13 June 2008; London International Music Show 08 - Education Day

10-15 August 2008; ESTA Summer School 2008

13 June 2008; ESTA goes Electric at LIMS!

For a flexible and clinging bow hold try the image of "skiers knees following the contours of the mountain side."

For a flexible bow hold try the image of the suspension in a car or aeroplane, absorbing the bumps and landings.

For a straight bow stroke, try making the bow do "tight rope walking" on the bridge.

"Monkey up and down the stick" wakes up right hand fingers. Try to keep thumb flexed and the bow vertical.

For a drooping violin try the remonstrance " Santa's beard! "

For drooping arms try the remonstrance "roast chicken!" (Trussed limbs)

For drooping arms imagine that you are an angle-poise lamp, and that your arms stay up with no effort at all.

Try reversing the roles and getting your pupil to teach you and correct all your bad habits!

Do it six times again because it was right.

Amateurs practise until it is right. Professionals practise until it can't be wrong

Make your bow last a minute. You won't make much sound, but you'll improve your control, confidence and bow hold.

Always know the names of the notes you are playing, don't just play by ear.

When you have three repeated notes, try and make each one sound different.

To keep restless feet still, rest wrapped Easter eggs or round chocolates on the feet, (to be eaten as reward).

A cello and bass vibrato preparation exercise: tap up and down the fingerboard with a loose fist.

As an aid to shaping the phrase, try saying, "show me your high note!"

A rolled up £20 note threaded through the strings at the back of the bridge makes a useful mute (£50 better still!)

A pencil end rubber can also act as a useful grip for tight bow screws.

Suggested padding for a right thumb tip that is sore, or slips through (1) A thick rubber band wound round several times,

Suggested padding for a right thumb tip that is sore, or slips through (3) A trimmed baby bottle teat or bookkeepers' rubber fingerstall.

Suggestion for sore right hand thumb tip (4) Don't squeeze and watch out for the tell tale dent!

For a sweaty right hand, sew a chamois leather glove to slip neatly and tightly over the frog.

The main advantage of a really good technique is that it gives you the freedom to listen to yourself.

Always check that your breathing is relaxed - it's essential!'

Your bow should be like a living animal - always moving, changing, listening out for what's going on around it'.

Spend a week practising without your instrument. Each day find a different way of doing this.

The foundation of good tone is the imagination.

If your fingers feel stiff, start your practice with scales on the piano. They loosen up much better this way.

For thorough knowledge of any passage or shift, practice going there and back.

Bad habits are formed extraordinarily quickly, and are then extraordinarily hard to correct. Beware!

Physical contact is a dangerous thing these days. Always say "May I?" before touching a pupil.

Teach the easy before the difficult.

Teach the thing before the sign.

Teach one fact at a time, and the commonest fact first.

Leave out all exceptions and anomalies until the general rule is understood.

In training the mind, teach the concrete before the abstract.

Proceed from the known to the related unknown.

Call in the understanding to help the skill at every step.

Let the first impression be a correct one: leave no room for misunderstanding.

Never tell a pupil anything that you can help him discover for himself.

Shift like chewing gum!