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QUINCY, ILL. -- If you see a young violinist playing at your church or at a special event, there's a good chance that young musician is a student of this month's KHQA Excellent Educator.

Robin Walden has taught violin lessons in Quincy for 28 years.

She teaches what's called, the Suzuki method.

KHQA's Rajah Maples surprised Mrs. Walden at a group lesson on Wednesday. Rajah also had a chance to enjoy her own private performance.

Robin Walden "Suzuki Method is a method of teaching all kinds of instruments, not just violin, but it started with violin, to very young students. I start them as early as age 3, and they learn. The parents are very involved, and they have group lessons and private lessons. They have the same repertoire all the way through their learning.

Walden said, "It's a difficult instrument. You have to put your fingers in the right place. You have to hear all the correct pitches. On the violin, you have to have a good ear to find a particular pitch. Plus, you have one hand doing one thing, and the other hand doing the opposite thing."

Mrs. Robin Walden's students tend to stick with violin. Elizabeth Lentz has taken lessons from Mrs. Walden for nine years now.

Lentz said, "She's very patient. If you mess up, it's okay. You can continue to work on it, it's not a big deal. The recitals aren't stressed out. I don't get as nervous as I thought I would. She's very patient and kind."

Susan Leinbach has taken lessons for 10 years.

She said, "Mrs. Walden makes it really easy to learn."

Walden said, "In this method, started by Dr. Suzuki, he said only practice on the days that you eat. I tell the students that, and they practice everyday, supposedly. All kids have talent. That's one of the premises to the Suzuki approach. They may not all learn at the same rate, but they all can do it. I've taught students who at first couldn't match pitch, but they all learned to do it, so I think they all can learn."

And those are just some of the reasons that make Mrs. Robin Walden this month's KHQA Excellent Educator.