My Violin and Viola Teaching Philosophy
My experience as a violin and viola teacher has developed into passion and personal commitment to fostering positive learning environment for students with various backgrounds, maximizing individual student performance and inspiring student interest in music and art. I found that by approaching students individually I was able to unleash their true musical potential as well as to inspire the search for deeper understanding and appreciation of music they perform. By individual approach I mean working with the specific goals of my student, and devising the comprehensive step-by-step plan to achieve these goals. For instance these steps may include: learning necessary skills and techniques, performing stylistically diverse repertoire and preparing for important auditions and competitions.
Throughout my career, I have devised a teaching method, which incorporates the best accomplishments of Russian, European, and American violin and viola pedagogy schools. I have integrated original teaching systems of French Rudolf Kreutzer and Pierre Rode, German Ludwig Spohr and Carl Flesh; founders of Russian violin school Leopold Auer and Jan Hřímalý; and founders of American violin school Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay. In combination of these methods, I developed flexible teaching system of my own, based also on my experience as a performer and educator.
I discovered that genuine keen interest to the process of learning is the main tool of personal artistic development. Therefore, in my teaching practice I use motivational exercises and assessments that promote interest in self-development and personal growth of my students. As an example, I apply mind training systems described by Don Greene (“Fight Your Fear and Win”) to help my students in overcoming stage anxiety and stress connected with public performances. I also employ Timothy Gallwey’s concept of natural learning using the vast resources of intuitive subconscious mind (“Inner Game of Tennis”). These systems proved to be very useful in preparing my students through the various stages of professional development, including orchestra and college auditions, solo and chamber music competitions, lecturing and recital preparation as necessary steps in their degree completion.
To finalize I believe that the classical music world requires more profound integration with the contemporary social entertainment and education systems. Classical music is capable of finding more opportunities to collaborate with the harmonious artistic environments. As a performer, I have conducted my own experiments with the fusion of arts. One of them was performance of Bach’s Six Sonatas and Partitas with projected paintings of religious topics to visualize the listening experience of the audience. The project proved to be very successful, which confirmed my faith in synthesis of arts as an important way of development for the classical music. Therefore I always encourage my students to stay open for emerging opportunities and dream big.
– Oleg V Bezuglov, 2015