I think the Principal Study side of the course, helps me become a well-rounded musician that will

have the skills to show a pupil, in any environment, the correct way to play. Within this broad area,
my one-to-one Principal Study lessons help both my playing ability to increase, but also, I can watch
some of the best teachers in the world and their methods for helping me both change the way I
practice and increase my learning speed.

I think Chamber Music helps me improve how I work with other individuals very effectively. I think to
have a successful chamber group you need to be able to create strong relationships with those
around you, which can apply to lots of different scenarios. I think learning to make those
relationships in chamber music also develops skills to make strong relationships with any musician
that I could meet in my career. These relationships can be expanded into large groups such as
orchestras, where the woodwind section often can treat a large chamber group with the orchestra. If
you have learnt to develop these skills, you can then also begin to teach them, again, in any
environment.

Participating in various masterclasses is a great way to learn new ways to approach music, as the
visiting teacher can have a very different approach to what your regular teachers may be suggesting.
I think watching a masterclass is an excellent way to notice new teaching methods from different
people all over the world to then try and apply those parts to your learning and the way that you
teach your pupils in the future.

Workshops are some of the best experiences a student can have at conservatoire, because they
often force you to be moved far outside your comfort zone and to apply yourself to a new situation.
For example, I attended a workshop on improvisation, but had never improvised before, and this
gave me a very new outlook on the subject, and it has encouraged me to pursue it and, perhaps in
the future, to teach it, as the importance of this skill has been shown to me very quickly.

In the Language of Music side of the course, I think aural skills are some of the most important skills
you can learn at a conservatoire. In terms of my own development, being able to hear my own
mistakes and correct them is probably the most important skill when you practise, and of course by
extension, as a music educator, being able to listen and spot problems and errors in any
environment, such as problems with the blend of a chamber group or in an individual’s lesson are
hugely important.

Understanding a composer’s intentions for a piece can hugely influence how to approach a piece or
how to teach it. For example, I think knowing that certain tempo words are interpreted quite
differently now in comparison to how they were when Mahler was writing his first symphony, is
important to understand when learning the piece as well as coaching a sectional rehearsal on the
music.

Finally, I think that understanding how to interact with different people from all walks of life teaches
me great adaptability in my own career. Whether it be coaching a group of adults every Sunday in a
makeshift wind band, or running a workshop for kids in a hospital, I think I have a much greater
understanding of how tailor the experience to each and every audience.