2019 is shaping up to be a very busy year already for everyone at Sweet Symphony! We’ve got several exam sessions coming up (read more about these here) over the next few months. February sees us welcome two new Teachers to the Studio, as well as find out how we did in the Tyne & Wear Business Awards. We’ve got a Studio wedding coming up, and news of a possible new Concert date….and that’s only taking us as far as July! Phew!

So, first…exams. Our first confirmed exam date is for our ABRSM Spring Theory exam Students, whose exams will be held on the evening of Wednesday 6th March. Our bi-annual Studio exam session has been confirmed as Saturday 13th April which, while it may seem ages away will creep up on us very quickly, so keep up the practising! Rock & Pop and RGT exam dates are still yet to be confirmed, but we’ll let all affected Students and Parents know as soon as we hear from the exam boards.

As mentioned, February sees us welcome two new Teachers to the Sweet Symphony family. Firstly we have Niamh, our new Singing Teacher. Niamh is joining us on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings to take over our Singing Lessons. We’re super excited about the new direction and drive she’ll be bringing to our Singing Lessons. And secondly, we’re pleased to introduce Mathilde who is joining us as another Piano and Keyboard Teacher. Due to the huge numbers of new enquiries we’re getting, we needed to recruit another Teacher to be able to cope with the demand. Mathilde will be teaching at the Studio on a Thursday evening, as well as all day Saturdays. To book your spaces with Mathilde or Niamh, just fill in our sign-up form here.

We’ll also find out this month how we fared with our nomination in the Tyne and Wear Business Awards. We were thrilled to be nominated, and we’re down to the shortlist for the final, which takes place on Sunday 3rd February. If you haven’t already, please support us and vote for us! We’ll obviously be over the moon if we win, but (yes, we know this sounds super cheesy!) it really is just an honour to be nominated – it means that we’re doing something right in our community and for you, our Students.

Once exams and awards nominations are out of the way, our next focus is May. That’s because our Studio owner, Louise, is getting married! She has very considerately planned her wedding away from our main exam sessions(!), and will be getting hitched on Thursday 30th May. She’s jetting off on her honeymoon for a few weeks after that, but the Studio will be open as normal – in safe hands with our administrator, Sandra.

Some of you may have noticed a small poll we had running on our Facebook page for the last week or so. We were putting the feelers out as to whether there would be any demand for a Summer concert. We held our first Winter concerts in December after a bit of a break, and the response from Students and Parents was phenomenal. The demand was so high that we ended up putting on 3 concerts in the one day in order to fit everyone in! We know that Christmas can be a really tricky time for some people to schedule anything and there’s always a round of winter-bugs meaning some Students missed out on performing, so we thought a Summer concert may be the answer. The poll ended with a resounding “Yes”, so we are looking into putting on another concert in the Summer. Watch this space for more details….

So that’s our next 6 months in a nutshell. Lots going on and lots to plan for. There’s never a dull moment in the life of a Music School!

Saturday Student Focus

It’s that time of the week again! Time to shine the spotlight on one of our fantastic Students and share a little bit about them. And so, this week’s Saturday Student is…

Anay P. (Saxophone)

Anay has been with us for 2 years now. He passed his Grade 1 Saxophone exam (with a distinction, no less!) in our last exam session gone October. He says that his favourite thing about his lessons is learning lots of new songs – his favourite song so far has been Havana. Anay’s fun fact is that he loves jazz music. We’re sure he’ll be able to learn some great jazz pieces with us very soon!

Well done Anay, you’ve earned yourself an entry into our prize-draw to win a month’s free tuition. You can get in on it, too – just remember to fill in one of our Saturday Focus sheets which are available in the waiting room and pop it into the box on the wall. Then check out our Facebook page each week to see if your name has been chosen!

Want to read more about life as a Music School? Check out our other blog posts right here on our website.