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News * Developments * Updates

Easing lock down

27th

Feb

2021

News: 27.02.2021

To update you, our latest understanding on the easing of lock down and how it may affect students is that music lessons at nma for those who wish to attend in person will be possible from 12th April, at the earliest.

Please be advised, easing is dependent on being well handled by everyone. For useful advice on the staying safe yourself, there is an excellent Guardian article available, covering important things not mentioned in the government guidance. Just paste the following address into your browser:

For essential information on staying safe as Britain’s lock down is gradually eased, the following article is highly recommended reading:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/23/easing-lockdown-covid-risks-ventilation-isolation


February 2021

11th

Feb

2021

Feeling a little like Robinson Crusoe here, having been all around the island and worked out who those footsteps belong to. That’s the effect on again, off again lock down is having, with so little change of environment we might as well be stuck on a deserted island.

But there are good points. Whether playing or listening, music is feeling better than ever, and I’m starting to get the itch for new instruments. At least it’s something to think about.

Outside of music, we are avidly waiting for weather warm enough to begin seed sowing, and to see if we can improve on last year’s crop, when we grew not a lot of but nevertheless very tasty food. When you pick your produce and eat it soon afterwards, even just a lettuce, the taste is beyond compare.

Having a hobby is really helpful, and a lot of you seem to be turning to jigsaw puzzles to ‘get away’ and de-stress. My thing is making the best possible coffee at home, and I have been making significant progress in this area. I find two such cups a day is a sensible limit.

What are you doing to help you get by? Whatever it is, I hope you are having fun. Congratulations to the many students who have confounded any difficulties of remote lessons to make really outstanding progress. It is a credit to our students that they have achieved so much.

Looking forward to when it is safe to get back together at the Academy again.

Darrell Priestley


STOP PRESS

04th

Jan

2021

04.01.01

Further Development – Government Introduce New Lockdown

Happy New Year to You!

Surprising no one, the government tonight has reintroduced a lockdown throughout England. The good news for music students is that we were well prepared for this, and in fact we had already begun to move students back online in anticpation of this development. We are sorry that we are temporarily unable to welcome you into our studios, but as many of our students have shown us, it is possible to both enjoy your lessons and also make great progress while working online.

To help you keep improving through this difficult time we are here for you as ever and ready with a smile. Perfect it isn’t, but we promise to try to make it both fun and productive for you, and certainly a lot better than putting all your activities on hold.

We eagerly look forward to seeing you, and just think how good you will be by the time fully normal business is resumed!


Opening Policy from 4th January 2021

31st

Dec

2020

1st January 2021

NMA returns to teaching on January 4th, with lessons according to our usual timetable. However, with the public health situation as it presently is, there will inevitably be some changes.

Our policy from January 4th therefore is that though our teachers will work from their usual studios, we will actively encourage our students wherever possible to take lessons online rather than in person. For those students who do not have online access, lessons will continue at the Academy as usual. The aim of this policy, which is for the safety and well being of all parties, is to reduce to a minimum any personal contact at this crucial time in the course of the pandemic.

The newly emerged strain of the virus is highly transmissable, and our view is that we don’t yet know enough about the conditions which favour transmission. Therefore, the safest thing, it seems to us, is for everyone to minimise contact with each other.

For this hopefully brief period, we envisage a much reduced number of students attending lessons in person, including those for whom online lessons have not worked well already. If you feel you are able to get by with online lessons, then this is what we recommend for you.

Please note, this is our standard advice, and your own situation may vary according to the understanding you come to with your own individual teacher.


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