As we approach the end of 2023, I just wanted to send you a quick message to say a big thank you for choosing me as your music teacher this year. It’s been a really busy 12 months not least because I moved house over summer. I’ve appreciated how everyone has adapted to my new location, rearranging schedules and figuring… Read more »
Now we’re fully in the middle of our summer holidays, I thought this would be a good chance to give a quick update of the plans for the coming term. As things open up again and people feel more able to venture out of their homes, my service will get busier, but I am committed to offering the most flexible… Read more »
Like many aspects of our lives, music is difficult to define because any attempt to pin it down seems fraught with caveats and contradictions. Music is organised sound.. and so is speech. Music doesn’t require words but very often uses them. Music is often described as a universal language, but pieces from one place, time or culture can seem irrelevant… Read more »
Many of my students have been confused and perplexed by the various and changing arrangements for graded instrumental exams over the past year or so. For clarity, I have trawled through the info for the three main boards that my students enter and provide a little info for each below: ABRSM Face to face exams resume in June. From the… Read more »
I know of many piano, guitar and singing teachers in the Yorkshire area that are constantly on the look out for new students. It’s the same old phrase I hear all the time: “I could just do with a handful more pupils on the books.” I feel lucky that I rarely experience that problem, and I mostly put my good… Read more »
Last week was a really good week for my students: two have got good passes in their ABRSM piano exams – a Grade 4 and a Grade 7. I always feel really pleased for people who come out of an exam with the grade that they deserve. Especially because I remember failing a piano exam when I was a teenager;… Read more »
The closing date to enter for ABRSM’s spring exams (period 4 Mar – 6 Apr) is this Friday. So, if you want to enter an instrumental practical exam, now is the time to get your entry in. Remember, if you are a new candidate, you will first need to register with their website, and this can take a day or… Read more »
Last week I received in the post my copy of the ABRSM syllabus for (classical) guitar – a little booklet outlining everything candidates and teachers need to know about guitar exams for this board from 2019 onward. In truth, very little has changed on the guitar specification from previous years: all the exercises (scales, arpeggios etc.), sight reading and aural… Read more »
Choosing your own songs for Rockschool Vocals exams: Students wishing to sit vocal exams with Rockschool are required to purchase a book containing all the exercises that need to be prepared, plus the music and backing tracks for six songs at the specified grade. But, if you read carefully, students can actually choose to sing alternative pieces, either of their… Read more »
Today I went to Windstruments Music House to accompany my friend Matthew’s ABRSM grade 3 trumpet exam, which was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in an exam room. A bit of background: Matthew is someone I’ve known since childhood – we met at Salt Grammar School in Saltaire as we started our studies towards GCSE Music, continued on… Read more »