about the teacher
I started playing the piano at home when I was four or five, making up songs and working out chords. When I started lessons with a traditional piano teacher I clearly remember being told not to look down at my hands on the keys any more, but look up so I could read the music. In doing so I feel that I lost that creative connection with the instrument.
I progressed through the exams, passing ABRSM Grade 8 when I was 15. But I could never just sit down at a piano and play without having sheet music in front of me.
Many years later, when my children started showing interest in the piano, I was reluctant to find them a teacher. I knew I didn't want them to learn the way I had and someone suggested Suzuki. I liked the sound of it and found a teacher in South London where we lived at the time, and my son started lessons.
Every lesson was a revelation! The method made so much sense to me, with its carefully structured repertoire so you learn a new technique with each new piece. And learning each piece by listening and repeating (instead of reading) means that you have a whole repertoire of beautiful music that you can sit down and play from memory. This was how I wished I'd learned to play the piano.
When we moved to Pewsey and I couldn't find a Suzuki teacher nearby, I decided to join the teacher training programme. I qualified as a Level 1 teacher in 2016, passed Level 2 in 2018 and will begin training for Level 3 in August 2019.
It's such a privilege to be able to share what I've learned with my students, and show them how simple it is to make beautiful music.
Yael Bradbury
Pewsey, January 2017
(updated August 2019)