Violin Lessons in Bangkok with Lawrence

Lawrence with his talented award winning high scoring student, who attained the highest mark in Thailand in 2016, in the ABRSM Violin grade 6 category.

Lawrence with his two award winning high scoring students

Lawrence receives certificates in recognition of his successful ABRSM High Scoring winning students, who attained the highest mark in Thailand in 2015 in their respective grade categories.

“When my daughter, Harriet, was told by her violin teacher of many years that he was moving back to England, she was on the verge of dumping her violin. She had just begun to study for Grade 8 ABRSM and despaired at being able to find another English speaking tutor in Bangkok. Word of mouth recommendation put us in touch with Lawrence, who with care, understanding and support, combined with his infectious energy, love of music and inspirational talent, quickly had her back to her highly motivated self. His teaching method of demonstration and meticulous instruction, has quite obviously been acquired over many years, which enables him to make constant improvements to his students through gradual incremental achievable goals. I give my permission to you, Lawrence; to use this testimonial in part or whole, in any of your merchandising material."

Dr Harvey Levin

"Our daughter Lara has been learning violin with Mr. Lawrence since Aug 2013.Prior to that; she had two violin teachers in Thailand, with unsatisfactory results.

Lara is now entering into her 4th year of violin tuition. Since she commenced lessons with Lawrence, there have been positive changes, resulting in an increase in motivation and subsequent success.

The most overwhelming development was in achieving the result of Distinction in the ABRSM Grade 4 violin examination on Nov 13, after just 8 lessons with Lawrence. Through this success, Lara has gained significant self-confidence.

Lawrence is a very passionate teacher, who focuses on the basics and the details. He challenges his students in a very friendly and fun way. He works as well very patiently with his students, to identify the most suitable and beneficial methods of achieving success, in musical performance.

I highly recommend Mr. Lawrence, and believe he will help your child to build up a solid foundation in learning violin.”

- Liyuan Chen

Learning to play the violin in Bangkok

"Whilst learning to play violin is by no means the easiest option, of all the orchestral family of instruments; with expert instructional guidance, instilling inspired student application; resultant mastery of the instrument, can; and will; accrue; delivering a rewarding experience to both player and audience." - Lawrence

Lawrence with a few of his students who all play the violin in Bangkok.

Practice

Learning violin is a fun and challenging pastime. Like everything else in life, be it music, the arts or sport; the more you put into it, the more you get out of it; and the better you become. As Gary Player the golfer once said, when asked to account for his good fortune on the course.

“The harder I work, the luckier I get!”

Regular violin practice is essential to maintain progress, and provide the inspiration to advance further. It is the job of a good teacher, to provide that inspiration.

I always tell my students who are learning to play the violin, that progressing, like maintaining fitness; is like walking up a descending escalator. If you do a little, you stand still and go nowhere. If you do none, you go backwards; but if you do a regular daily violin workout, you move forward and reach the top!

A little every day is the best way.

I recommend that beginners practice a little - often. 20 minutes every day, or better still – 15 minutes twice daily – if that is practical.

Gradually the student will develop more stamina, and will discover that they can manage; and will have the desire, to allocate 30 minutes or more, to their daily practice. This will really reap dividends.

Quality of practice

Quality of practice is what really matters more than quantity. I always show my students how to isolate their difficulties, and work on those areas especially, to derive maximum benefit from their efforts.

When practicing a piece of music, there is little value, in just playing the piece through a few times, gliding though the easy parts, and stumbling through the tough parts.

I tell students to imagine that they are cleaning the floor with a mop. There is no point wasting time cleaning the part of the floor that is not dirty. You need to work on the part that is!

Instead of spending 15 minutes playing a complete piece 3 or 4 times, they need to spend 10 minutes practicing the tricky parts 10 or 20 times over, at a moderate pace – to build control and confidence; then playing the piece once through. That will deliver much better results.

Choosing the right teacher

What are the attributes of a good teacher?

Technical proficiency on the instrument.

That goes without saying. This does not necessarily mean that the teacher has to be a renowned professional soloist and/or former child prodigy. As long as the teacher is a competent accomplished professional player, that will suffice.

The very best concert soloists do not necessarily always make the best teachers. I know – I’ve had lessons with several of them, when I was a violin student in London. They will often be teaching as a financial stop gap, between more lucrative solo employment; not necessarily because they want to – but because they have to; in order to keep themselves financially solvent.

Often, less celebrated competent rank and file professionals who are teaching as their first choice, rather than out of necessity; can, and often do; outshine them; as they love the work, and it is their chosen vocation.

I am one of that number. I am financially solvent, and teach because I want to, not because I need to.

A good teacher can empathize with their students’ challenges, in their quest to master the instrument. Some very talented performers lack this empathy, as they are unable to relate to their less talented students inability to do everything naturally in the way they could, when they were learning to play – after all – not every student is a potential violin professional. With dedication, and application however, anyone can achieve an acceptable standard on the violin, that will give them lifelong pleasure.

I can empathize with my students; as I recall such challenges that I experienced myself, when I was studying piano as a second study, at the Guildhall School in London, with a brilliant, but tempestuous impatient teacher - who will remain nameless!

The prime task of a good teacher is to inspire his/her students with an infectious enthusiasm and “can do” attitude. If that crucial attribute is missing, the student will lack motivation.

My students enjoy their lessons, as I instill excitement and motivation in them, and a desire to “please Mr. Lawrence!”

Whilst it would be most unfair to totally dismiss talented newly qualified teachers – after all, we all have to start somewhere. Experience in the field, is an invaluable attribute. An experienced teacher is not “learning on the job”, by trial and error, but continually developing and embellishing his/her already considerable, existing skills, which have been honed to perfection, over many years of teaching.

I have taught violin since I was 17 years of age. I only started learning myself, when I was 11. I have 40 years of teaching experience, having taught over 5000 students in that time. I have taught students as young as 3, and as old as 84.

A very high percentage of my students have taken and successfully passed ABRSM Examinations with Distinction or Merit.
Every student that I have presented for examination, has passed with ease.

You can be next!