London Violin Studio

I've been meaning for quite a while now to start a small teaching studio, and I finally have. It's a fascinating process; totally different from performance in some respects, but quite similar in others. Obviously everything is couched in terms of how it benefits the student, but I have to say I really do enjoy the process as well. It seems true what people say; as soon as you begin to teach, you instantly become more aware of yourself during practising. Therefore, it's more noticeable when you find yourself doing things which you've guided your students away from.

Of course age and experience is not on my side (or perhaps you could say it still is, depending on how you look at it...), but already I find myself trying to find a way of imparting information in a way I wish I had been taught at an early age. Specifically, I hope to encourage rather than criticise failure as a means to success, create a completely organic student-driven learning environment (not forcing them to change things they're not ready to change, but guiding them there socratically), and reach a stage with more advanced students where I eventually render myself completely obsolete by teaching them to teach themselves. Surely, common sense tells me, this last point is the most crucial aspiration for any effective teacher? It still startles me when I come across teachers who bludgeon information into their students' heads as if it is some kind of Gospel Truth. But I suspect, in the Age of Google, where information finds its own level, that those kinds of teachers are increasingly becoming anachronistic dinosaurs.

Anyone London-based with an interest in violin lessons may like to know there are still a couple of places remaining in my London Violin Studio. Read more at:

http://www.londonviolinstudio.com/