Teacher Profile: Hannah Schafer
About Hannah Schafer
Hannah plays and teaches violin, viola, and piano. She loves music because it adds beauty to life and is an outlet to feel and express emotion.
Hannah started violin lessons at the age of three and started piano lessons when she was five. Music is an integral part of her family; her grandma was a piano teacher and her aunt a professional violinist and pianist. Piano lessons were very much a family affair. Hannah, her brother and two cousins studied piano with their otherwise retired grandma, Glenda Schafer, and had family recitals and drove together to adjudications. Hannah started Suzuki violin lessons when she was three with Maya Takemoto and studied with Julia Salerno in middle and high school. She also played violin in school orchestras growing up and played viola in her high school orchestra.
In high school, Hannah started practicing violin more seriously with the goal of pursuing it professionally. She attended Indiana University Summer String Academy summers 2017-2019, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in violin performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she studied with Simon James. Hannah has performed violin as a soloist with the Spokane Symphony, Coeur d’Alene Symphony, Grande-Ronde Symphony, Walla Walla University Symphony Orchestra and Inland Northwest Musicians. She also recorded an album of hymn arrangements with her trio, Rejoice Trio, titled Be Still My Soul.
Hannah is passionate about learning about pedagogy so she can best give each student the skills and knowledge to play their instrument with ease and musicality.
She regularly observes Jan Coleman teach violin in Bothell and has done violin Suzuki teacher training in Units 1 through 8 with teachers including Cathy Lee, Allen Lieb, Ed Sprunger and Daniel Gee Cordova. During the 2021-2022 school year, Hannah taught violin and piano at Peace Music Academy in Khon Kaen, Thailand. During that time, she studied piano pedagogy with Heather Mariano. Hannah was a camp counselor at Center Stage Strings at the University of Michigan in 2024. In 2025, she led orchestra violin sectionals and assisted in teaching an introduction to violin class at the Summer String Institute at Western Kentucky University.
Hannah believes music education is important because it gives people the empowering skill of being able to create something beautiful. Making music is creation, which contrasts the consumption commonly found in modern society. Playing music activates many neural pathways and sharpens the brain. It is also a ticket to new life experiences and a unique way to meet people and be a part of the community. In addition, teaching, learning and creating music leads people to step into a rich tradition that goes as far back as humanity. Hannah aims to continue this tradition of passing down music to people so it can become a part of their lives, and they can, in turn, share it with others.
Hannah is excited to get to know LIYH students and support them along their musical journey. She endeavors to break down concepts into clear, easy steps and find music at appropriate challenge levels that students are excited to play. She aims to give LIYH students the foundation to enable them to play with freedom, ease and love.