David Fallo, violin and viola Professional Studies, Manhattan School of Music M.M., Shepherd School of Music at Rice University B.M., School of Fine Arts at Boston University "I believe in developing an individualized method for each student." After ten years playing the violin, David Fallo transitioned to the viola at the age of sixteen while attending LaGuardia High School in New York City. “After playing the violin for so many years, I became more attracted to what I consider the warmer register of the viola.” David spent his collegiate career studying the viola in Boston and Houston. After traveling extensively throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle East, he returned to his roots in New York City. “There was no better place to forge a career as a teaching and performing artist.” David says of his approach to teaching, “My two main tenets of playing an instrument are breathing and posture. I believe if a teacher can instill an understanding of your own body’s rhythms through breathing, developing musical rhythm becomes second nature. Focusing on posture incorporates the physicality of adding a new ‘limb’ to the four we already have.” At Bloomingdale, David teaches students age six through adult. He believes a teacher’s main goal is to provide students with the tools with which to teach themselves. ”I believe in developing an individualized method for each student, with that student, that best allows them to feel that they are the most responsible for their progress in a manner that promotes that responsibility without pressure. David enjoys a variety of musical styles and includes Brahms, Peter Gabriel, Mahler, Elton John, Beethoven, Tupac Shakur, Bono and The Edge, Prince, and Stevie Wonder as his favorite composers and artists. “I like any musical style that’s good, and a few things that are not! I enjoy performing anything that is interesting or exciting, whether its rap one day or classical the next.” David includes Michael Mann, Martin Luther King Jr., J.D. Salinger and his grandfather as his major life influences. When he is not teaching or performing he enjoys flying aircraft, physical endurance courses, and running marathons.