Pedagogy Certificate Program

Components

• Summer Symposium 2025 (July 14-19)

The Till Project Summer Symposium is an immersive in-person or online week-long program held each July focusing on the Till Approach—its core principles and application to easeful, expressive playing; injury prevention and recovery; orchestral playing; and pedagogy. Attendees (including professional players, educators, and amateur players) benefit from intensive study of the approach as well as the opportunity to build connections within the Till Project community. The Pedagogy Certificate program will start at this year's symposium, and program participants will have an orientation series as part of their schedule.

• Winter Symposium 2026

The Till Project Winter Symposium is a 4-session online event held one weekend each winter. The event typically has a narrower focus than the Summer Symposium (e.g. solo Bach, Don Juan, Bow Shaping) and continues to explore the application of the Till Approach in all areas.

• One-on-One Lessons

Growing in one's personal understanding and mastery of the principles of the Till Approach is essential to communicating and demonstrating the principles to students. Participants will have two lessons per month with a Till Project faculty member throughout the duration of the certificate course. These lessons will reinforce the topics covered in the course, as well as be responsive to individuals' goals. Lessons will be scheduled directly with the faculty member.

• Practical Assessment

Participants will demonstrate their knowledge of different aspects of the information in their own playing and show how this information is experienced in their own body.

• Sunday Seminars

These seminars form the core pedagogy study of the course. Seminars are 3-hour online sessions held one Sunday each month throughout the duration of the certificate course. (The December session is 1 hour.) Participants and faculty explore the basic pedagogy of the Till Approach in-depth, teaching practices and philosophy, and developing curriculum. The information is fully adaptable to all ages, levels, and arrangements of teaching. A detailed seminar-by-seminar list of topics will be shared closer to the start of the course.

• Lesson Observation and Mentoring

During the course, participants will video record themselves teaching four times (individual student, small or large group, in person or online are all acceptable). Following submission of the video, participants will meet one on one with a Till Project faculty mentor at a mutually agreed upon time to discuss the lesson. The purposes of this mentoring are to help participants reflect on their teaching, explore solutions, and plan for future teaching.

• Free 1-hour Workshops

Throughout the year the Till Project hosts free 1-hour webinars focused on a specific topic (e.g. forearms, thumbs, shoulders, shifting). Participants hear from Till Project faculty on the topic from the perspectives of technique, injury, orchestral playing, and pedagogy.

• Observing Till Approach Teachers

Participants will design a varied 20-hour program of observation of Till Approach teachers in the US or UK (online, in-person, or a combination). The program should include a variety of levels and settings, including one-on-one teaching of adults and children, group teaching and injury recovery.

• Individual Preparation, Research, and Reflection

Prior to each Sunday Seminar a document of preparatory materials for the upcoming session will be sent to participants. Included will be applicable Till Approach technique video links, vocabulary, and personal reflection and/or research questions.

• E-Portfolio

Throughout the course participants will collect their written and video work in an online platform. A list of specific documents/videos to be included will be shared closer to the start of the course. Completion of this portfolio is a requirement of the course.

Monthly Schedule

Seminar Topics

Core Principles (Technique)

• Core Principles 1 or 2 (Summer Symposium)

• Till Approach Videos

Technique Pedagogy

• Body Awareness

  Left Arm

• Falling Up + Fundamental Forearm Rotation

• Holding the Instrument

• 4 Axes + Left Arm Gym

• Standing Fingers

• Fingers Going to the Point of Sound

• Fingerboard Maps

• Playing Fingers: The Incremental Steps

• Mapping

• One Octave Scales & Arpeggios

• Vibrato

• Early Stage Rotational Technique

  Right Arm

• Holding Mechanism

• Moving Mechanism

• Walking Hand & Arm + Martele

• Right Arm Gym

• Bow Shaping

• Friction Equation

Principles of the Learning & Teaching Environment

• The Till Approach teaching environment

• Steering vs. Obedience

• How things look vs. How they are

• The eyes are the window to the brain

• Speed of progress vs. Strong foundations

• Dangers of relaxing + glossary of alternative words

• 5 Causes of pain & injury

• Building sustainable careers

• Slow burn orchestral rehearsals for student musicians

Curriculum

• Sequencing teaching/learning

• Open string repertoire

• Stages of reading notation

• Using the Till Approach with existing books

• Using the Till Approach in various environments