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Tomoko Iwamoto

Teaching Philosophy

 I want my students to think of music as their lifetime companion and mastering the violin takes a lifetime of dedication. In order to achieve this, I always encourage my students to have long-term, medium-term and short-term goals in mind. Thinking 10 years from now, will you be playing in a youth orchestra? How about 5 years from now? Will you be attending a chamber music camp? How about 1 year from now? Will you present a home recital to your family? Then, what needs to be done this week? Finally, what about today with daily practice? Working in this manner, I guide my students to break the large goals that at first may seem unattainable into smaller and smaller pieces until each step is mastered.

Biography

Tomoko Iwamoto is a versatile violinist, composer, and educator whose career spans both performance and teaching. A faculty member at Brookline Music School since 1993, Tomoko’s educational background includes jazz composition and arranging at Berklee College of Music, jazz performance with Matt Glaser, and classical violin with Sharon Leventhal and Jun Ishi. She completed her Suzuki teacher training with Donald Becker at the Suzuki Institute of Boston.

After performing with numerous orchestras and classical chamber ensembles, Tomoko shifted her focus to be a “jazzy” violinist. She performs with groups representing styles from rock/pop, folk, jazz to world music, demonstrating a great sense of improvisation. She leads a gypsy jazz quartet “440” featuring her virtuoso violin playing and creative compositions and arrangement. In recent years, Tomoko joined with Women In World Jazz as a guest, and performed with a legendary clarinetist, Billy Novick in swing jazz trio “Jazz Tapestry”. She also collaborates with Jim Kweskin, the founder of the legendary 1960s Jim Kweskin Jug Band. In the fall, she will travel abroad to appear as a guest performer at Django Festival in Portugal. 

Through her dual roles as educator and performer, Tomoko Iwamoto continues to enrich the musical landscape, inspiring students and audiences alike with her passion for music across genres and styles.

Degrees

B.S. Keio University, Tokyo; 

B.A. Berklee College of Music, 

Suzuki Certification through Suzuki Institute of Boston