Katie Simmons

I thoroughly enjoy teaching both groups and one-to-one lessons. I aim to make lessons as engaging and dynamic as possible, whilst offering challenge and fun in equal measure. I find that making lessons interactive as possible by demonstrating on my instrument, and as well as teaching music notation, I take inspiration from the Suzuki Method by including activities such as playing a note and asking the pupil to match my pitch or sound quality, to really develop their aural skills.

I aim to strike a balance as much as possible between teaching technical skills and musicality, as of course there cannot be one without the other when learning an instrument. Lessons are a mixture of teaching and demonstrating correct posture, finger patterns or body movements, and teaching and engaging a child with rhythm, pitch and melody (which can be done through different means), and then combining the two of these together. I am a firm believer in tackling one aspect at a time in lessons and gradually combining it with another aspect of playing. For example, if a student is finding a melody difficult to play, I will suggest putting the instrument to one side and singing the melody, or clapping the rhythm, before gradually approaching it step by step on the instrument.