Information About Emily - Oban teacher

Personal Description:

I am Emily and I grew up in Argyll, Scotland. I love the Scottish landscape and all it has to offer, especially sailing and hill walking. I also absolutely love Scottish music. After completing my degree in Psychology I realised that, although I found it fascinating, it wasn’t what I loved so I started to think about alternative plans. This led me to a college course in Oban called Maritime Skills, where we do all of the professional qualifications needed to work on boats and sail further afield safely.

I now live in a boat and van with my boyfriend James, based in Argyll but love to travel around the West Coast of Scotland

I wanted to play the fiddle since before I could remember, and when we moved to Scotland (aged 6) this became totally doable. At first, I played a more classical mixture of violin/fiddle – completing up to Grade 5 violin and Intermediate 2 music. I was also part of a fiddle workshop, who only played by sheet music.

At home, I was very lucky to be surrounded by a musical family who shared their love and enthusiasm about folk music. They also encouraged playing music with other people. It was at this point that I started to play by ear, and realised what a useful skill this was when playing with other people and so I moved to a fiddle workshop which taught only by ear. Through this I got to play in the Argyll Rhapsody, organised by Capercaillie, and win Gold at the Mod as part of the fiddling group.

Tutoring Experience:

I have been teaching people to play by ear for a few years, but recently decided to do it officially and started a music tuition buisness with my brother, who teaches the guitar.

I have worked with children and adults.

I am a member of the PVG Scheme.

Tutoring Approach:

All my fiddle lessons will be taught online, by ear. There will be a focus on folk music, in particular Scottish Music, learning practical tips and tunes rather than musical theory, although the lessons can be tailored to suit your needs and interests.

Playing by ear is the traditional way of playing folk music, especially in the Scottish Gaelic culture where songs are passed down from generation to generation. As well as making it so much easier to play with other people, it also gives you a better ability to make the song your own as you play.

The tune is broken down into manageable chunks, and taught by playing phrase by phrase and you echoing back. One of the common themes of lessons will be looking at “fiddle sound” and what can be done to improve this. Including, common grace notes and other common features in Scottish music.

New to playing by ear?

Teaching people how to learn by ear is one of my favourite things to do, it is so rewarding. I am a firm believer that everyone can learn to play by ear with a bit of help and lots of practise. Learning to play by ear is just like learning any other skill, such as learning to read music, and it is so worth the effort. We will start slowly with some phrases, alongside some exercises etc to help train your ear. As the lessons are tailored to you, we can adjust to help you best learn.