Teaching Profile

Gwendolyn Masin is the descendant of a long line of professional musicians from Central and Eastern Europe.
Aged twelve, Gwendolyn taught her first class at the Young European Strings School of Music in Dublin, substituting for her mother (and director of the school), who woke up one morning with a raging fever and was unable to teach.
Since the age of sixteen, initially encouraged by various outstanding musicians including the pianist György Sebök, she has engaged in intensive research and development of methods for music and violin pedagogy, both for the very young as well as professional violinists.
Prior to obtaining her Teacher's Licentiate from the Royal Schools of Music London, she had already, aged twenty-one, written a manuscript on how to teach the very young the basics of violin-playing and music theory. This manuscript was revised in 2006, and comprises what is now the book Michaela's Music House. Using imaginative stories that underline the technical details of playing, the material can be adapted to suit the teaching of any string instrument. Soon to be published, the book has already received commendation by music pedagogues worldwide.
In 2003 she was accepted as a member of the Swiss Music Pedagogy Association, and has formed her own class of young students in Berne.
Gwendolyn has frequently been invited to give masterclasses for more advanced students concerning such topics as technique, interpretation, and preparation for examinations and concerts. Most recently she taught at a week-long course for young talent in Dublin at "The Ark", Europe's most renowned center of creative arts for children.
Gwendolyn's approach to teaching music to children as young as three is based on an innovative method of assessing each child's natural affinity to music and instinctive response to instruments. It also serves as a means of becoming acquainted with the physical and emotional aspects of a student. The assessment is based, amongst other specifics, on short, unassuming games that naturally engage the child and are designed to deduce eye-limb coordination, short and long term memory abilities and sound recognition.