West Sussex School Music Service Restoring Lessons After Lockdown

Friday, 21 May 2021 13:10

By John Warburton @Warblefly

As lockdown eases, music tuition for many thousands of schoolchildren throughout West Sussex is returning safely to its pre-pandemic levels.

A particular problem during the pandemic for anyone learning a musical instrument, or improving their singing, has been the inability to be in the same room as a skilled teacher.

Without a teacher observing closely many nuances of playing or singing technique, which Zoom classes can only approximately convey, the best tuition is hard to achieve.

But, now the pandemic is turning into a more managed, endemic, situation, the boss of West Sussex Music reported on Thursday (May 20) that over half of the county's schools had returned to having specialist music teachers in classrooms.

At the same time, on-line learning was continuing, to allow continuity for students still unable to access in-person teaching.

West Sussex Music's chief executive, James Underwood, told More Radio:

"Around 55% of schools have re-introduced our instrumental and singing provision — which are a combination of one-to-one, small group and whole class teaching.

"We're working with teachers in other schools to return to these activities in a safe manner as soon as we're able to."

He also heralded the restoration of the county's teaching service at its own specialist music centres:

"We're also really pleased that young people will be able to return to our out of school music groups and centres from Monday 7 June, following almost a year of running everything online through our Virtual Music Centre."

James added that the benefits of proper music education for schoolchildren are far-reaching.

"All of this is going to be really important to young people as a way of reconnecting with friends and taking part in a positive activity that has a massive impact on their wellbeing and mental health."

He promised more information in the days to come about the restart of West Sussex Music's broader ensemble rehearsal programme.