Hi! I’m Louise and I’m the founder of Sweet Symphony School of Music.
Sweet Symphony’s aim is to give people from all social, economic and academic backgrounds access to professional, affordable music tuition. We’ve been around for over 13 years now and that aim is still as relevant today as when I first started.
Sweet Symphony started off when I left university and decided to follow my love of music by becoming a Piano Teacher. I’d already been teaching part-time for several years, and I felt it was the right time to fully throw myself into the job. I joined Sunderland Local Authority as a peripatetic teacher and each week I visited several primary and secondary schools in the Tyne and Wear area, teaching both Piano and Keyboard to Students from age 5 through to 16. On an evening, I built up an ever-growing base of Students of all ages, and would spend nights travelling from home to home for lessons.
We held our first Christmas concert in the school hall at our teaching venue Wessington Primary School. Our concerts would become an annual event and are just as popular today with all of our Students and their families.
After several years of hard work building up a great network of Students, I reached a point where there just weren’t enough hours in the day! It was time to look for a permanent home for Sweet Symphony…
I moved to our current location in Speculation House, Washington where I began by renting just one small room among several other businesses in the building. Being permanently based in one location enabled me to ensure that all of my teaching supplies were always at hand, and meant I could offer more flexibility with lesson availability.
As Student numbers continued to grow, I made the decision to take on a few extra pairs of hands in the form of new Piano Teachers. Sweet Symphony was now more than just me – we were a team!
As we began plans to offer tuition in several instruments other than piano/keyboard, we decided that a slight change of name was in order. Sweet Symphony Piano & Keyboard Tuition became known as Sweet Symphony School of Music.
In March 2017 Sweet Symphony Ltd. took over the lease of the entire of Speculation House. This huge expansion meant we were able to start offering a whole range of other instrument tuition including Singing, Violin, Flute and Saxophone Lessons.
Our application to be a registered Trinity exam centre was approved, meaning we could hold all of our exams right here in the Sweet Symphony studio – great news for our Students!
We held our first Studio exam session and achieved a fantastic 100% pass-rate for all of our Students. News of our success spread quickly and we were featured in the local news.
It was only a matter of time before we outgrew our teaching space! So we undertook some building work in the Studio and built another teaching room. We also added another instrument to our long list of lessons offered – Drums!
When lockdown was eased, we were able to return to the Studio for face-to-face lessons once again. We’d put into place lots of protective measures for our Students and staff, including hand-sanitising stations, clear screens in rooms, maximising the distance between instruments in each room, and social-distancing stickers everywhere!
Due to Covid, the awards evening for the Best of Sunderland Business Awards was first delayed and then, unfortunately, cancelled. But the results were announced and we were delighted to have won our category – Best Community Spirit!
Despite the ongoing Covid pandemic and its economic effects, we managed to continuing battling through. Our Students thrived in their Zoom lessons, and we continued to receive lots of new enquiries every month. Our fight to survive and thrive caught the attention of the local news.
What’s Next For Sweet Symphony?
As 2021 begins after the toughest year we’ve experienced as a business, Sweet Symphony continues to grow; we now have 11 Teachers working Monday-Saturday to provide tuition for over 400 Students each week. Our exam sessions produce consistently-fantastic results and we’re always looking for new ways to provide the best service we possibly can to all of our Students and their families. Come along and see for yourself – we’d love to welcome you to our Studio!
