Teaching is a vital part of my life. Together with my students, music-making empowers me to reach new heights continuously and inspires me to nourish talent in younger generations. Music speaks from my soul and heart; my mission is to help all my students find their voices through this musical journey. –Fangye Sun
For the past ten years, Fangye has taught a studio of undergraduate and graduate violin performance and education majors at Central Michigan University School of Music. In the past 25 years of her teaching career, she has taught students of all ages. A passionate and nurturing teacher, she is dedicated to helping all her students reach their goals and full potential, ultimately giving them the tools to cultivate critical and creative thinking and to inspire and create enriching experiences during this music journey. Her students have been named prize winners at national and international music competitions (MNTA, American Protégé, Vienna Grand Prize Virtuoso, White Lake, among others), made solo appearances with orchestras, performed in Carnegie Hall, and won full scholarships to attend national and international music festivals.
Where are they now?
Abigail Huang (8th grade) Principal Second Violinist and First Violin. All-State Middle School Orchestra 2022, 2023, MI.
Grace Chae (undergraduate, U-M) Second Prize Winner at the Midland Symphony Clara High Hill Memorial Scholarship, 2020; First Violin, All-State High School Orchestra, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, MI.
Caleb Qiu (undergraduate, U-M) First Violin, All-State High Orchestra, 2017, MI.
Andrew Hatfield (BM 14) Graduate Assistant, D.M.A. candidate at Case Western Univeristy, OH.
Kayla Priest (BME 15) Orchestra Director at Muscatine Community School District, IA
Kelly VanderMolen (MM 15) Violin Faculty at International School of Music in Bethesda, MD
Stephen Lounsbrough (MM 15) Associate Pastor of Music at Evangelic Baptist Church, MI
Bingqing Xia (MM 16) Visiting Assistant Professor of Violin, Alcorn State University, MS.
Kayla Green (BM 17) Full scholarship recipient, Master of Music student at Michigan State University; Founder of the GrandStand Music Festival.
Fei Tong (MM17) Assistant Professor of Violin, Lu Dong University (China).
Audrey Hartson (BA 18) Elementary String Instructor at the Gilbert Public Schools, AZ.
Xinyu Zhu (MM 18) Section violin position. Midland Symphony Orchestra and Jackson Symphony Orchestra, MI.
Pedro Pareses (MM 20) Violin Faculty at Palm Beach Music Academy, FL.
Yiwen Zhang (MM 21) D.M.A. student at Michigan State University; Section Violinist, Jackson Symphony Orchestra, MI.
Shaonan Qiu (MM 23) Violin Faculty. Xi’an Conservatory of Music Community Music School, China.
Emma Lindahl (BA 23) Graduate Assistant, M.M. student at East Carolina University, NC.
