Information About Jessica May - Battersea teacher

Personal Description:

I am a violin teacher based in South London, working with private pupils and schools within Wandsworth, Lambeth, Greenwich and Croydon.

I graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music with a degree in Classical Violin Performance and have over 6 years teaching experience across London and the South West.

I pride myself on my enthusiastic and approachable personality, and passion for string performance not only within classical music but also across a wide range of genres including folk, jazz and popular music.

Alongside my teaching work, I am a solo and orchestral violinist, composer and session musician, working with popular music producers to bring orchestral and string elements to their work, with music released on major labels including Polydor, and plays on BBC Radio 1 and George FM.

Tutoring Experience:

My teaching experience encompasses a wide range of pupils of varied ages and abilities from beginner to Grade 8, from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Over the last 6 years of teaching, I have built up a huge variety of repertoire and teaching methods suitable for all ages and learning abilities, working to inspire and engage pupils while developing excellent technique and listening skills.

I currently work both privately and across schools in South London as a violin teacher, for Lambeth, Greenwich and Croydon Music Services. I bring with me extensive expertise and training from my colleagues at the music services, building upon their decades of experience developing the strongest and most inspiring teaching methods for string playing.

Tutoring Approach:

My main approach to teaching music is that it should be fun and rewarding, and I encourage pupils to express their own musical interests so that I can adapt my teaching to include repertoire within lessons that they are passionate to learn.

My confidence and versatility as a performer translate to my teaching style where I pride myself on my approachable and enthusiastic personality, incorporating both classical and cross-genre repertoire. My teaching methods combine aspects of Kodaly and Colourstrings methodology with a focus on the development of a pupil’s inner listening and rhythmic skills, using Sol-Fa, body percussion and a range of set pieces to inspire and encourage everyday practice and build an all-round understanding of music.

I also have additional music theory, body percussion and keyboard skills which I use to assist learning, dependant on a pupils' needs. Through my work as a composer and recording artist, I am also skilled in music technology and sound recording and can provide lessons in these subjects or incorporate aspects of sound recording into learning.