As I sit and reflect over the past 10 years at Guitar School it seems quite surreal. A decade has passed by so quickly. Both my students and myself have achieved so much in this time. Some of the personal highlights for me have been watching students progress into musicians, achieving the 'Experienced Tutor' status from the RGT and also being given the 'Excellence Wales Award' for my work within the community for Dementia sufferers. I am currently the only guitar teacher within a 20 mile radius of Deeside, Chester and Liverpool to be given the ‘Experienced Tutor’ status for my teaching.. A status that is only awarded to successful guitar teachers and one that recognises the efforts of both my students and myself... so as I am very proud of myself, I am also very proud of my students, as without them, this would not of been possible.
Whilst it is not a compulsory requirement for a student to sit their grades at Guitar School, I have always thought the London College of Music syllabus to be the best and most structured way for a student to learn to play guitar. Students here currently hold a 99.8% pass rate at Distinction level ranging from Preliminary Grade all the way through to Diploma level, which is an amazing statistic over a 10 year period. Many of my students have gone on to form bands, become solo artists, study music technology and production at Leeds, Chester, Bangor and Wrexham university's. Whilst others have gone on to become music teachers themselves. I look forward to teaching many more of you in the coming years.
There is no greater feeling for a teacher than to see a student start learning guitar as a hobby, mature and write and produce their own original material. Creating sounds and songs that didn't exist prior to a session is absolutely captivating and inspiring. One particular student I love to work with is Joshua Shaw. At the age of 8, Josh and I started working together, 9 years on Josh is currently studying for his Grade 8 guitar exam, writing and producing is own original songs and backing tracks and also studying music production at Chester College. A fine young musician with a very promising future. I am currently working on an Alternative Backing track with Josh that I will post up on our site and send out to our mailing list subscribers free of charge once it's finished. Sign up here - www.guitarschool22.co.uk and follow the sign up option, it's FREE!
In 2012 I was awarded the Flintshire Excellence of Wales award for my community work providing music therapy sessions for Dementia sufferers across Flintshire. Aside from teaching, the work I do for memory sufferers is extremely rewarding and something I really enjoy doing and wish to continue as long as possible. Dementia is an extremely frustrating and upsetting illness both for the sufferer and for their families. Many touching letters of thanks have been sent to me over the years which confirm my belief in the work myself in conjunction with Flintshire County Council are doing within our community to help Dementia sufferers and their families.
As I look towards the next decade I want to continue with my teaching, the music therapy sessions and also concentrate more on the recording side of things both for my own original songs and my talented students tracks too. If you would like to start learning guitar, ukulele, piano or music creation or production, or would just like some free TAB's to help you learn some tunes, sign up to our mailing list and I'll be happy to assist you. Here's to the next decade!
