Teaching

MY busy performance schedule means that I currently have relatively little time to devote to teaching the cello, although I still find time to take the occasional lesson myself with renowned local cellists. One never stops learning!

Teaching can be as rewarding for the teacher as the pupil, as one is constantly encouraged to re-examine one’s own playing and to discover fresh approaches to the instrument. Thus teaching is very much a reciprocal process. I believe that,
above all, it is important to be open-minded rather than prescriptive and
to recognise that every person is unique, as are their goals and the
support and guidance required to fulfil them.

I adopt a holistic attitude to learning and teaching that encompasses not
only the act of playing of the cello but is an attitude to life as a whole, in
which the cello may play a role of varying significance to any given person.

To this end I am also a pupil of Alexander Technique, which gives one the
means to maintain or to restore (where lost) the “good use of the self”
in general living. Observing the principles of Alexander Technique means
that one adopts a positive and healthy approach to all activities — not
only playing the cello — and helps to avoid the patterns of misuse
(bad habits) which limit one’s creative freedom and which can
often develop into more widespread problems in later life.

So, for me, learning the cello requires developing a technique
of playing which does not interfere with good use of the self
but instead evolves naturally from it.

In this way, one can respond far more effectively to the
technical and musical challenges of any given work, not
least by enjoying the adaptability that such an attitude
naturally engenders.

I have included information on my Links page to further
reading on this subject if you are interested in finding
out more.

If you are interested in learning the cello, I will be very
happy to offer what advice I can on how to get started and
may be able to offer tuition too, or to recommend teachers in
your local area. If you have any questions or wish to get in touch,
please visit my Contact page.