Auckland
Violin Lessons | Viola Lessons | Ensemble Coaching, Theory Lessons, Online Lessons
Bio
My students enjoy playing the violin and the viola!!! I assure everybody a successful way of learning these instruments. I am experienced in teaching students of various cultures with different abilities, musical backgrounds and goals. I work with children, adults, beginners and advanced students. My viola tuition is more geared towards beginners.
View and read my students’ references at the bottom of the page!
I am German. I started playing the violin at the age of 5. I learned the violin in individual private lessons and joined orchestras and music groups at an early stage.
I started studying the violin at the Lübeck Academy of Music (Germany) at the age of 15. At a later stage, I started learning the viola, a very congeneric string instrument. Instructed by my professor I started teaching at the age of 16.
I am the conductor of a Gospel Choir and I am experienced in vocal education.
I have been living in NZ for 15 years together with my wife, who is a jewellery designer. In my free time, I do a lot of sports like swimming and jogging. Other fields of interest are psychology and playing chess. I love cooking and of course I am interested in any style of music!
Teaching Info
I teach the practical technique of violin and viola playing and the accompanying music theory. I tailor the way of teaching and the choice of music to the needs and interests of the student.
I introduce my students to musical interaction at an early stage and let them play musical pieces together. I work with play-along music.
I take time for my students, we often lose track of time because we enjoy learning together! I am always available for support by phone or email outside of class. I provide my students with free copies of sheet music. I support them in all other issues like finding the right instrument or fixing little damages. I offer them an instrument for a free initial test phase. I train parents in practicing with their children. I ensure progressive learning and developing the musical skills of my students.
I prepare my students for passing their ABRSM Grade Exams.
I teach my students at my house in Torbay or their home in the area of Torbay. I also teach online, which has proven to be remarkably effective for all ages and levels of experience. It is a good way of tuition and it saves students a lot of time and travel costs. Before the lesson, I send my students the new sheet music that we will play. After the lesson, I send them detailed lesson notes about what to practice, to improve and to focus on during the week. I have international online students in China and Germany.
I invite everybody for a free and non-binding lesson and if you are a beginner for your 1st attempt to play the violin or the viola!
Learn and Play the Violin – with me!
I also teach kids and adults to become confident singers, read music and develop their voices. I help them experience that singing is fun and relaxing! I enable them to participate in demanding choirs.
As a parent, I can confidently say that Thomas is an exceptional violin teacher who has had a profound impact on my son's musical education. Out of the seven music teachers my son has had, Thomas is not only my son's favourite but also mine. My son admires Thomas because he knows everything about the violin and can answer every question my son asks about it. My son loves Thomas as he has a great sense of humour, and always tells jokes to make my son laugh. This creates an engaging and fun learning environment that my son looks forward to every week. But what really impresses me about Thomas is his attention to a tailored plan for each student and his commitment to the student's progress. He keeps detailed folders for every student, including notes on their lessons and what they need to practice at home. He also takes the time to call me to discuss my son's progress and what we can do to help him improve even further. The fact that he does this free of charge and after violin lessons show that he truly cares about his students' development and wants to see them succeed. Finally, I appreciate how accommodating Thomas is when it comes to scheduling changes. As a busy kid, it can be challenging to find a time slot that works for my son every term, but Thomas always goes out of his way to help me arrange lessons with his maximum availability. This level of flexibility and support has made our experience with Thomas even more positive. In summary, Thomas is a talented and dedicated violin teacher who has had a significant impact on my son's musical education. His attention to detail, and commitment to his students' progress make him an invaluable asset to any aspiring young musician.
Sadie Hui, Whangaparaoa, 05/23
I have been taking lessons with Thomas for about 18 months now, and have improved greatly with the help of his teaching methods! I am an adult violin student who returned to the instrument after many years away. I have lessons online, through Skype, and it has worked surprisingly well. Thomas uses both effective communication and camera angles to give me the best opportunity to see and hear exactly what it is I need to be doing and I don't feel like I am missing anything by not being there in person. Thomas selects exercises tailored to my needs, interesting music literature and works with me on pieces of my choice. He enters fingerings and musical dynamics into the sheet music and sends it to me by email. He is always available for questions and support outside of class. He has significantly improved not only my technical skills but also my musical understanding. If you want a knowledgeable, encouraging teacher who will guide you forwards and take your progress seriously, Thomas is the right teacher for you.
Cheryl Williamson, Timaru (South Island), 01/23
I have been learning the violin for 6 years in online and face to face lessons. I have made excellent progress under the tuition of Thomas Grube. Besides his being very knowledgeable musically, he has a great ability to impart his knowledge. As a pupil, I have found him to be clear in his instructions, patient and good humoured. Thomas as a teacher is very conscientious and each lesson is well prepared and tailored to my needs. He is also open to suggestions and allows me to have an input into the choice of music I wish to learn. I would highly recommend Thomas to anyone who wants to learn the violin.
Andrea Tomanek, Onehunga, Auckland 10/2022
Hello Thomas, Thank your for the enquiry. We are very pleased to provide the teaching testimonials and share our experience with others. Thomas Grube is an excellent violin teacher, and a best friend as well! We feel lucky to have him to be our son's violin teacher. There is no doubt that Thomas is very professional in violin teaching and practicing, especially in teaching the young people. Our son is only 4 years old. Obviously, it requires patience and methods to teach or communicate with little child. We strongly believe that Thomas is very good at this. Even better than us. Thomas told us violin is all about happy and having fun. It is true. Because our son enjoys the violin playing. We appreciate that Thomas makes the violin lessons interesting!
Xianrui Zeng, Remuera, Auckland 03/2022
Thomas is a professional, patient and talented teacher. I went from not being able to play one note to playing the exact music that I love in a couple of years. I drive all the way from the other side of Auckland to my lessons and will not look for a teacher closer as Thomas has always been worth it. He maintains a balance of necessary hard exercises and fun pieces to always keep you interested and learning. His style of teaching has him demonstrating a technique and then helping me implement it practically into my playing with ease. I highly recommended Thomas to everyone of all ages!
Ben Gower, Mt. Wellington, Auckland, 01/2021
Thomas was introduced to us through a friends of ours when we were looking for a good violin teacher. We have been with Thomas for 5 years and found that he was serious to his violin but kind to our two little children. He could accurately point out the strength of each our children and would not hesitate to tell us their weaknesses. He emphasized on both proper skills and appreciation of music. He expected high from his students but had patience on their own pace of progress. After each lesson Thomas would summarize the lesson and gave us some home practice to deepen the learning. In general, Thomas is a violin teacher we would like our kids to learn from.
Terence Wong, Birkenhead, Auckland 09/2020
My son Edmund, 15 years old, started playing the violin with Thomas 1 year ago. He did not have a background in music at all. Over this time, Thomas enabled him to build up exemplary skills of violin playing, a general understanding of music and having fun to play the instrument. From the 1st lesson Thomas was able built up a personal relationship to our son, who enjoys visiting the lessons and who is motivated to practice. Thomas practically demonstrated the difficult movements of playing the violin and taught our son, to put them into practice. He also trained his hearing abilities to improve his intonation and our son has learned to tune the violin by himself. Apart from working with violin school books Thomas provides copies, written by himself to intensify specific techniques or chosen from other books to make the playing more interesting (e.g. Christmas songs). He also works on pieces, that our son chooses. I can highly recommend Thomas as a violin and music teacher to both children and adults.
Alvin Lu, Mairangi Bay, Auckland 10/2019
My daughter has been learning the violin with Thomas for a year now. Prior to that, she has learnt with another tutor for 6 months. I can't speak highly enough of Thomas' teaching skills and methods. Thomas Is very thorough in term of techniques, reading music and listening. My daughter had to literally unlearn pretty much everything she learnt previously because the techinques were taught wrongly or at least not corrected. Where with Thomas, this never happens. Thomas chooses pieces from wide range of books and music resources, all researched and tailored to my daughter's level in a very structured manner. Because of that, I can see the big improvement she has made since. Thomas is both professional and friendly. I would recommend Thomas to anyone who wants to learn violin, adult or child.
