Lorraine Chai

Session 3.6: Creating Responsible, Professional Students

Session: In this generation, as educators, we cannot always rely on parents to help students through their practice. Most parents are too busy to remember everything. Students have to learn how to be responsible from the very start on how to practice properly, be independent and confident in their ability in music. In this workshop, we will cover 7 tips and activities that we can use to help students develop independently in a positive environment to become the best versions of themselves.

Lorraine Chai is a multi-talented instrumentalist, conductor, mentor and international educator with over 20 years of experience in both private and group lessons. She graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor of Music Studies in 2008 and then completed her Graduate Diploma of Education at the Australian Catholic University a year later.

Having grown up with a musical family, Lorraine began piano lessons at the age of four, taught by her mother, and began learning the violin at the age of six, giving her first violin performance at just seven years of age. At age 14, Lorraine started teaching the violin and founded a string ensemble at her local church. From there, teaching became her passion.

Lorraine loves finding and sharing new and exciting ways where both students and teachers can learn and teach in either a classroom setting as well as in private lessons. Along her musical journey and exposure to the various educational methods including Kodaly, Suzuki, Orff, Dalcroze, and Rolland, Lorraine has also attended the Alexander Technique workshops and has found that she can integrate these various methods into her own teaching technique for the benefit of her students.

Lorraine has extensive ensemble and orchestral experience in Malaysia and in Australia. Lorraine is currently the Music Director of Stringstastic Pty Ltd and co-ordinates instrumental programmes and runs string ensembles for some of Sydney’s most celebrated schools. Lorraine is also a member of the Music Teacher’s Association, MTA NSW, and is a chapter vice president of the Australian Strings Association, AUSTA NSW.