Music Teacher Covid Advice As we move into a second phase of lockdowns across the UK, many teachers who were able to resume trading are now being forced to change their working habits once again. With the current situation, the advice from the Government is very fluid and changing on a semi-regular basis. Here is the currently advertised guidelines specifically for music teachers from various music-related sources as of 12 November 2020: Musicians Union The MU have published a very detailed overview of what teachers can expect from the current situation. There are currently slightly different ..read more

Guidelines for Replying to Students So, the big day has arrived. You’ve got some emails in your inbox from potential students who are looking for a teacher just like you. The ball is now in your court to convert these enquiries to lessons in your diary. Let’s look at a few ways you can maximize your chances of converting that student to a regular lesson slot. Be Prompt Don’t make them wait. This should be a common sense approach, but don’t make new students wait days for a reply. If a new enquiry lands in your inbox, you should aim to reply within the first 24 hours. Even better if yo ..read more

RSL On Tour Rockschool and RSL Awards are providing two FREE events in October which are great opportunities for students, parents and teachers to engage. 5th October – Under the Bridge Studios, Brighton 18th October – Thy Rhythm Studio, London The events will be hosted by Dan Francis, UK Education Strategy Manager for RSL, where he will be delivering in-depth sessions on supporting students to thrive as contemporary musicians as well as discussions on RSL’s latest resoruces including their new interactive sheet music tool Replay, Rockschools Piano Method for beginnesr and the new Te ..read more

Co-Working Music Spaces in LondonWe live in an era of collaboration, with the internet at our fingertips we can work with anyone, anywhere in the world at any time. Is the era of the internet putting a block on face-t0-face collaborations and projects? There is a special vibe created when like minded individuals get together in a room and make art. As musicians, some of the best things we can do seem to happen with the input of others.Here are some great music spaces in the London area that you can hire and meet like minded musicians to collaborate with.Mainyard StudiosMainyard Studios are a b ..read more

Best Guitar Blogs 2019After the success of 2018’s Best Guitar Blogs post, we’ve gone to our expert panel of guitar teachers and asked them for their thoughts on guitar blogs to watch out for in 2019. We’ve listed the top 15 blogs that we think you should check out and get involved with. In no particular order, here is what they’ve told us.String KickString Kick (stringkick.com) is a fantastic, easy to use lesson resource full of great guides and insights for guitar players of all abilities. You can learn everything from barre chords and strumming patterns right up to playing by ear and music t ..read more

Music Teacher’s Helper – Discount Offer We are thrilled to announce that Music Teacher’s Helper are offering a 10% monthly discount on their basic, plus and premium teacher packages to all mgrmusic.com registered teachers. This discount is only available for new Music Teacher’s Helper sign-ups only. To receive your discount simply: Fill out your teaching information here: mgrmusic.com/sign-up/ Visiting Music Teacher’s Helper to receive your discount here: musicteachershelper.com/discount-code/ Why Sign Up to Music Teacher’s Helper? If you are a self-employed music teacher, you will ..read more

Music Theory: The 3 Basic Triads Explained This article will explain the 3 basic triads – What that means, what they are, where they come from and what they sound like. What Is A Triad? A triad is a chord formed of 3 notes. Only certain chords are triads, for example a power chord is not a triad, as it’s made of only 2 notes, and major 7, minor 7 or dominant 7 chords, being made of 4 notes, are not triads either. A triad’s 3 notes are: – A root note, or ‘tonic’ (i.e. the note that gives the chord its name) aka “The 1” – A major or minor third aka “3” or “b3” – A perfect or flattened ..read more

Allianz Musical Insurance We are thrilled to announce that we have partnered up with Allianz Musical Insurance to provide a fantastic discount for all mgrmusic.com registered teachers on certain Allianz Musical Insurance products. Allianz Musical Insurance is able to provide cover for theft, loss and damage and much more. Give yourself peace of mind and safeguard the tools of your job with professional music insurance. For more information on the full range of cover available and how to obtain it, contact us on teacher.benefits@mgrmusic.com and we will be happy to discuss this further ..read more

Teaching Music in Uganda Professional singing teacher Jordan Hodson travelled over to Uganda earlier in 2019 to teach music. As Jordan is part of the community of music teachers here on mgrmusic.com I was keen to share with you Jordan’s experiences teaching music abroad. Below is a small article that she wrote for our music teacher community. Throughout my time in Uganda I learnt a very different prospective in terms of lifestyle and the way I approach singing. Whilst there I hosted a vocal workshop for the local musicians who found they were struggling with performing and stamina. I ..read more

Music Education: State of the Nation – A Report from ISM.org The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Music Education, The University of Sussex and the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) recently published a report titled “State of the Nation”. This report is compiled from significant research done by the University of Sussex, BBC, UCL/NUT, ASCL and ISM. The report, led by Dr Alison Daubney (PhD, Senior Teaching Fellow, University of Sussex) and Gary Spruce (Visiting Lecturer in Music, Birmingham City University), the report digs into Government figures regarding the flagship educa ..read more