Teacher Profile: Jessica Harmon

About Jessica Harmon

Jessica Harmon is a Northern Virginia based strings specialist, piano, and general music instructor who also grew up in the area. With an extensive performance and music education background, continuing the tradition of instrumental study is a life-long art and passion for her.

Jessica started playing violin in the Fairfax County School strings program at the age of nine and took piano lessons throughout childhood. Later in her school years, she started studying violin privately and went on to study music at Christopher Newport University. She completed her Bachelors of Music with a double concentration in Music Education and Violin Performance under the instruction of Yun Zheng. She then continued her education at CNU and earned her Masters of Arts in Teaching. Through her university studies, Jessica also continued learning about viola, cello, piano, and general music education to broaden her instructional repertoire.

During her time in the Virginia-Tidewater area, she performed with several quartets, as an ensemble performer at Busch Gardens and was the assistant principal violinist in the Christopher Newport University orchestra. Additionally, she performed with the Annandale Symphony Orchestra.

Her teaching experience has led her around the world. She started her teaching career in Newport News, Virginia, as a private strings teacher, a student teacher, and an instructor at Soundscapes -- an after-school music program for elementary school children. She has had opportunities to lead summer music programs in Tanzania, as well as student teach at an International School in Panama. Most recently, Ms. Harmon returned from a two-year Peace Corps service in Zambia.

Ms. Harmon is passionate about teaching all types of music. She places a lot of importance on establishing strong fundamentals on every instrument, and her educational philosophies are rooted in good technique habits and learning the language of music from the start. In addition to teaching privately, she also teaches in public schools and the classroom setting.

In her free time, Jessica likes to listen to and play folk and bluegrass music. She wants her students to develop a passion for music in their own unique way as she did and use the knowledge they learn with her to express themselves creatively.