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Jenny Macmillan
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Biography |
I read music at Huddersfield and became a conventional piano teacher offering private tuition. After seeing a demonstration by Anne Turner, a pioneer of the Suzuki approach to piano in the UK, I trained as a Suzuki teacher in the 1990s. I now teach exclusively by the Suzuki approach and have a thriving teaching practice of pupils aged from 3 to 18. I also direct a Suzuki piano teacher training course in my studio in Cambridge. The article What is interesting about Suzuki? summarises the essence of the Suzuki philosophy. Its ten key principles are listed.
I have written a Notebook for Suzuki Piano Teachers. My Piano Teaching Ideas are drawn from my experiences as a Suzuki teacher. I have made audio recordings of most pieces in the Suzuki piano repertoire for pupils to listen to. And I have videoed short tutorials on each piece in books 1 to 4 of the repertoire. I give lecture/demonstrations nationwide with ideas for piano teaching, ideas for group lessons, and about the Suzuki approach to music teaching, all illustrated by performances from my pupils. As an ESA teacher trainer I have taught on Suzuki teacher training courses in London and Galway (Ireland). A number of my articles have been published in various music, teaching and psychology journals. In 2003 I completed a master’s course in Psychology for Musicians at Sheffield University. During the course, I undertook a research project into the role of the parent in the teacher-child-parent relationship and wrote a dissertation on Learning the Piano: Teachers’ attitudes to parental involvement. My powerpoint presentation, Learning the piano: attitudes to parental involvement, arose from my research. My book Successful Practising: A handbook for pupils, parents and music teachers draws on my experiences as a student, teacher and parent. My own three children all learned piano by the Suzuki approach, briefly with Anne Turner and Amanda Martin, then with Kevin Smith, and all achieved grade 8 by their mid-teens. They performed six hands at one piano at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, and the Purcell Room, London, as well as playing the Mozart Triple Piano Concerto at the University Concert Hall, Cambridge, when they were 10, 12 and 14. My daughter, Pippa, was also a Suzuki cellist, and by the age of 13 had achieved distinction at grade 8 on double bass, cello and piano. She played double bass with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, the European Union Youth Orchestra and the European Union Baroque Orchestra. She gained a first class honours degree from the Royal Academy of Music, then studied for a masters in historical performance in New York at the Juilliard. She is a qualified Suzuki cello, double bass and piano teacher. She has performed regularly with orchestras such as the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment, including several seasons at Glyndebourne, and with conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner. Pippa teaches in London and Cambridge. She is now a core member of the Baroque orchestra, Tafelmusik in Toronto. |
Qualifications and Career |
Qualifications
1977 BA(Hons) in Music 1977 FTCL in Organ Performance 1984 LRAM in Piano Teaching 1998 Dip ESA (Diploma of the European Suzuki Association) 2003 MA in Psychology for Musicians Institutional memberships 1982- Member of European Piano Teachers’ Association (EPTA UK) 1990- Member of British Suzuki Music Association (BSMA) Career summary 1980-1993 Traditional piano teacher 1981-1986 Secretary to UK Council for Music Education and Training 1984-1986 Secretary to International Society for Music Education 1993- Suzuki piano teacher in St Albans until 1995, then in Cambridge 1996-2006 Regional Organiser for EPTA Cambridgeshire 1997-2000 Member of EPTA UK Management Committee 2002-2007 Member of BSI School Committee 2004-2007 BSI Instructor 2007- ESA Teacher Trainer 2010 Published Successful Practising: A handbook for pupils, parents and music teachers 2013- Director of Cambridge Suzuki Training: Suzuki piano teacher training course in Cambridge, and now online Events organised 1996-2006 Termly events for members of EPTA Cambridgeshire 1997-2006 Annual EPTA Cambridgeshire Piano Festival 1998 EPTA Cambridgeshire event on Suzuki Piano Teaching at King’s College, Cambridge 2001 EPTA UK One Day Conference PIANO LIVE at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (co-organiser) 2001-2006 Annual Cambridge Piano Weekend at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (co-organiser) |