Ask the Teacher - Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider

Who are your students?

All string players on the bachelor’s degree course at the Royal Danish Academy of Music have my one-semester course in string pedagogy. They are around 20 years old: very talented and focused. At this point they have realised that they need to be excellent instrumentalists and they practise a lot. They are focused on themselves but I try to make them see how fantastic teaching is, not necessarily at this point in their lives but at some time in the future. I felt this was my chance to design a course to help them understand that teaching is a blend of performing, of getting to know oneself better and of being able to communicate. I hate the fact that we’re put into the boxes of being a performer or orchestral player or soloist, because musicians have to be able to do everything.

Are some people naturally good teachers?

There will always be a few in the group who are born teachers. I see it in their eyes, and in the way they interact with the children who come in to play. It is very obvious.