1. How are children protected over the Internet?
Firstly, we are not anonymous – you know where we are and we can be contacted. Secondly, our teachers are only appointed after satisfactory references have been received and satisfactory response received from ‘ an enhanced data base check’ (DBS). Each lesson is recorded and uploaded into a secure data archive- this is part of our terms and conditions. We undertake periodic training with our teachers who themselves are aware of the importance of internet safety. We believe our child safety policy is amongst the best in the music teaching world.
2. Are Internet music lessons as good as music lessons in the person?
All of our students think so and their pace of learning is certainly as good as the few students we still teach with visits.
3. What am I paying for?
Pupils pay for the private teaching and preparation time of our professional teachers and our fees reflect the quality of teaching we offer. Teachers also have the cost of maintaining their own internet technology and share in the cost of supporting ‘yourspacemusiclessons website’ which brings considerable convenience, opportunity and efficiencies to the lesson experience. We know music lessons can be an expensive part of a family budget and try to be as generous as we can with our fee structure.
4. What happens when the internet breaks down?
Oh dear! – Yes, this can be embarrassing! It doesn’t happen often nowadays but when it does we just have to reschedule. On the positive side we are never prevented from giving lessons to students with chicken pox and broken legs and no-one’s ever been late for a lesson because of traffic jams or snow!!
5. Can teachers observe as much from a screen image as they would visiting in person?
Good question! If you have ever watched a concert on television with a music teacher in the room there’s plenty they will say about the execution and style of the performance. Our teachers are trained to look closely at performance and have experience in identifying and encouraging students to improve poor techniques. Once we have set the camera angle up with the student at the outset we get an excellent view of their playing throughout each lesson and it works well.
6. Is lesson time lost in adjusting cameras and microphones?
Not at all! These are done at the first lesson and after that we expect pupils to be ready with everything in place for lesson start times. There is no walking into the room, taking coats off, opening music cases and adjusting piano stools. We are well into our lessons when all that would have been done – we don’t lose packing away time at the end either. We just politely switch off !! You certainly get more productive teaching minutes from an internet lesson.
7. What is the main advantage of taking lessons over the internet?
In our experience people come to online lessons for variety of reasons including being in a remote area, lack of local teachers, a busy work or family life, the appeal of online lessons, nervousness, or a physical or mental condition which can form a barrier to traditional learning. The quality of lessons we deliver means that people can learn and achieve at the same rate of traditional lessons, and we know this because of our 100% music exam pass rate with students very often achieving Merit and Distinction. It's about great teaching, whether online or offline, and we have a fantastic team.
8. Where is the furthest and nearest you teach?
10,000 miles in Australia and 15 miles, the next village.
9. Do you think internet music lessons is just a trend that will pass?
No. Internet music lessons are now established in the modern world of music teaching. Colleges and Universities are using high speed broadband to give their top students the opportunity to have masterclasses with international musicians across the globe. On tour Concert Pianists use it to check in with their music mentors. We saw on television that Gareth Malone used it to audition singers for the Military Wives Choir. A new generation of music teacher is using high speed broadband to give private music lessons with enormous success. Young students take well to new technology and advancing software is making new and exciting things possible to satisfy the musician’s appetite to learn.
10. How good are your teachers?
We have a selected panel of different teachers all of whom are active and qualified musicians with proven teaching experience(see teacher profiles). We work very much as a family helping each other as we go including regular conference meetings over Skype, sharing each others enthusiasm for teaching and learning from each other’s knowledge of music publications and teaching practices. The range of different teachers means we can match new pupils with the most appropriate teacher and also means that pupils can make a choice to change their teacher as their interests and requirements progress. All ‘Your Space Music Lessons’ teachers want to maintain the highest quality of inspirational music teaching and work within a system of compliance and monitoring, led by our Teaching Director, to give them the confidence that our common values are being collectively achieved to uphold the highest level.
11.What happens if I don’t like your music lessons?
You just stop having them. Our introductory lessons are heavily discounted for you to try us out – if you get past them it’s because you’re enjoying your music lessons and you are pleased with the progress you are making.
12. How does ‘Your Space differ from other internet lesson providers?
There is a wide variety of music lessons offered over the internet some are excellent some are poor. The main feature with Your Space Music Lessons is that we specialise in offering music lessons over the internet and have a team of dedicated and experienced music teachers who give private music lessons in this way. Once registered, pupils can book and pay for their lessons on the website and also buy their music there. We are a friendly and interactive community of musicians. Some pupils will perform their music in our concert room and some will meet the composer of the piece they are learning over the internet for a masterclass. Your Space Music Lessons is owned and run by a family of passionate musicians where family values are extended to include all our teachers, staff and pupils. Like the best of our pupils, we continue to learn and regularly practice to improve the skills we use in striving to make Your Space Music Lessons one of the best music teaching communities there is.