Vivienne Taylor B.A.(Hons) CT ABRSM

I have been teaching violin and viola for over twenty years, both at my home in Yateley and in schools. For thirteen years I worked for Hampshire Music Service, providing individual and group violin and viola lessons in schools. Additionally, I have taught adults at my home, and have taught privately in a number of local schools. I am able to provide online lessons when it is difficult for pupils to visit for a face-to-face lesson. Many of my pupils come from Yateley, Blackwater, Sandhurst, Crowthorne, Farnborough, Fleet and Hartley Wintney.

I provide regular performance opportunities for my pupils to perform in a supportive environment. Lessons are usually weekly and 30 minutes long, although I provide longer lessons at the higher grades, and less frequent lessons for busy adults. I encourage pupils to play in ensembles, both for personal and social development, and to advance their skills.

My pupils have had success in grade exams and I am happy to accompany them on the piano. Many of my pupils play in local youth orchestras and perform within their schools. One has gone on to a career as an army musician.

Although I trained in the classical tradition, I am also happy to teach other styles of music, and regularly teach in folk and popular styles, including film and gaming music. I have entered pupils for ABRSM exams, but am also looking at Rockschool violin exams for some of my pupils. Additionally I offer my pupils lessons in Music Theory to Grade 5.

I learned the violin from the age of 8 and, as a sixth former I gained a Music Scholarship from Oxfordshire County Music Service towards my studies. While at school, I played in local youth orchestras, including Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra, and sang in Oxfordshire County Youth Choir, under Robin Nelson. I left school having achieved Distinctions in ABRSM Grade 8 violin and piano exams.

I continued my studies at Birmingham University, gaining a B.A.(Hons) in Music and Geography. While at University, I had violin and piano lessons at what is now the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where I studied violin performance with the late Jeremy Ballard, who then led the second violins in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 2006 I successfully completed the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music’s Certificate of Teaching course, in which I studied violin teaching with John Shayler (Chair of the European String Teachers Association).

I have been playing the violin in the Farnborough Symphony Orchestra for over 25 years, and regularly help out in other local orchestras. I play in the Enigma String Quartet and sing in the chamber choir Thames Voyces.