Eun-Jin Chae was surrounded by music as long as she can remember. If her mother was not playing the piano, then classical music was playing in the background in her home. At the age of 6, she started taking piano lessons from her mother, Kyung Sook Chae. Eun-Jin realized through taking the piano lessons that she had perfect pitch. She learned how to read music as well as how to practice and aim for perfection. When she was 8 years old living in New York City, she wanted to pursue being a violinist when she saw children around her age playing the violin at pre-college division of Juilliard. She had to beg her parents for violin lessons because they were skeptical whether or not she would continue to take lessons. To show her parents that she was committed to learning the violin, she practiced 1-2 hours daily. She also wanted to excel and be able to compete against children that had started at a young age and continued to develop their talents. She attended School for Strings in NYC until her family moved to McLean, Virginia in Fairfax County.
In 6th grade, Eun-Jin joined an elementary strings class in Fairfax County, Northern Virginia, and Ms. Gardner regarded her as a “child prodigy.” At this time, Eun-Jin started to practice about 2-3 hours every day. In the summers, she attended Suzuki Summers Institute for violin and an hour of piano practice was mandatory under her mother’s instruction. During the school year, she studied with Kyung Sook Chae, Ronda Cole, and John Kendall.While studying under Kyung Sook Chae, Eun-Jin placed in multiple state and local level competitions during her high school years with violin. She has performed Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 accompanied by the Landon Symponette Orchestra in 2003. She also took a few lessons from Jenny Oaks Baker and David Salness in preparation for her violin audition for the pre-college division of Manhattan School of Music.
In 2003, she started attending Manhattan School of Music (MSM) precollege division in New York City on scholarship. She was placed in the Philharmonic Orchestra, the best orchestra in MSM. She studied under Byung-Kook Kwak, Jonathan Strasser, and Krzysztof Kuznik. On Saturdays, she remembers playing the violin as long as 7-10 hours because of her lesson, chamber music, and orchestra classes in addition to her own practice. In the same year, she shared her love for music by teaching violin to students ranging from age 3 to adult in Tenafly, New Jersey in Bergen County.
In 2005, she decided that she wanted to explore the world outside of music and attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah majoring in Social Work with minors in Ballroom Dance and Business Management. Before she attended BYU, she had never danced ballroom in her life. She credits her acceleration in learning how to dance to the values of hard work and principles of discipline she learned through years of violin training.
Eun-Jin recently moved to Knoxville, TN. She plays on a 2003 Borman Violin made by Terry Borman. Eun-Jin maintained a violin studio of over 30 students in Falls Church, Virginia (Tysons Corner area) prior to moving. Many of her students have continued to pursue music through auditions for school orchestras as well as university music programs. She reports, “My greatest satisfactions come from sharing my love for music and seeing my students grow and develop their musical talents and abilities.”
Training
- Suzuki Pedagogy Teacher Training under Ronda Cole, Mark Mutter, Linda Fiore, and Edmund Sprunger
- Have given violin lessons since the year 2003
- Attended pre-college division of Manhattan School of Music in NYC
- Studied under John Kendall & Ronda Cole (well-known teachers in Suzuki Methods)
- Studied under Kyung Sook Chae, more well-known as a pianist in the Northern Virginia area
- Studied under Byung-Kook Kwak (a faculty member at Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College of Music, and Westchester Conservatory of Music)
- Took a few lessons from David Salness (a faculty at University of Maryland) and Jenny Oaks Baker (recording artist)
Accomplishments
2004 Manhattan School of Music pre-college Division in NYC from 2003 to 2004
2003 Judge’s Prize, Washington Performing Arts Society’s Fedal Memorial String
2003 2nd Place, Landon Symponette Orchestra Competition
2002 State Level Finalist, Lions of Virginia Multiple District 24th Music Scholarship
2002 Finalist, James C. Macdonald Fine Arts Scholarship Competition
2002 2nd Violin Section Leader, All Virginia State Orchestra in 2002 (ranked 5th)
2001 Finalist, Helen Inbar Arts Foundation Music Competition in 2001
Orchestra Experience
2003—2004 Manhattan School of Music Precollege Philharmonic Orchestra
2002—2003 Washington Korean Symphony Orchestra
2002—2002 2nd Violin Section Leader in All Virginia State Orchestra
2002—2003 Northern Virginia Regional Orchestra