Artistic v Technical Teaching

As a violin teacher and a student myself, I have found that attaining the correct balance of repertoire and exercises is vital to development. Some students will require more attention to technical detail whilst others are better able to work on these aspects themselves and require more artistic direction from their teacher. Properly assessing each student is therefore key to attaining the right balance.

The reasons for learning an instrument are usually to reach a level of proficiency which enables one to enjoy playing both on one's own and with other musicians. It would be silly to suggest, however, that one must reach this level before attempting to play whole pieces or with others. The act of music making is therefore integral to the learning process and the technical exercises must merely support this and not become the main focus.

Having said this, there will be times with every student when it will be necessary to concentrate more on technical aspects of playing but the end goal should not be lost from sight: to make music. No one goes to a concert to see a violinist play through the Kreutzer Etudes.

One of the key aspects of realising this balance between technical and artistic focus is being able to select the appropriate exercises for the result desired. Spending a long time developing one's spiccato is all very well and good but won't be the most useful exercise for developing the smoothness required in the opening bars of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. There are a number of different ways in which a student can develop this and a teacher must be able to convey them. As well as being able to convey these ideas, a teacher must also be able to engender the ability of the student to be able to select appropriate technical exercises themselves. After all, there are really only two main functions of an instrumental teacher: to be a critical ear and to teach the student how to practise effectively.