"I didn’t know whether Isabel had a natural gift for music, and I didn’t care. What I wanted was for music to be a part of her life experience."
"Parent Class... re-designed my outlook on parenting. We were taught to break up difficult tasks into smaller pieces, to stick to a routine, to diversify practice, and, above all, to make it fun to practice music.
Nora has been essential to Isabel’s development, both musically and as a young person. It’s hard to describe in words the extent to which Nora has made an impact in both our lives. Isabel likes to speed through tasks, Nora has shown her how to slow down and enjoy the moment. Isabel has a difficult time focusing, Suzuki training has helped her to hone in on a small task and tackle it. Isabel gets impatient quickly, but learning music mandates that you have patience with yourself, with others, and with the learning process. Nora is serious about music, but makes lessons fun and silly. She works hard to make music education engaging for kids, and kids really respond to her.
Lessons are entertaining for parents too. Nora is captivating in her teaching style, positivity, patience, and grace. Her lessons have helped me become a better parent. I learned to recognize when I was asking too much of my children, and to change my style if things were not going well. I learned how to make tough tasks more manageable by breaking them into parts, to stop and change directions when one method isn’t working. I understand praising hard work and not mediocre effort. Nora is a great role model for my daughter, and for me too." --Nicole Shaw
"From the first lessons with Nora I could see the wonderful rapport she has with her students. Her relationship with my children and I is built on mutual respect, kindness and a sense of fun. In under a year she has become an important person in their lives.
...Nora has enabled them to continue to feel a sense of achievement as they relearn and change [previously-ingrained] playing habits . Interestingly this has provided my children with an important life lesson, that through persistence and effort comes beauty. It takes a special teacher to walk this path with two young souls, and Nora does this with grace and laughter." -- Mim Ingvarson
"I am so thankful that Nora has been with her from the beginning. It has been a journey with ups and downs and Nora has been with us every step of the way. Although Zoe is an independent and self motivated child, she is also very sensitive. Nora has been so thoughtful and attuned to Zoe's needs knowing when to be nurturing but also firm and encouraging. Zoe has not only learned how to play the violin and gained musical skills, she has also learned discipline and fortitude. It has been a great joy to watch Zoe flourish in this area. Nora's passion for music and children is evident in her teaching. She brings joy to every lesson and you can tell she genuinely loves what she does. Nora is a skillful teacher but most of all she strives to help her students have fun and love music." --Diana Kim
"Nora Friedman is an inspiring teacher. Her creative use of puppets, stickers, stuffed animals and other fun props created a fun learning environment for my daughter who started with Nora at the age of 4...Nora uses musical vocabulary, stories and exercises to teach new skills and reinforce good playing habits. This ability to shift and adapt as the child grows and matures keeps my daughter motivated, happy and determined. Lessons are still fun but the expectations are higher and I value how much Nora pushes my daughter while still nurturing her progress. It is quite amazing to see the feeling of accomplishment and pride that my daughter feels after every lesson. She looks forward to showing Nora her progress every week and leaves every lesson with new tools and ideas on how to improve her practicing.' -- Silvia Enriquez