For young people attending educational establishments:
- Enquire whether their are music tutors available at the young persons' school/college as a first step. Most schools have at least one music tutor who visits on certain days. Young people can then come out of their lessons to attend normally a 20/30min lesson each week of term to learn their chosen instrument. If the school/college doesn't have a relevant music tutor for your child's needs then please encourage the school/college to contact us at gswmusichub@gloucestershire.co.uk and we can help to set up provision at that settings via one of our delivery partners.
- If you are looking for lessons outside of school at an establishment then you can approach Gloucestershire Academy of Music. GAM provide individual lessons for every level of learner, from beginner to advanced.
- If you are looking for a private tutor (these tutors might teach from their home, come to your home or teach online) then you could look for local tutors via websites such as MusicTeacher.com or more local co-operatives for music tutors such as Cotswold Music Tutors. An internet search will bring up various platforms (which we do not quality assure locally) for finding teachers but please do note the advice below.
Please note: If you are looking to engage a self employed music tutor do ensure you take the time to discuss your child's needs with the tutor before committing to tuition and do ask questions of them as well. Tutors should be very happy to share with you details of their qualifications, experience, specialisms, teaching style, location and availability, fees and how they will communicate with you. We also strongly suggest you ensure the tutor has a good awareness of child protection and safeguarding responsibilities and ask if they have attended any Level 1 or 2 safeguarding training recently and we recommend they have had a DBS Check (Disclosure and Barring Service) to ensure they are safe to work with children and young people. Feel free to ask for evidence of this - your child's safety is important. Some further guidance is outlined here as an example: How To Find A Good Music Teacher – MusicTeacher.com
4. Once your child has been having lessons for a term, check out what music groups they could join in and out of school. We have various local music centres to choose from in Gloucestershire, which are great places to start to gain confidence and build on instrumental skills in a fun, nurturing and friendly environment which introduces the exciting world of ensemble playing - the best part of making music!
For adults:
- It's never too late to start learning an instrument - in fact the health benefits of learning an instrument is now well acknowledged with significant data to support this...so what are you waiting for! Follow the tips in number 3 above and once you have grasped the basics on your instrument check out the adult music groups available on our website.
