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. 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 (426KB). My Piano Teaching Ideas are drawn from my experiences as a Suzuki teacher. I have made a number of recordings for my pupils to listen to. 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. I am also an ESA teacher trainer and have taught on the Suzuki teacher training courses in London and Galway (Ireland). A number of my articles have been published in various music, teaching and psychology journals. A few years ago 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 (468KB) on Learning the Piano: Teachers’ attitudes to parental involvement. My powerpoint presentation, Learning the piano: attitudes to parental involvement, arose from my research. My newly published 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 with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, the European Union Youth Orchestra and the European Union Baroque Orchestra. She has recently performed two seasons of Mozart's Don Giovanni at Glyndebourne with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment and now performs frequently with the OAE. Last year she gained a first class honours degree from the Royal Academy of Music. She is a level 4 Suzuki cello teacher and a level 2 Suzuki double bass teacher. She teaches cello and double bass in Cambridge and London. See more on her website: Pippa Macmillan.
