Private Cello Tuition, Zoom lessons & Masterclasses
Private tuition, consultation and masterclasses for individuals, schools and colleges.
From private tuition and consultation cello lessons in Shaftesbury, to visiting consultations and masterclasses in schools and colleges both nationally and internationally when on tour.
If you want your child to be taught the cello privately, Emily’s patience and expertise can help them along their way in the enjoyment of playing the cello but she does have a limited amount of pupils.
Parents are always welcome to stay, observe and take notes as the knowledge they gain will help when it is time to practise at home.
Private lessons are also available on Zoom (since April 2020)
The zoom platform actually provides a surprisingly effective way to teach the cello and I have been enjoying teaching in this way with twice monthly lessons with student of all ages and abilities since the advent of Zoom during the Covid19 pandemic crisis. Zoom is useful for avoiding a long drive and enabling international consultation lessons.
Testimony (April 2024) – Zoom cello lessons (regular basis)
Thinking of taking up the cello in later life but may be feeling hesitant, timid or shy? . Had lessons at school many years ago, forgotten most of it but would like to take it up again? With expert tuition and confidence building from Emily, you will not only quickly master or regain basic skills but go on to reach higher levels of musical achievement. Yes, it takes patience and determination but Emily’s inspirational teaching gives all the encouragement needed. Emily is highly recommended from one who has been returned to the cello after 50 years. In three years of lessons with Emily, I have re-learned eight years of tuition at school and far surpassed my previous level. I now thoroughly enjoy cello playing, and look forward to my lessons for themselves and not as the bonus of avoiding the needlework class.
Masterclasses June 2020 with the international cello masterclass given to young cello students of the Yew Chung International school Hong Kong.
Testimony – Zoom consultation lesson leading to regular lessons from (April 2020)
Emily is an inspirational, encouraging and supportive teacher. Prior to the Covid19 crisis and subsequent lock down she taught me in person and now my weekly lessons are on Zoom. She is always able to demonstrate exactly how I can improve my posture, bow hold and technique to create the best sound possible even though my playing is not yet very advanced. Emily sets me new challenges every lesson and this motivates me to perfect my technique between lessons. I have found it rewarding to have progressed so far with Emily and am confident that she will be able to encourage and guide me to realise my playing ambitions in the future.
For lesson enquiries please send an e mail to: emily(at)emilyburridge.com
Teaching technique
Emily expertly prescribes technical studies to help in the development of the muscles in the hands and arms on route to a strong and flowing bow hold and fit left hand fingers.
In both private and consultation lessons Emily typically observes a pupils technique and quickly composes a technical passage or suggests technical studies to help in the development of technique.
Posture
correct posture is crucial in creating a beautiful rounded tone on the cello.
Emily was fortunate to attend posture consultation lessons with the late Jean Gibson, an extraordinary individual knowledgeable in the field of the relationship between correct posture and good ability (along the lines of Alexander technique). Emily was also very lucky as her first posture consultations at the young age of eleven corrected her tense neck and shoulders and aided her playing development enormously.
Fourteen years later and a professional cellist she returned for consultation with Jean who insisted that Emily stayed on to observe the issues being resolved in other musicians. This was a crucial time of development in Emily’s insight of the relationship between correct posture and tone.
Emily’s Musical Education
Emily received a privileged musical education. She commenced learning the cello at the age of five and when she was eleven years old she was awarded a music scholarship to Wells Cathedral School where she studied with Raphael Wallfisch and Margaret Moncrieff and received regular master classes with the late Amaryllis Fleming.
On leaving Wells she continued to study with Amaryllis through having gained a scholarship to The Royal College of Music, London. Following the RCM she further studied under the tutelage of the eminent teacher William Pleeth.
Over the years she has carved a niche and developed a reputation for working outside of the usual association with the cello as a classical instrument, however she benefited greatly from an intensive and solid grounding in the classical repertoire and her career has included working within orchestras, chamber groups and solo recitals performing in all the main London concert halls.
As well as learning repertoire, Emily actively encourages the art of improvisation.From a young age, she displayed a talent for improvising as well as reading music and her ability to improvise has expanded her career as a professional cellist.
The art of improvisation helps an individual establish their own identification and means of expressing their emotions through the instrument.
Teaching Testimonials – Private Cello Pupils:
Emily has been teaching cello to my 9 year old son for five months. He started as a complete beginner with no previous cello experience and is loving every moment of his lessons. He comes away from his sessions with Emily feeling inspired and motivated – he chooses to play his cello without needing to be reminded because he is excited about what he is learning.
Emily is patient and enthusiastic and makes lessons fun – she says that music is about ‘playing’ not ‘practising’ which definitely goes down well in our house! And this enthusiasm crosses over into other areas too, which I’ve found really interesting – his piano teacher was keen to know what had changed with him because suddenly there has been a real improvement and excitement about piano lessons.
I highly recommend Emily as a cello teacher – she has high expectations of students and puts no limits on their ability to achieve which is incredibly empowering for a young musician.
Thank you Emily!
“Emily’s lessons are fun and refreshing. She is enthusiastic and helps Issy improve with constructive criticism, which is motivating for Issy!”
For private tuition & consultation cello lesson enquiries please e mail: emily(at)emilyburridge.com
Private consultation lessons and performance preparation for ABRSM exams
Appropriate for intermediate and advanced pupils. Having listened and observed Emily generally advises on posture and prescribes studies so that they relate to the particular technical demand of the piece of music. If requested she can advise on alternate fingering and bowing.
With her years of performing expertise Emily can advise a pupil in mental preparation for performance and improve performance in an ABRSM examination environment .
Testimony – Consultation lesson
A short account on bow hold ;
Emily has done a great job in improving my son’s cello bow hold. She is quick and accurate in diagnosing his problem, made him understand the optimum bow control by demonstrating to him the interconnectedness between the fingers and thumb as well as how best they should occupy the bow to allow the flow and flexibility. My son has also benefited from the bowing exercises Emily has prescribed which are designed to harness the concept and building up the muscles of his fingers and thumb. He has found the sessions spent with Emily both inspiring and fun. Thank you Emily!
Testimony : Consultation Cello lesson
Approach to Prelude of the G major suite by JS Bach
“As a mature student who started the cello late in life my two-hour consultation lesson with Emily was just what was needed when I started looking at the Bach suites. The Prelude of the G major Suite was proving challenging for me but with her patient help – annotating the score for easier fingering and demonstrating bowing patterns – it has made the task much more manageable” Lucy, Prelude G major suite by JS Bach
Private tuition in learning to read music and basic theory
A composer in her own right she also provides tuition in learning to read music and understanding basic theory and this can be integrated into a cello lesson for a beginner.
Improvisation
As well as learning repertoire, Emily actively encourages the art of improvisation. This allows an individual to establish their own means of expressing their emotions, through the practise of learning the instrument.
For private tuition & consultation cello lesson enquiries please e mail: [email protected]
Public Masterclasses
Due to Emily’s extensive experience in the cello repertoire and performance she also gives group classes in interpretation and performance preparation.
21st October 2023 St James’s church Shaftesbury.
A lovely day ahead of Bach suite explorations sharing insight in interpretation and performance preparation.
In wishing to participate please send an e mail to admin(at) emilyburridge.com stating which particular Prelude or dance movements you would like to work on. Spaces are limited and thirty-five minutes will be allocated to each person participating.
In 2020 due to Covid19 international masterclasses on the Zoom platform were instigated. Commencing with the Yew Chung International School Hong Kong
Masterclasses are a wonderful opportunity for cellists to learn in a group and broaden their understanding of interpretation of a piece of music.
However, at the Barnard Castle International Guitar Festival Emily was asked to give a masterclass to guitarists! From the perspective of a cellist she gave advice on the interpretation of the guitar arrangements of the Bach Suites!
Testimony Master Class – Barnard Castle International Guitar Festival.
“I recently attended a masterclass by the ‘cellist Emily Burridge. The class was aimed at classical guitarists and specifically those playing transcriptions of Bach’s cello suites. This was an enlightened idea. These works are played almost as core repertoire by many guitarists and in my experience very few of them really listen to cellists playing them, let alone have the opportunity to be guided by one. This was also a new experience for Emily, but it was immediately apparent that this event would be a real success.”
“She understood that not every aspect of the cello could or should be aimed at by the guitarist, that this is a different instrument capable of less, and more. Phrasing particularly came to the fore, with the cellist typically being more adventurous than the average guitarist. This, I think, was a revelation to some of the guitarists who thought they were already using rubato effectively. I think that, for a change, it was good to have the constraints of technique stripped away in this situation. It was just music and communication with no distraction. Emily is a very fine player of Bach. Her passion cuts straight to the heart of the music. This is something that we guitarists could learn from.” Luthier Philip Woodfield.