Jane has over 20 years experience of teaching the violin. She is passionate about playing and teaching, aiming to inspire students through fun, engaging lessons. Her teaching style is tailored to suit the individual needs of the particular student that she is teaching. On the whole, most children that she teaches are keen to work towards taking ABRSM (or occasionally Trinity) exams therefore this tends to be the focus of the lessons, with a period of time in between exams spent on developing areas of technique and learning some more general repertoire. Her exam pass rate for her students is 100%.

Some adults that she teaches prefer to play for enjoyment alone, therefore she facilitates the development of technique through setting exercises, scales, arpeggios and studies alongside working on pieces which they often choose themselves (provided they are of an appropriate standard).

Jane specialises in teaching classical music, however, she also has experience in teaching folk and popular music.

When teaching beginners she prefers to start them off without using notation using a Suzuki-style approach, as well as using methods and techniques from the Paul Rolland pedagogy; she then gradually introduces notation once they have developed a sound basic technique.
She is keen to use methods and techniques from the Paul Rolland pedagogy when teaching students of all ages and levels.

To get the most out of Jane's teaching it is recommended that you have 30 minute lessons every week for beginners up to about Grade 4 level, and 45-60 minute lesson every week for Grade 5+ level. It is also essential for making good progress to establish a daily practice routine of 15-20 minutes for beginners, 20-30 minutes for Grade 1-3, 30-40 minutes for Grade 4-5, and at least 45-60 minutes for Grade 6+.

In the first lesson, Jane establishes what the student would like to gain from their lessons, whether this is working towards exams or simply playing for pleasure. She might then ask the student to play a few lines from a piece they know well and have been practising recently (unless of course they are a complete beginner). Following on from the first lesson she makes short term and long term goals for each student which help her to plan the lessons every week.

Lessons take place either at Jane's home in Barnstaple or online, at the student's choice. Students should bring their instrument, any music they have already as well as a pencil, rubber and small note book.

Jane has many years experience of teaching the violin (and viola) to both children and adults, having started her career in 1994. Since then she has worked for the Croydon Music Service (1996-97), the Staffordshire Music Service (2000-2002) and in a number of primary and secondary schools, including West Buckland School (North Devon's leading Independent School) since 2006 and ongoing. In addition to this she has taught numerous private lessons at home to both adults and children. She also taught online lessons to most of her students during the lockdowns (2020-2021) and continues to offer this option to students. Her experience includes teaching beginners right through to ARSM Diploma level.

Jane is constantly striving to develop her skills as a teacher. Last August(2022) she gained the Level 1 Endorsement in Paul Rolland String Pedagogy whilst attending the ESTA Summer School, and she has participated in numerous Benedetti Sessions for string teachers (live and online) since January 2020.

Violin playing has been Jane's main passion from the moment she started learning it as a child, and music has always played a very important part in her life. She gained a Grade 8 distinction on the violin at the age of 15, and then went on to do a Bachelor's Degree in Music at Oxford University. During that time she had some violin lessons with Simon Fischer in London.
She has played in orchestras and string quartets throughout her life, and has been co-leader of the North Devon Sinfonia (winners of the BBC competition: 'All Together Now- the Great Orchestra Challenge') for a number of years now as well as being a first violinist in Devon Philharmonic Orchestra.

If you'd like to learn more about having lessons with Jane, send a message via the button on this profile.