby, our daughter has been sticking to this process for more than 3 years, and she has been getting so much more than just music. Toby is truly as good as it gets!

Toby is amazing. She made me feel welcome from our first conversation. She obviously loves what she does. When I didn’t care for a piece of music, she went out of her way to hear me and to come up with music that I got excited about. Her positive attitude creates a space that is safe for me to risk trying new things. I strongly recommend Toby.

Very satisfied and am excited to go back for more violin lessons. Toby makes me feel comfortable and is really good at explaining proper techniques.
Thank you, Toby!
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Toby is absolutely wonderful! My baby and I attended her Lil Ladybugs music class. She is so sweet and welcoming. The class is fun for both the babies and adults. Some of the songs from class are still stuck in my head a few months later! We will definitely sign up again!

I have always envied my friends who have beautiful singing voices and wanted to get voice lessons to improve my singing and learn to use my voice with the proper technique. But this was something that I didn’t have the courage to do for fear that the lessons would become one of those things I hate to go to because I’d feel extremely pressured by the teacher to become a professional or to be perfect. My goal was just to have a prettier voice, not to be a professional opera singer. My work schedule for the next four months would be more flexible so I decided that this would be my opportunity to get in a few lessons to learn the fundamentals. I decided to look up on Unilocal to see if there were any private voice teachers in the area and found many that were either too expensive or were intended for those who aspired to be professional singers and make it big. The only one I found that seemed to have the option to ‘learn for fun’ was Music with Toby. After visiting Toby’s website, I was convinced that it was worth a try to contact her and find out about pricing and if she could meet my need. I was very impressed that she responded within 24 hours (even though it was a weekend) and her email was very organized (which I love!) and filled with clear detailed information.
Another issue I had was that I am moving after my 4 months of work ends so I can only do a short term of lessons. Most music schools or teachers prefer to take ‘serious’ and ‘committed’ music students for long-​term lessons (or at least that was my concept) but Toby was well prepared to offer me a variety of prepaid lesson options (at a discount too!) for my short term availability. They were reasonably priced and she also offered a free trial lesson to see if we’re a good match before I make a decision. I did not feel pressured in any way at all.
I really enjoyed all my lessons with Toby! She has great personality with a lot of positive energy. She gives very good descriptions and very visual explanations on how to control my voice and root of breath. She is very flexible and adapts very well to all different types of people and different music styles. She also makes you feel very comfortable and at home and makes sure that you inform her whenever anything is uncomfortable. She makes me laugh so much with all her jokes too! Extremely hospitable! :) Oh, she also tries her best to accommodate your schedule and sets up a time that works for both you and her.
Another reason why I really wanted to work with Toby was because she has a very credible background in violin and voice. I checked out her videos on YouTube too and she is super talented and I can tell she really knows what she’s doing and understands the techniques thoroughly.
Overall, if I didn’t have to move soon, I would continue to take voice lessons with Toby. I received a lot of help from her and I definitely recommend that anyone interested in improving in violin or voice should at least try out a trial lesson with her! :)

My 4 almost 5 year old daughter has been taking violin lessons with Toby for several months now and Toby is awesome! Great with kids, patient and teaches them in an age appropriate way. She makes the lessons fun. Lily looks forward to her lesson each week and would love to have more time with Toby. I would highly recommend Toby as a Violin teacher – I’m even tempted to take lessons too!

My daughter was getting frustrated with her former violin teacher and the pressure to be ’”PERFECT «after learning only 2 months. She was ready to quit and then I realized she needed to change teachers. That is where Toby comes in. I searched online for a violin teacher in my area, that has a lot of experience with children, and read all the wonderful reviews online about Toby. I gave Toby a call and she spent a long time chatting with me about her background and teaching style. My daughter has been taking lessons from Toby for almost 2 moths now. We are very pleased, Toby is wonderful with children and a fun teacher! We are very lucky to have found Toby!

Toby is an incredible teacher, especially with kids. She managed to make even the first few lessons on learning posture for violin fun for my six year old. We just started with a new teacher because of logistics reasons, but I can now truly appreciate how great Toby was for laying down the foundation, which is so important for beginning violin. She also gets a lot of credit for getting my daughter excited about learning and practicing. If Toby’s schedule allows, we would definitely try to go back for monthly lessons with her!

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I found myself with extra time on my hands. What better way to whittle away the hours, I thought, than with a little self-​improvement? Lucky for me, a close friend recommended Toby’s voice lessons. To say they did not disappoint does this lesson a disservice. I took voice lessons for a semester in college, so had some experience tuning my pipes, but Toby really elevated my thinking about how to sing. And made it fun. All in an hour!
Are you looking for an impossibly talented teacher who will provide improbable oodles of fun? That is a rhetorical question. Of course you are. Seek no further.

I adore Toby. I decided to pick up the violin as an adult, which can be challenging. Ive improved so much with Toby. She is incredibly patient and creative with her teaching style. It’s apparent that she cares about keeping lessons engaging – she knows how to craft lessons in a way that leaves me feeling fulfilled, while still hitting the fundamentals that I need to learn. She’s also FUN! Quick laugh, super kind, and so so supportive of my desire to learn.

Toby is an AMAZING violin teacher. My 10 yr old was frustrated with her violin class at school and wanted to quit. Before allowing her to quit I thought we should try a private lesson. My online search led me to Music with Toby. Going into the first trial lesson my daughter was open, but apprehensive. My daughter wouldn’t stop playing for 45 minutes after Toby left! We’ve continued lessons and I’m always impressed with how supportive, clear and fun Toby is with my hard-​to-​focus child. I highly recommend Music with Toby.

My 4 year old daughter had a trial violin lesson with Miss Toby Branz. Miss Toby was very patient and enthusiastic. She knew just how to talk to little kids. In addition to teaching my daughter the correct position and the parts of the violin, she also taught my daughter and me about good manners. I just love Toby. Unfortunately, my daughter is not ready to have formal lessons yet. But I would definitely call her when my daughter is ready, and I highly recommend Miss Toby for anyone interested in learning the violin.