Resilience 2020: Rachael Smart

ESTA June 2020 Report

I would like to start this report by thanking the ‘Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Fund’ for funding the bursary I received for my part time attendance at the June CPD Sessions “Resilience for a Changing World”. I have been working as a full time Upper Strings Instructor at Glasgow City Council for 5 years now. As I am still in the beginning stages of my teaching career I feel it is very important to be attending courses where I can learn from some of the best pedagogies and mix with many other Violin/ Viola teachers to gain more experience and ideas.

The highlight of these sessions for me was the very start of the first morning with Simon Cartledge where we discussed what we were doing to form rapport at the start of an online lesson and how it might differ from when a pupil comes to your house. We also discussed how some pupils are more comfortable with facing the teacher and others prefer to be facing side ways on. I found this discussion extremely useful with the current situation and it was reassuring to hear that everyone is having the same thoughts and concerns. I have come away with some new ideas to try and with more confidence for my online teaching.

I really enjoyed the fact that Simon Cartledge spoke about Paul Roland and balancing movements as it lead on so well from the Summer School I attended last year which was based on the Paul Roland Pedagogy. Simon made an excellent point about how actions should always come first and then labels will follow after. He also mentioned that he starts the balance movements right from the beginning as a foundation to vibrato, spiccato and sautille so that the movements are already in the muscle for later stages. This is something that I will be sure to always have in my mind at the beginning stages with my pupils.

I thought that Simon Cartledge had some brilliant analogies for the technique of both the left and right hands and I will definitely incorporate them into my teaching.

I particularly liked the ‘happy woodpecker’ to establish the basic left hand working from the second and third finger where you tap the third finger for a percussive effect looking for the optimum position. I am very excited to try this out with my pupils as I am sure they will really enjoy it.

Another topic that I particularly enjoyed from Simon Cartledge was vibrato. He showed us a really great exercise where you turn the bow up-side down and place the left hand fingers on the bow stick and use the right arm to teach the left arm the feeling of the movement. Another exercise we did was anchoring the thumb on the violin with no fingers and carrying out the vibrato action whilst bowing to help the right arm get used to the coordination. Vibrato is something that a lot of pupils struggle with in the beginning so it’s always useful to learn new exercises to help with this.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Q&A Session with Simon Fischer. I attended a few masterclasses with Simon whilst studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland however it was really interesting to hear him answering more direct questions. One question and discussion that stuck out for me was the use of a shoulder rest and what make to use. It is extremely difficult to find something that fits for everyone seeing as we are all built differently, therefore it’s always useful to hear what others are using and what options there are out there.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the 2020 ESTA June CPD Sessions and I am looking forward to attending many more courses in the future.

Rachael Smart