Though we are still closed, behind closed doors we are making terrific progress. When we welcome you back to NMA in the not too distant future, we think you will really appreciate what we have have been up to, and why we took this time. NMA is dedicating itslef to producing a safe, happy, and highly educational space for you.
From seperate pianos to more space everwhere, and from completely redrawing the timetable to a sophisticated range of live in-person and online lessons, this represents our most comprehensive overhaul ever. Hope you will enjoy the beautiful new look also - we have put a lot of work into it.
See below for latest blog, now updated several times per month.
#Darrell & Eileen Priestley
11.07.20 – Darrell Priestley
Lessons in person are coming back! Right now, we are busily preparing for that day, with lots of changes to the interior space, the studios, the timetables, etc, but within a few weeks we will begin inviting the first students back. You can expect us to do this thoughtfully, with proper regard for your health and well being. So, what to expect?
Timetables will be tweaked, with some new lesson formats introduced for the first time, including a new family only group option, and all piano group lessons will be both smaller and shorter, with students more widely dispersed. In our piano studios, teacher and students will each use a separate instrument throughout the lesson, so No Sharing, and the instruments will be cleaned between students.
Together with a range of price points, the new lesson options should help make sure that a quality music education remains available to the greatest number of people. When you return to NMA, we want you to feel totally comfortable, and so online lessons will also continue in some form if you would prefer for now to have your lessons at home.
For now, work here continues, with plastering, decorating and a fresh new look on the way, and we expect to have filled a few skips by the time the work is done. Meanwhile, throughout this time we continue to teach many of our students online. All in all, it’s been a busy old time, but one thing is as true as ever: we are really, really looking forward to welcoming you back!
See you soon…
05.07.20 – Jessica Laughton
During these months spent in lockdown we have all seen many changes to our way of life. Where we would have once taken an innocent trip to the shop to buy a card for an occasion, or perhaps buy that ‘thing’ that we need to complete this job at home etc has meant that over time we have had to become quite inventive.
Inevitably life continues to progress, even in lockdown, and occasions come and go and children outgrow their clothes. When such instances occur, I am often reminded of stories my Grandmother would tell me about gowing up during the war. How they made their own clothes by repurposing materials and how communities came together supporting one another, sharing food they had grown or baked.
In recent weeks I have adopted the ‘make do and mend approach’. For special occasions such as birthdays, Easter and father’s day we have made cards using whatever we have to hand at home. Both my children are starting to outgrow their clothes (baby Elodie especially). So, aided by a very talented and helpful Grandma, we are able to repurpose other material to make beautiful summer dresses and bonnets.
One memory that will stay with me from lockdown is the VE day celebrations. The people on our street all decorated their homes with beautiful banners and bunting, ready for the self distanced street party. I wanted to decorate too but had no bunting, so after hunting around the house I managed to find old painting rags to produce home made red, white and blue bunting to join between our home and that of our neighbour. We used red, white and blue paper to cut into strips to make paper chains that ran down from the house to the front garden and mirrored this on our neighbours side. My son made poppy wreaths out of handprints and we used two large pieces of cardboard to paint two life size silhouettes of soldiers saluting, before finally cutting the flag on an Aldi bag to stick to the card and a cane to make large flags. Surprisingly, we received several compliments on the way we had decorated both homes (ours and our neighbours) for VE day.
We have found a new passion for upcycling. Both myself and my husband have remarked at how liberating the make do and mend approach is. Born of necessity, it has proved enormously satisfying, and is something we plan to keep up with long after lockdown.