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THE LATEST NEWS FROM YOUR SPACE

Music Theory Courses starting in April 2024

At Your Space Music Lessons, we are delighted to be offering a range of short music theory courses to support your practical music lessons.

Alongside practical music lessons it is so important to learn about how the elements of music really work,  including how to write notes on the stave, understanding key signatures and time signatures, musical signs and terms and chord progressions to name just a few topics. We would recommend any pupil who is well on the way with Practical Grade 2 in their instrument or singing to take the grade one theory course and continue up the grades.

 

Grade 1, 2,3, or 4 music theory ABRSM
 

Group workshops led by a teacher and using the ABRSM Discovering Music Theory workbooks.
 

The 10 week group courses are led by one of our friendly teachers and will use the ABRSM Discovering Music Theory workbook. Each session will last for 40 minutes.
 

Price £88

 

Grade 5 music theory ABRSM - Tuesday evenings 5.50pm for 10 weeks.
 

If you are at the stage of beginning the ABRSM Practical Grade 6 work in your instrument or singing, you will need the grade 5 theory qualification first!  This can sometimes seem a bit daunting but our grade 5 theory short course will help support you to achieve this.
 

The course will be following the ABRSM Discovering music theory Grade 5 workbook. 
 

As part of the package, our course leader Alex will also include the valuable opportunity to try a past paper and will mark it to give an indication of areas for improvement before taking the real exam by booking on the ABRSM website.

 

Price £120

 

Prices update 1st April 2024

On April 1st 2024 we will be implementing a slight increase in our lesson prices.

This will be £1 increase on our 30 minute lesson rate (beginner / intermediate) with all other lesson rates increasing pro rata.

We know it continues to be a difficult time for family budgets and have held off since September 2022, however we feel it is now a fair and right time to increase prices, particularly as the living wage will increase across the UK from the same date.

We hope you understand and continue to support your teacher in delivering the very best music tuition to you and your family at home.

Thank you

Your Space Music Lessons.

Single Hand Piano Syllabus Development with ABRSM

In November 2023, Olwen had an exciting virtual meeting with ABRSM to discuss the development of a brand new exam syllabus for single hand piano. She met with James Risdon - ABRSM Access coordinator and Lizzie Lung - ABRSM Assessment Development manager.

The background to this was to do with Olwen’s own experience of teaching piano to her adult pupil Dawn, who has the use of her Left Hand only after having Cerebral Palsy as a child.  It’s worth mentioning, before embarking on her journey to learn piano, Dawn was inspired by professional one handed pianist Nicholas McCarthy who, in 2012, was the first one handed pianist to graduate from RCM in 130 years! 

When Dawn started lessons with Olwen - five years ago -  she wanted to go down the typical route of doing piano exams, so for each grade Olwen approached the exam boards( ABRSM and Trinity) with her own adaptations of the syllabus pieces to ask if this could be checked by the syllabus team as appropriate to use for the grade. The exam boards were extremely helpful but it would be easier if the syllabus for one handed piano already existed!  Through this correspondence over the years,  a friendship with James at ABRSM and Rachel Wolfsohnn at the One Handed Instrument Trust (OHIT) began to grow and this led very gradually to the recent meeting about developing the syllabus.

So what happened at the meeting? Lizzie and James asked Olwen about her first hand experiences of teaching a pupil one hand piano, some of the technical challenges faced, such as the physical geography of the keyboard and how to create music with a full sound using the wide range of tones. It created a good discussion about how the skills could be introduced in stages as you go up the grades. Lizzie talked about how Nicholas McCarthy is being consulted and a list of existing piano pieces for one hand are being sorted out into grades.

‘It was a real insight into how a syllabus gets formed at ABRSM. I hadn’t realised what a thorough and complicated process it is, it has made me appreciate all the work that goes into forming a new syllabus! Lizzie told me they have also enlisted the help of participants of their composer mentoring scheme, and these selected composers have been asked to create some graded pieces for the one hand piano syllabus which is great’

The new ABRSM list of graded one handed piano pieces will be launched soon. A fantastic result!

 

An Insight into Performance ahead of Performance Week Nov 2023

We were able to catch up with professional pianist, composer and educator Alex Chisholm Loxley to share his thoughts and processes around 'Performance'. 

Your Space Music Lessons celebrates performance regularly in our Performance Week playlist where we ask pupils to contribute with a video recorded piece of music.   Together this culminates in a varied collaboration of music of different styles and levels to show Your Space Music Lessons in it's full glory - a community of remote music learners all striving and growing.

Alex has experienced concert performances at a very high level it is very interesting how nerves are seen to play a part in the performance and this is not something that can necessarily be prepared for, other than through many experiences.  Alex has worked with Your Space Music Lessons to provide advanced piano tuition online for many years and has helped to guide some incredible piano pupils along the way.  Thanks for this insight Alex!

 

 

Online Piano Teacher Kacie Rickells - Q & A

We caught up with the wonderful online piano teacher Kacie Rickells in our new Q &A video in our 'Teachers Who Inspire' series to get a bit of insight into her musical life and ask for some expert tips for in between lessons.  Some great advice here!  

If you would like to try an online piano lessons with a free 20 minute taster lesson please leave your details here and we'll get back to you to arrange

2023 Composition Challenge

‘Your Space Music Lessons’ have launched a brand new composing challenge on the theme of ‘SEASONS’.

The new competition will see their pupils writing music inspired by any one or all four seasons, exploring the opportunities and variations the theme will unravel in music. Your Space Music Lessons have a number of budding composers who have been taking part in regular challenges, who have received valuable feedback from a panel of musicians to help develop their musical ideas.

The theme of SEASONS opens up opportunities to explore different tones and contrasts in music. Entrants could reflect the idea in melody, chords, rhythmic or harmonic styles; or consider variations on a theme to represent ‘SEASONS’.

Pupils have until 31st March 2023 to produce their music in video recorded format (preferably mp4), supported by their Your Space Music teacher, and the pieces will again be judged by a selected panel.

Find out more here

Music Tuition Bursary Fund

The Music Tuition Bursary Fund is now open for applications at Your Space Music Lessons to provide help towards the cost of music lessons with our inspiring online music teaching team.

We are delighted to provide some bursary funding for music tuition at Your Space Music Lessons.  Your Space Music Lessons is a dedicated online music school which has attracted incredible teaching talent from all over the UK.  You will find teachers who are wonderful inspiring educators either music graduates or masters of music and often professional musicians in bands, orchestras and choirs.  Our teachers have been handpicked for their energetic and friendly style so that their passion for music can burst through the screen and make impactful sessions for pupils.  Our team are experts in preparing pupils for music examinations with ABRSM, London Trinity College of Music, MTB, RSL and Victoria.

There are 2 bursaries available:

-YOUTH MUSIC ACCESS BURSARY 50% bursary for young person under 16 to receive 37 x 30 minute lessons within 12 months (worth at least £342)

-ADULT MUSIC ACCESS BURSARY 50% bursary for adult 18+ to receive 37 x 30 min lessons within 12 months. (worth at least £342)

For details on eligibility and how to apply visit www.yourspacemusiclessons.com/bursaries

 

 

New Teachers Ensemble - Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

Win £100 to spend at Musicroom PLUS Lessons with Your Space

GIVEAWAY ALERT!

Get £100 to spend at www.musicroom.com Plus 3 x 30 minute online music lessons with our fabulous team at Your Space Music Lessons!

We want to celebrate Performance Week at our online music school which brings our community together with this exciting #Giveaway.

To participate on Instagram:
Visit https://www.instagram.com/yourspacemusiclessonsonline/
1. Like the performance Week giveaway post.
2. Follow our page
3. Comment to tell us your favourite music performer.
4. Tag a friend so they can get involved too.

To participate on Facebook
Visit https://www.facebook.com/YourSpaceMusicLessons
1. Like the Performance Week giveaway post.
2. Follow our page
3. Comment to tell us your favourite music performer.
4. Tag a friend so they can get involved too.

We will announce the winner here on 30 November 2022. Stay tuned...

Tom Smith (Brighouse and Rastrick Band) joins the Team

We are so delighted to share that Tom Smith is joining the fantastic brass department at Your Space Music Lessons.

As the Principal Cornet player with the Brighouse and Rastrick Band (British Open Champions), Tom is a top level brass player full of energy and expertise to help other musicians to reach their full potential. So proud to be bringing the very BEST Music Educators and experienced Musicians to you wherever you are.

Tom Smith Cornet

 

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