PUPILS' ACHIEVEMENTS

"I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit"

John Steinbeck

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Why do I teach?

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Playing the violin or any musical instrument is a very special thing to do. Most people learn to read, write, count etc but not everyone can play music. Therefore for a child to have this skill is very fulfilling and extremely empowering. A lot of children in your child’s class will probably be equally strong or stronger at academics or sport but your child might be the best violinist in their class or the whole school which helps form their own confidence and identity. Another factor that makes being a strong musician empowering for your child is that it’s ageless. It’s one if the few skills that your child is likely to be able to do better than (for instance) their parents and other figures of authority in their life. Apart from beating you at MarioKart/ Fortnite of course!

Every pupil is an individual so even if I teach them in exactly the same way as another pupil, the results will be different.

Every pupil has their own characteristics meaning the possibilities as well as challenges in teaching are endless. This means that I am always learning from these varying challenges and possibilities and therefore constantly improving as a teacher and violinist. This of course can only happen with an engaged and curious approach from both teacher and pupil. Presuming this, we can never get bored even if we seem to be repeating the same thing again and again.

How do I teach ?

Everyone is a result of their personal experience and my teaching is also shaped by this. I’ve been playing the violin more or less every day since the age of three and teaching the violin just about every day since I was a student at the Royal Academy of Music, when I began assisting my teacher at the time with some of his talented younger pupils. I believe what I took most from those years was ultimate care, respect for the music and instrument, fellow pupils, the teacher and for technique. 

However well one is taught by their teacher(s) one will always have the opportunity to develop from the point that they stop having lessons.

Since I stopped having lessons I’ve gradually developed clearer and clearer methods to achieve (what I believe to be) the best way to play and teach the violin through my own creative process. Unfortunately for many musicians the opposite can happen if an alive and curious approach is not kept (or perhaps hasn’t been encouraged by their teachers).

Over time I’ve developed many more of my own technical exercises in an effort to clarify certain universal difficulties in violin playing which I teach and share with my students.

I have developed my own unique bow hold exercises, bowing exercises, finger exercises, string crossing, shifting and vibrato exercises to help pupils to develop strong reliable foundations to encourage free expressive playing.

It is also so important to have an understanding of which type of scales, etudes and repertoire to use at each and every point in a pupils' development. So often I hear a prospective pupil playing pieces they really don’t have the technique to play or with such basic problems that are stopping them from getting near their true expressive and technical potential.

What is my main teaching aim?

To help each pupil reach their true potential. This can only happen if they’re taught to think and listen independently which are exactly the two qualities that so often are not developed sufficiently.

How does one do this in 21st century London?

As a driven teacher I have to realise that there are many pressures on the average pupil and it's a constant balancing act to try to help each student manage their schedule to allow optimum results on the violin. Many of my students have to balance the demands of a high performing academic school which makes life very busy and I try to be aware of this. But I do expect my students to be super organised with their schedules so that maximum practise time can be utilised on a daily basis. If a child is a student at a junior music college or vocational music school then they've already decided to take violin at a more serious level therefore quality and quantity of practise must go without saying. I always expect a student to arrive fully prepared for a lesson, just as I come fully prepared to teach every day for every one of my students.

Quality or quantity?

Of course both are needed but a high level of focus is required to learn the violin both in practise and lesson time. If quantity is lower then the level of focus becomes even more crucial.

What drives one to make the necessary effort?

Competitions, scholarships and careers all have their ways of motivating us but ultimately the only thing that drives the most effort is the love of the art of violin playing and music making. Everything else is a bonus.

Yours, and the audiences, prize is the ability to make amazing music on an incredibly expressive instrument. 

I just want to play for fun!

You can have fun in the playground. Playing the violin is hard work. It can be fun, extremely rewarding and even life changing but that doesn’t come for free (like playing in the park). Without a sufficient level of dedication playing the violin is most certainly not fun! 

Am I the right teacher for you?

First thing to do is to book a consultation lesson and everything stems from there. Then we need to be also to agree on a suitable lesson time(s) that suits both our schedules. 

Some of my pupils are aiming for a concert career, some not. The main thing I look for apart from ability is the level of interest and dedication. 

Is playing the violin good for you?!

When playing the violin the brain is used in an extremely complicated way because of the continual challenge of controlling and training both hands as well as the arms doing totally different physical tasks. This paired with a high level of thought and listening creates a huge challenge for the individual, perhaps more so than with many other instruments where the hands are doing more similar jobs. 

Therefore compared to academic or more purely physical work we're using far more areas of the brain than usual. This has been shown to be extremely good for our brain and overall development and can hugely complement other areas of academic study.

It’s no coincidence that good musicians tend to succeed well in most areas of study as musical discipline helps us to be motivated, organised and artistically aware.

Lastly it is so important I make sure that when my pupil leaves their lesson that he/she knows exactly how and what to practise at home. There’s little point giving a great lesson but the pupil feels unsure or lost in their home practise. Each student has different needs in this regard but I try to be as clear and instructive as possible.

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"A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?"

Albert Einstein

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