We all know that instrumental teaching can be quite an isolated job. Whether you teach from your own home, hire a studio or work in education establishment you are likely in most instances to spend lots of time without the support of other professionals that teach your discipline. Many are also in teaching not by design but merely because they stumbled into the profession via a multitude of routes. As a result, quite a few professionals involved in the mixed world of instrumental teaching find themselves badly prepared and resourced for the very job thing they are doing on a daily basis.

Music College can be a great place to hone your skills on an instrument, university can also provide that opportunity and develop your broader musical skills to a higher level too. Both provide a great grounding for various aspects of the music profession, but few seem to prepare their alumni to teach instruments effectively. Indeed some provide weekly input in how to teach the rare students that can be categorized within the gifted and talented spectrum of the instrumental world, yet very few cater for teaching those to whom both musicianship and learning in a specific way does not come naturally. This leaves many graduates entering the world of portfolio careers where an element of teaching is bound to be encountered, inadequately prepared for the job at hand.

Others entering the complex world of instrumental teaching may not have even come to it with the educational advantages that the conservatoires and universities can offer. Many stumble in to teaching from other careers; perhaps due to redundancy, having a family or possibly the search for a less stressful way of life – best forget that, there must be easier and more secure ways to earn a living!

Instrumental teachers from either of the above categories may have come into the profession under the misapprehension that the only skill you need to be able to teach an instrument effectively is the ability to play it well yourself, or not so well in some cases! How wrong can they be!

Therefore it is vital that opportunities exist for high quality training of inexperienced teachers. It is with this in mind that ESTA Education have developed their suite of professional qualifications directly beneficial and specific to instrumental teachers.

The first of these qualifications is the ESTA Education Certificate for Music Makers.

The Certificate for Music Educators (CME) is a programme of professional development aimed at anyone teaching music. It is validated by Trinity College London, at the standard of GNVQ level 4. The ESTA Education CME is specifically tailored to the needs of the instrumental teacher, making it very different to other CME courses available in the UK.

It is essentially a one year course with the provision of an extension of up to two years, if needed. For further details on the course including course dates and costs visit https://estaeducation.co.uk/esta-cme/

The ESTA Education CME is currently only open to music teachers’ resident and practicing within the UK.

The second of these qualifications is the ESTA Education Post Graduate Certificate.

The ESTA Education PG Cert. (String or Piano Teaching) programme is at postgraduate level, being mainly taught online. Designed to fit alongside other teaching commitments, it will enable you as an instrumental teacher, to take a fresh look at the way you approach your work, no matter the context. Applicants should have at least a couple of years teaching experience and a range of students that they are currently teaching. The awarded level seven Postgraduate Certificate is a unique qualification for the teaching profession.

For further details on the course including course dates and costs visit https://estaeducation.co.uk/esta-pg-cert-course/

The ESTA Education PG Cert. is open to music teachers’ across the globe but the course is delivered in the English language, so a high proficiency in English is essential.

It is a rule of nature that the most beautiful things arise from the simplest processes. Snowflakes arise when water vapor comes into contact with a tiny speck of dust, forming an ice crystal. Flowers eventually bloom to attract pollinators and hence, reproduce. Auroras are just charged particles from the sun colliding with gas atoms in the earth’s atmosphere to emit light.

Similarly, it is and will always be a wonder as to how merely bowing and plucking a few strings can produce symphonies that are so sweet-sounding and mellifluous.

There is geometry in the humming of the string. – Pythagoras

From the high-pitched sounds of the violin to the low-pitched notes of the double bass, stringed instruments have carved a niche for themselves in country music, jazz, orchestral music and many other styles.. Other primary members of this family include the viola and the cello – all four with a unique sound.

Short/Tall – The Violin

If one of the greatest scientists of all time, Albert Einstein, acknowledges that the most joy in his life has come from his violin, it is no surprise that this instrument is potent. Both Bach’s ‘Chaconne’ in the 18th century and Lindsey Stirling’s 21st century creation ‘Crystallize’, use a wide variety of violin techniques old and new – and both are unimaginably beautiful. The violin is usually played using a bow made of wood and horsehair and is designed in a manner that reduces the possibility of accidentally drawing the bow against more strings than intended. The violin as we know it has been around since the early 16th century.t. It has been rightly said that when you play a violin piece, you are a storyteller, and you are telling a story.

Grande – The Viola

Quite like the confusion that arises between a Starbucks’‘tall’ size and their‘grande,’ the viola is often found shouting out ‘I am not a violin!’ from its resonant depths. With a slightly larger body, heavier strings and ability to play lower-ranged and deeper notes, the viola differs, rather imperceptibly to a non-melomaniac, from a violin. Whilst a violin uses the treble clef, a C-clef called alto clef is chiefly used for the viola, due to its lower range. While it is not used as much in folk music, it is definitely prevalent in pop music (read: Havana by Camila Cabello and Hello, Goodbye by The Beatles).

Venti – The Cello

Around 50 inches in length and played while sitting, the cello aucasinosonline.com/ca/ is even larger and is tuned lower than the viola by one octave. Pablo Casals, a Spanish cellist, said that a cello is like a beautiful woman who has not grown older, but younger with time – more slender, more supple, more graceful. Some of the most renowned cello pieces of all time include Bach’s Suite no. 1, Beethoven’s Sonata no. 3 and Bruch’s Kol Nidrei.

Also, while Russia may be known for its Matryoshka dolls, Leo Tolstoy, vodka, and much more, it also gave us one of the most celebrated cellists of all time – Mstislav Rostropovich.

A 2007 study on the effects of different musical timbres on skeletal muscle cells showed that cello sounds have the best effect on these cells, indicating that they are similar to the human voice and can hence be useful in musical therapy.

Trenta – The Double Bass

A wise man once said that it’s the bass that makes them dance and a wise woman called Meghan Trainer, in 2014, once said that she was all about that bass. Jokes aside, the double bass is the largest and longest-stringed member of this ménage. Key to every orchestra, it is also featured in music genres ranging from rock and roll to tango and blues.

In order to play this instrument while sitting in a chair or putting it under your chin, you’d have to have a 52 inches high chair or a double bass from the island of Lilliput, so most bass players use a high stool – like a bar stool – or stand to play.. Funnily, despite being large in size, it is not as loud as other string instruments due to its ability to produce extremely low-pitched sounds. And that is what makes it indispensable.

“In life’s orchestra, the bike is the double bass. Hard to forget it.” – Paul Fournel

Stringed instruments are an integral part of creating music, the power of which is inestimable. A melancholy Tuesday morning, a lazy Sunday evening, a crazy Friday night, in the bus, in a movie, while walking down the street, in your room, while eating in a restaurant, during heartbreak, during a moment of celebration and during life with whatever it brings – music will always uplift and ameliorate. So, go find the stringed instrument that suits you best and sway in the glory of notes strung together as harmoniously as ever!

Please feel free to reach out to us and we promise you, Music will bring much more to you that you would anticipate.

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