With such a wealth of talent amongst the Your Space Music Lesson team, we felt this year we should produce a piece together. Silent night is a wonderful carol that translates all around the world at Christmas time with scope for broad instrumentation, such a simple tune that everyone can enjoy. We commissioned Your Space teacher Kacie Rickells to arrange the carol for all the instruments that are taught at the school and for all teachers to receive their own personalised score for the piece, to be played precisely at 90bpm. What resulted was a wonderful warm sound full of interest across all instruments. We are proud to be able to bring our teachers together in such a way to showcase their expertise and our community. We hope you enjoy listening to it!
Latest News
THE LATEST NEWS FROM YOUR SPACE
Professional pianist, composer, educator Alex Chisholm Loxley will be leading 2 special workshops at Your Space Music Lessons in November. Firstly a piano sight-reading workshop for those looking to improve their technique and break down any mental blocks. Alex will provide helpful tips about the process in a friendly and insightful session.
As a prolific composer Alex will also be covering Piano Composition for pupils looking to engage in music writing on this instrument. As a stand alone workshop, or as a support to the new Composition competition, Alex will provide interesting ways to develop your ideas and themes into a complete piece.
Piano Sight-reading Workshop
Monday 8th November at 6.30pm - pupils should contact us to express interest
Piano Composition Workshop
Monday 15th November at 6.30pm - pupils should contact us to express interest
Please click to find out more and register for workshops and courses
We have teamed up with Normans Musical Instruments to provide a range of entry level beginner instruments to rent. Our passion at Your Space Music Lessons has always been about accessible music tuition and we appreciate the cost of an instrument at the outset can be a barrier for some. Together with online lessons, which can be taken at home, and the availability of affordable musical instruments we hope this service will help families looking to encourage and nurture musical talent. Your Space Music Lessons has worked with Normans Musical Instruments on a number of occasions and can wholly recommend their instruments and service. To take up a rental scheme you will need to apply the Your Space Music Lessons school reference:NRYSPL
For more details visit our instrument rental page.
Our very own Peter Edge and one of his Your Space pupils are performing in a fundraising gig on Sunday 27th June! As a new member of the UKs National Youth Music Theatre, Charlie is encouraged to fundraise for other children to have bursaries and to help pay towards the cost of theatre productions.
He is being brilliantly supported with his band Crows & Arrows and Peter. After 10 hours of online auditions, Charlie has been offered the part of Billy in Billy The Kid with the National Youth Music Theatre company! He will be performing in August 2021 at the Michael Croft Theatre, Dulwich, UK.
Charlie was encouraged to audition for the theatre company back in March which initially required 3 self tapes of him singing. Round 2 was a 5 hour workshop audition having learnt various scrips, songs and dances for Billy the Kid and a new commission called Henrietta. He was delighted to be asked to final rounds which required self tapes of more singing and dancing followed by 2 separate audition workshops. During these he was tested not only for what he had prepared but also impromptu performance skills in singing, dancing and acting. Whilst a huge amount of hard work and effort, Charlie says he loved the auditions as they were both fun and relaxing! He is now learning the script and preparing the dances and songs ready for the 2 week residential rehearsals in Seven Oaks and a week in London just before the 4 night show is staged.
Here's a little teaser to get you in the mood....
And most importantly.... Here's how to tune in
Date: Sunday 27th June Time: 3.25pm
TO WATCH THE LIVESTREAM
There are two ways to do this:
1) By clicking on this YouTube link.... https://youtu.be/gUZrB8SZ5B8
2) By going to our Crows & Arrows YouTube Channel (please subscribe to us!) using the link below, where you will see all our videos posted, including the Livestream when it starts.
https://www.youtube.com/
TO WATCH THE RECORDING AFTER THE EVENT
After the stream has finished it will also be available on our channel to watch later. You can use either of the links above to do this.
And finally, it's not too late to donate! You can do so at: https://www.justgiving.com/
The recent Mars landing has been incredible to watch and has inspired us to launch a new composition competition - ‘Perseverance'
The ingenuity of the NASA team and the latest robotic technology involved will allow this rover mission to discover the hidden secrets of the red planet, which has already brought new images, videos and sounds to Earth for us. What else will they find, what will the atmosphere be like, will they find signs of life?
The theme of ‘Perseverance’ can be used in many ways for our composition competition. You could explore the 273 million mile journey of Perseverance from Earth to Mars, and describe in music, the very final stages of breaking through Mars’ atmosphere and the critical moments of landing the rover primed for exploration. Perhaps if you participated in our Moon Rabbit composition competition you can continue and develop your musical theme as you move to another planet? Or perhaps you would like to use the theme Perseverance to musically describe your experiences of living through a Pandemic and imagining the moment you experience social freedom again.
The way you represent the theme is entirely up to you, you can be as creative as you wish to let your imagination run wild in your music.
Do you like listening to jazz, but have never tried playing? Or do you think that classical musicians can't play jazz, but would like to give it a go? Or maybe you don't know what jazz is, but are intrigued to find out more? Then this is the perfect event for you! All levels and instruments are welcome - the only things you need are a curious mind and desire to learn something new!
The Jazz Club will be held on the 19th June 2021 at 6pm. Choose your favourite jazz piece or play the easy jazz piece that will be made available numerous weeks before the event. During the event we will all have a look at the given piece and how to do some basic improv. Satchmo by Kenny Baker will be played to get us in the groove and inspire our inner jazz player!
For some inspiration have a listen to:
- STRASBOURG/ST. DENIS - ROY HARGROVE
- HAYBURNER - COUNT BASIE
- IT NEVER ENTERED MY MIND - MILES DAVIES QUINTET
- BIRDLAND - MAYNARD FERGUSON
- MY BABY JUST CARES FOR ME - NINA SIMONE
- MISTER MAGIC - GROVER WASHINGTON
My name is Risa, I'm 17 and I play the trumpet and piano. As part of my work experience I have been invited to join the team to get an insight on what they do. I first started learning the trumpet online when I was 13. I had just moved schools and was no longer able to have face to face lessons the way I used to. I loved playing the trumpet and couldn’t bear the thought of giving it up so we looked for an alternative that would fit in with my busy life. At first, I was unsure of how online lessons would work, but it quickly became like second nature. My teacher can demonstrate exactly what I need to do as if he were in the room and even though in the early days we sometimes had some wifi issues things have really improved over the years.
Learning the trumpet online as an advanced student has been really fun and also very rewarding as I have been able to continue my growth as a musician throughout the whole of lockdown. I’m just preparing to take my Grade 8 exam – slightly later than I’d hoped, but I’m definitely feeling ready. My teacher has helped me develop more skills as a jazz trumpet player, which is very important for me as I play lead trumpet for NYJO Jazz Ensemble. On top of this I have really built my 
confidence when improvising and playing in my higher register! I love the fact that I don’t have to spend time travelling to and from lessons - I can use the time to practise or do some school work instead. This is especially useful now I am in the Sixth form - as an international baccalaureate student I have to take 6 subjects. Although I am not studying music at school it remains a big part of my life and I am doing Maths, Physics and Art projects which all have links to music!
Your Space Music Lessons offers loads of opportunities, such as the performance clubs and theory lessons. Look out for the up coming events and composition competitions!! I have found the performance clubs so fun and really useful, you get to see what other students have been learning and doing. It is really inspiring to hear everyone play.
The great thing is that I have been able to continue with the same trumpet teacher for the past 4 years and I have made brilliant progress from grade 3 to 8. When I go to uni, whether it’s in the uk or abroad, I will definitely continue to develop my musical skills with Your Space Music lessons!
Your Space Music Lessons have just announced their latest ABRSM Music Theory courses and registration form. Each course will cost £88 for 10 weeks (or you can select just Part 1 of the course for £44). Payment will be requested once we have confirmed we have enough numbers to run the course.
The courses are hosted on Zoom and a link will be sent to all participants to join the sessions hosted by a Your Space Music Lessons online teacher.
For each course you will need to purchase the relevant ABRSM Music Theory Workbook here
Grade 1 Made Easy! For Adults and Juniors
- Tutor:Olwen Macleod
- 10 week course
- Tuesday evenings 6pm duration 40mins starting on Tuesday 26th January 2021 for 10 weeks.
- On registering we will ask you to purchase the grade 1 ABRSM workbook which will be our point of reference throughout the Between week 9 and 10 there will be the optional opportunity to do a past paper which will be marked by the workshop leader by the 10th class.
Grade 2 Made Easy! For Adults and Juniors
- Tutor:Erin Sproston
- 10 week course
- Wednesday evenings 6.15pm duration 40mins starting on Wednesday 27th January 2021 for 10 weeks.
- On registering we will ask you to purchase the grade 2 ABRSM workbook which will be our point of reference throughout the Between week 9 and 10 there will be the optional opportunity to do a past paper which will be marked by the workshop leader by the 10th class.
Grade 3 Made Easy! For Adults and Juniors
- Tutor: Alex Chisholm Loxley
- 10 week course
- Thursday evenings 6.30pm duration 40mins starting on Wednesday 18th March 2021 for 10 weeks.
- On registering we will ask you to purchase the grade 3 ABRSM workbook which will be our point of reference throughout the Between week 9 and 10 there will be the optional opportunity to do a past paper which will be marked by the workshop leader by the 10th class.
Grade 4 Made Easy! For Adults and Juniors
- Tutor: Emily Neagle
- 10 week course
- Saturday Mornings 11am duration 40mins starting on Saturday 30th January 2021 for 10 weeks.
- On registering we will ask you to purchase the grade 4 ABRSM workbook which will be our point of reference throughout the Between week 9 and 10 there will be the optional opportunity to do a past paper which will be marked by the workshop leader by the 10th class.
Register for a place on the Theory Courses page here
Thank you to everyone who has been inspired by Moon Rabbit enough to write a piece of music dedicated to it. We hope you have enjoyed focusing on this project to produce such brilliant pieces, well done to you all.
Our Composition Competition for 2020 is on the theme of Moon Rabbit or Jade Rabbit,a mythological rabbit who lives on the moon in Far Eastern Folklore. Whilst the story originated from China there are many variations of the story including from Japan and Korea. We would like you to find out about this story and think about how you can use this theme to create a piece of music or a song to tell the tale.
Winners:
Sam Byrd (10 - 15)
Muhilan Kanagarathnam(16+)
Here are all the pieces for you to listen to:
From January we will be offering a range of music theory courses based on the ABRSM theory grades. We can offer a course on any theory grade from 1 to 5 so long as there is a minimum of 3 participants. So please do register your interest with us if there is a particular theory grade course you are looking for. See below the outline of two theory courses starting on 5th/7th January run by Alex Chisolm Loxley and Olwen MacLeod. Please book your place by the end of December.
Grade 3 theory made Easy! For Adults and Juniors
- 10 week course
- Tutor:Alex Chisholm-Loxley
- Thursday evenings 6pm duration 40mins starting on Thursday 7th January for 10 weeks. The cost is £88. Minimum 3 participants.
Topics covered:ledger lines,time signatures, major keys with three sharps and flats, triplets, minor keys with one sharp or flats, grouping notes and rests, intervals, composing four bar rhythms.
On registering we will ask you to purchase the grade 3 ABRSM workbook which will be our point of reference throughout the course. Between week 9 and 10 there will be the optional opportunity to do a past paper which will be marked by the workshop leader by the 10th class. If you are intending to take the actual ABRSM online Theory exam, the date is Tues 16th March and our 10 week course leads up to this date. (The ABRSM booking period for entering is 1-8th Feb).
Piano Star Theory Club for young children
A fun angle on the basics of music theory following the colourful ABRSM 'Piano Star Theory' book specially designed for young children.
- Pre grade 1 theory for 6-9 year olds learning to play piano
- 10 week course
- Tutor:Olwen MacLeod
- Tuesday evenings 6pm, starting on Tuesday 5th January for 10 weeks. The cost is £70. Duration 30 mins. Minimum 3 participants.
Topics covered: you will learn the basics of rhythm, pitch, dynamics and articulation
On registering we will ask you to purchase the ABRSM piano star workbook which will be our point of reference throughout the course. The same type of course is available for Grade1, 2, 4 and 5 theory, please register your interest with us.
