Opinion: Embracing diversity in string teaching

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When I started music lessons at the conservatoire, I was barely four years old. A year later, I received my first violin. I grew up in France in the 1990s, when music education was nearly free, with only a modest annual fee of 50 euros. But education in those days was ‘serious’. Classical music, or what some called ‘sacred music’, was no joke. Everything else, apparently, was lesser or even ‘garbage’, according to one of my violin teachers.

So this is how my musical education began: rigid, upright and, above all, unquestioning. You listened, and you kept quiet. This was, at least, the Russian method employed at the conservatoire in the suburbs of Paris. And when your arm or hand hurt, you pressed on without flinching, as if it were your fault. If I was in pain, it was because I was lazy, my teacher said. I share this context so you can understand the environment in which I first learnt the violin: a toxic space, devoid of childhood and the very essence of music: freedom.

After years of suffering –passing my violin exams each year with success, but also with immense anxiety – I finally saw a psychologist because I was traumatised. I was twelve. The first thing I told him, when he asked why I couldn’t sleep, why I was stressed and what the worst thing in my life was that frightened me, was always the same: the conservatoire and playing the violin in front of old, white adults, who were often racist.

Indeed, I often received comments from these adults like: ‘What have you done to your hair? Are you on drugs? Take the hair out of your eyes.’ At the time, I had braids, and when I undid them, I had a large afro. My twin brother and I were the only ones in this situation. I quickly felt marginalised and out of place. To cope, I began isolating myself in a room to play random things on my violin, more out of rage than passion, as a way to release the frustration of being misunderstood and excluded. Occasionally, a teacher would open the door and ask what I was playing. I would say it was a piece of jazz manouche music, and they believed me.

The role of a teacher is not to impose rigid traditions, but to inspire curiosity and creativity 

At the age of 14, I broke. I experienced burnout and decided never to practise the violin again. I hated everything connected to the conservatoire, which to me symbolised racism, disrespect, fear and psychological violence. Fortunately, the same year, at my first summer jazz camp (initially meant as a distraction), I met a Romanian manouche guest artist who played the violin in a way I had never heard before. I was blown away. For the first time in my life, I discovered the violin through the lens of love. He was free. He embodied the music he played, improvising everything in the moment.

That day, I received the most beautiful gift: I realised that music belonged to no one and that the conservatoire had never held the ultimate truth. I went home and began my own quest to learn music, guided by my own tastes, dreams and desires. I spent hours every day listening to recordings of jazz, manouche music and even classical pieces, completely immersed. The violin became a tool for expressing the sounds and colours I discovered in vastly different styles.

Today, as I approach 40, I am still making music, and it has become my profession. But my journey taught me that music belongs to everyone, and the role of a teacher is not to impose rigid traditions but to inspire curiosity, creativity and individuality. For string educators, the challenge is to break free from outdated hierarchies and embrace diverse styles, and to make music accessible and meaningful to every student. Violin playing is not just about technique; it’s about freedom, self-expression and finding your voice. As teachers, we must pass that on.

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