Online · Google Meet
Online private lesson
$49.99 / 60 min
$10 deposit, or pay in full
Book a lesson
Private violin lessons that connect
what you hear to what you play.
Your ear can learn this.
You know the feeling.
You can hear it.
You know the melody. Maybe you’ve sung it under your breath, or heard it a hundred times.
Can you find it?
When you pick up your instrument, finding those exact notes can feel like a completely different skill. That’s because it is.
Play what you hear.
Hearing a melody and finding it on your instrument is its own musical skill, and it can be practiced, developed and strengthened.
How it works
From what you hear
to what you play.
- 01
Hear
Listen to what’s really happening: where the melody rises, falls and repeats.
- 02
Find
Locate it on your instrument. The first note, then the movement.
- 03
Understand
Know why what you’re hearing works, so it sticks.
- 04
Play
Turn it into music with your own hands: rhythm, phrasing, expression.
- 05
On your own
Work out the next song without someone handing you every note.
Private lessons
1:1 Play What You Hear lessons.
Bring a song you actually want to play. We’ll work on hearing it, finding it on your instrument, understanding what you’re hearing, and turning that into something you can play, without making you dependent on someone showing you every note.
60 minutes Online or in person
In person · North Port, FL
In-person private lesson
$54.95 / 60 min
$10 reservation deposit
Book a lesson
Joseph Bobay
I kept coming back to the same thing.
I started violin when I was nine, with lessons. Outside of lessons, I spent hours putting on recordings I liked and working out what I was hearing on the violin.
After doing that over and over, I started noticing patterns: when a melody moved up, when it dropped, when something repeated. Playing by ear became another part of how I make music.
Playing by ear doesn’t replace musicianship. It expands it.
Violin is my instrument and where my teaching starts. The skill itself isn’t limited to violin.
More about JosephHear it for yourself
Watch the method in practice.
Ear-training examples and the thinking behind the approach, on Joseph’s YouTube channel.
What do you want
to play?
Bring it to your first lesson.
Book a lessonA self-paced course is in the works.