Calyssa

I earned both my Bachelors and Masters degrees on scholarship from the Royal College of Music studying both Violin Performance and Composition for Screen. As a professional violinist, composer and arranger, I have performed with many artists including most recently Andrea Bocelli on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, recorded numerous soundtracks for BAFTA-nominated and Oscar Short Listed feature films, television shows, pop albums, adverts, video games, and podcasts and have arranged orchestral tracks for Grammy-award winning artists. I currently hold a teaching post at a well-respected private school in south west London where I teach 1:1 lessons, coach three different chamber groups and offer music theory and aural tutoring.

Tutoring Experience

With 19 years of teaching experience, I enjoy teaching students of all ages, both privately and in schools, which has included preparing pupils for ABRSM and Trinity examinations, teaching music theory classes and mentoring students for their A-Level compositions.
During the pandemic, I adapted my teaching to fit the needs of the online spectrum including creating backing tracks for my pupils to practise along to, arranging songs for ensembles to work on over Zoom, and hold performances so that pupils, despite being at home, can still work towards an end goal each term and share it with their family and friends. After seeing the success of this type of string teaching through these online platforms, I moved nearly all of my teaching online and haven't looked back! Being online gives the students and myself more freedom in terms of scheduling, work/school and home/life balance, and provides a more achievable routine enhancing a steeper grade of improvement. I have also found that teaching online encourages more individual engagement and interaction from the pupil despite it being through a computer screen. I have also found that through the online platforms, I am able to teach students all over the world which, once we've worked out the timezones, has been an incredible addition!

Tutoring Approach

From my own experience, I understand the importance of balancing the teaching of technique, while also bringing the inherent joy of music-making to the forefront. As each student is different, each lesson from me must be different - it is my joy and my job to find out how to meet each individual pupil's needs.