[Sarah Clayton]

I had a couple bring their baby into their lesson. A total distraction the whole way through. And then they asked if it was ok to change the baby’s nappy in the last 5 minutes of the lesson on the floor of the studio. Could’t exactly say no. But also not ok.

[Sarah Clayton]

I teach Trinity’s Rock and Pop syllabus. My students really enjoy it. The song selection is good and you can pick your own piece as one of the three songs so long as it is the same level as the exam you’re taking. You have to sing either an improvisation to a chord progression or sight sing a piece of music that is played to you. My students find the improvisation easier if they aren’t used to reading music but I teach everyone both skills.

So far I have had students enter up to grade 6 and have had 100% Merit or Distinction results.

[Sarah Clayton]

I work with a community organisation called Music Workshop. It provides instrument lessons in Bath to schools and private tuition from it’s own studio. We combine out students to form bands supported by at least 2 professional musicians to keep things tight and give our students a great live band experience.

Last year we held a “Born Of The Blues” themed concert and had a local caterer provide a meal. We had 250 students involved over 3 performances – 2 evening and a matinée. This was a serious upscale of the singer only events which can feel a bit like a karaoke night. This was a ticketed event, we charged £10 each including the meal. Ran our own bar and roped in friends and family to wait the tables.

We ran a live performance rehearsal day which was a great way of students getting to meet other musicians (we even had a few bands form from it) and valuable experience for our teenagers looking to go to college or university to study music who has little performance experience.

[Sarah Clayton]

He sounds exactly like a couple of students I’ve had. Progress can be slow especially if they don’t have regular lessons but I found that doing scale work and picking out little bits of melody and looking at the pattern of the notes on the piano helped.

Also get them to sing back little melodies that you sing to them. And if they’re struggling to hit notes straight off the try sliding up or down until the note matches so they can hear when notes match up.