Lessons
Below are a selection of lessons that are offered. Different instrument lessons can be conducted at the same time in groups utilising headphones for practice. All student will work on graded material at regular intervals in order to maintain progress and focus. Students will be encouraged to perform as much as possible and have the opportunity to perform at the Stilwell Music annual charity concert. Students will also be encouraged to work towards examinations in their instrument across a variety of exam boards.
Vocal Lessons
Firstly…everyone has an ability to sing! However, confidence is often the issue when it comes to performing. Regular lessons will improve students confidence and self expression, which will have a positive filter into all aspects of their lives.
Students will learn to control their voice and utilise both head and chest voice to achieve the pitch, intonation and expression required. A firm grasp of vocal techniques will allow students to increase their range and power.
To be a competent musician students will need to understand the musical patterns, rhythms and dynamic expressions they are singing. If students are able to read notation they will progress faster and be self sufficient in their learning. Therefore, it is recommended that singing lessons are coupled with piano lessons for greatest understanding and progression.
Drum Lessons
The most important part of drumming! Students will need to master playing to a ‘click’, with metronome use a big part of lessons.
Drumming uses all parts of your body, and is arguably the most ‘technical’ instrument to master. As repetition is a large part of drumming, perfect technique must be mastered to produce accurate and dynamic playing.
Once basic patterns have been learnt, students will move onto stylistic features, learning grooves from all styles of music from Rock and Pop, to Jazz and Latin
Guitar Lessons
Students will learn to read both traditional notation and tab. This will enable them to maximise the possible styles and genres they will be able to play in the long term.
A high level of dexterity is needed to master the instrument. After learning basic technique, students will move onto stylistic techniques such as playing with a plectrum, free strokes, and complex strumming patterns.
Alongside playing popular material, there will be a heavy emphasis on theory and the elements of scales and chords. This will allow students to take ownership of the song and personalise it with a variety of chord voicings, improvisation, and composing their own material.
Piano Lessons
One of the hardest elements of playing the piano is being able to read and play both hands at the same time! This complex element will be a heavy feature of all lessons.
Although most students will see this as an unexciting part of music lessons, is it paramount in understanding how music works. Once mastered, students can take learning into their own hands and apply their knowledge to other instruments in the future.
Once some technical and theoretical elements have been mastered, students will be able to learn all styles of music from classical to popular styles including improvising and soloing.