Online lessons now available for Sutton Music pupils

We hope you are all well and staying safe during this challenging time. 

At Sutton Music we’ve been working to create a plan for online lessons and pull together resources for making music at home. In these weeks of uncertainty, we feel that learning a musical instrument can provide focus and structure, helping to create a sense of normality for our younger pupils. 

As you know, due to the social distancing measures, we decided to cancel the last two lessons of the spring term. We will credit these lessons against next term’s fee once we know when the start date is. This credit will not apply to the online lessons that are being offered by our tutors as detailed below. 

We have been talking to our tutors and working out a way to progress with online lessons until Sutton Music Academy is able to reopen. Below you will see a list of tutors that are set up and ready to provide online lessons. These will be done via Zoom, Skype, Facetime or WhatsApp depending on the individual tutor and which platform you are using at home. Our tutors will try and be as flexible as possible but please bear in mind that some platforms are better suited to music lessons than others. To organise online lessons with your tutor (or another if your tutor is unavailable) please email them, letting them know which pupils require lessons. They will then liaise with you to organise a schedule for lessons. 

Lesson fees will be £17 per 30 minutes and will be paid directly to the tutor. We recommend using PayPal but bank transfer payments are another option. 

Lessons should be take place in a suitable location in your home and children should wear appropriate clothing. Any device or account that is used must belong to the parent or guardian and not the child.  A parent should be present in the home during the lesson, but the parent should not be interacting with the teacher or child during the lesson.  Any feedback about practice for the week will be emailed by the tutor at the end of the lesson. Live streamed lessons will not be stored or kept for the future on tutor’s devices however, if your platform allows it, you may want to record the lesson to refer back to later. 

We have suggested to tutors that they schedule a 40 minute window for a 30 minute lesson, to allow time for technical difficulties and to write up the lesson afterwards. Tutors will send a follow up email to parents with notes and practice tips, as well as any resources that may be required (PDFs, backing tracks, online links etc.) 

We hope that online lessons will help your family during self-isolation, providing practical and creative activities for your children. We encourage the children to use this time as an opportunity to do lots of practice and continue the progress on their instruments. 

When we have the more information about the timetable for regular face to face lessons we will contact you with your scheduled time. Once lessons resume at Sutton Music Centre, online lessons will not be available from our tutors except as supplementary sessions (i.e. an additional lesson before an exam)

If you are a Sutton Music Academy pupil and didn't receive the list of tutors offering online lessons please email admin@suttonmusicacademy.co.uk