A couple of years into my first cello-teaching job, I went to visit my former cello teacher in Harrogate: Pauline Dunn. I was trying out a new cello and wanted her opinion. When I finished playing to her, aware that I was out of practice, I was taken aback when she said: “I like your bowing.”

“Well you taught me how to bow”, I said, but she pointed out that my bowing was more flexible, relaxed and producing a better sound than the last time she had heard me. I wondered how it could have improved as my cello practice had just been ticking over since my final degree exam and I had spent most days teaching beginners. Then she really surprised me, saying: “it’s because you’ve been teaching”.

It was then that I started to realise that teaching had reciprocal benefits: all that time thinking about the bow hold, analysing and explaining the mechanics of coaxing a sound from a string and showing children how to practise, had had the effect of improving my own bowing technique!

The more I had thought about how to facilitate my students’ learning, the more I had developed as a musician, consolidating my knowledge and skills. This ‘self improvement’ effect forms the basis of a useful teaching technique: ask a student to teach another student how to play a particular phrase and it is actually of benefit to both students. Have you ever experienced explaining something and afterwards thinking: “I didn’t know I knew that until I explained it”?

So for anyone thinking that teaching is going to harm their performing career, think again. You may find it has the opposite effect and enhances your musical performance.

Believe in your students’ potential and they will blossom. Enjoy teaching and you will blossom too!