Teacher Profile: Michelle Eng
About Michelle Eng
Michelle Eng is a Violin, Viola, and Piano instructor who has always had a passion for sharing and performing music. She is deeply passionate about music and works with children and adults to cultivate a deep love for music as a lifelong journey.
Michelle began taking piano lessons at age 7, learned the violin at age 9, and picked up the viola at age 14, and continued her musical studies throughout her life. She was part of the Potomac Valley Youth Orchestra, Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra, and Maryland All-State Orchestra as a high school student and continued participating in orchestras all throughout college. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland College Park.
As a Violin & Viola instructor, Michelle believes that setting up students with a healthy foundation is essential to developing as a musician. In particular, she is very good with beginners and is very hands-on, paying special attention to small details in posture and helping to develop a beautiful playing position and tone. She is also excellent at working with students who have had previous instruction who may need some correction in their playing. Michelle uses a combination of Suzuki and traditional methods to teach and draws inspiration from violin pedagogue Mimi Zweig, her former teachers, and other violinists/violists in teaching students.
As a Piano instructor, Michelle enjoys helping students have fun and expressing themselves. Piano is a great instrument for any student learning music and there are limitless possibilities. Michelle enjoys using the Faber method to help students accomplish their goals, as well as helping them learn pieces they like. Learning piano is great for anyone, for visually understanding music, accompanying other musicians, or just for oneself.
Besides teaching music, Michelle is a big fan of video games and is deeply passionate about orchestral video game music. In 2005, she founded the Gamer Symphony Orchestra at the University of Maryland, the first collegiate orchestra solely dedicated to video game music, which has been featured on CBS This Morning and in The Washington Post. She is also a music content creator and has been featured in video game remix albums on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music and plays a 5-string electric Viper violin. In addition to traditional instruction, she can teach and advise students how to record at home as a recording artist, make YouTube music video covers, and release music albums to platforms such as Spotify.
Michelle is looking forward to sharing her knowledge and skills with students of all ages and is open to teaching a variety of genres, such as classical, rock, pop, video game, anime, and film music. Her teaching style is kind, empathetic, patient, and understanding. She is excited to be part of each student's musical journey and to help them flourish as a musician.