A pioneering new service has been launched to provide professional online lessons and fun music challenges for children in North Wales to ensure they don\u2019t miss out because of the coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n
The platform, totally-music.com, has been created in record time by the North Wales Music Co-operative whose peripatetic teachers would normally tour the region providing singing and instrumental lessons to individuals and groups of pupils in different schools.<\/p>\n
From a standing start once the lockdown was imposed, it took just eight weeks to set up the online service with backing from the Welsh Government, Wrexham and Denbighshire county councils.<\/p>\n
The North Wales Music Co-operative includes two sister organisations, Denbighshire Music Co-operative and Wrexham Music Co-operative, which were set up after funding for peripatetic music teachers was cut.<\/p>\n
Now they have come together to offer a face-to-face live online platform via which they can directly teach pupils who are learning from home.<\/p>\n
The hope is that schools and parents will get firmly behind totally-music.com<\/a> and encourage pupils of all ages and skills levels to sign up.<\/p>\n Professional guitarist Wyn Pearson, the artistic lead of the new website who is also one of the\u00a0 tutors, said: \u201cTotally Music is a brand new resource for teachers and parents and guardians aimed at ensuring the wellbeing of children of all ages.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a fun-filled website packed with video tutorials to promote the musical development of our youngsters.<\/p>\n \u201cA project like this would normally have taken several months to complete, if not longer. But we have managed to get it up and running within weeks which is a real achievement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all extremely proud of the service and the opportunities it offers to children who may not otherwise have access to music lessons. The aim is to provide access to high quality music resources, with a focus on fun.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Rachel Piggott, the mother of one gifted young singer from Denbighshire, the service was a Godsend, preventing her son Henry, nine, from falling seriously behind in his music studies.<\/p>\n Rachel said: \u201cIt\u2019s so beneficial. If it were not for this there was a real danger that Henry could have fallen back a grade on his singing. That would have been a desperate shame as he works very hard and puts so much energy into his music.<\/p>\n \u201cThe lessons follow the same principles that they would do in school but the only difference is Henry is here singing at home. It\u2019s quite nice as we can all hear the latest songs he\u2019s learning.\u201d<\/p>\n Henry, a pupil of Ysgol Bro Cinmeirch, in Llanrhaeadr, said: \u201cIt\u2019s just like having my teacher come into our home only it\u2019s via the screen.<\/p>\n \u201cI can talk to her live, go through exercises and she tells me how I\u2019m doing and what to practice between lessons. It\u2019s really helpful and enjoyable too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s really good is that it helps me focus and it slows my brain down. It helps me relax and stops me worrying so much about the coronavirus crisis and all the news headlines.\u201d<\/p>\n Heather Powell, the head of service in Denbighshire and Wrexham, said plans were already underway to launch an online platform when the Coronavirus epidemic struck and that made the need for it all the more urgent.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cWe really had to act quickly to get things moving and make the service widely available to ensure the wellbeing of children of all ages.<\/p>\n \u201cAs well as lessons we put together a fun-filled package of online music challenges and games for children.<\/p>\n \u201cFor instance, we have a beat-box challenge with well-known Welsh Beatboxer Mr Ed Holden aka Mr Phormula. In this challenge we teach the children the basics of beatboxing and how the sounds are made.<\/p>\n \u201cChildren need no equipment to be able to do many of our sessions thus making it very accessible when in lockdown and at home\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWe are adding more content to it all the time and every Monday we will send out the programme timetable to schools so they can send details out to kids learning at home or use as a quality resource in class.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is bilingual, too, so children can have lessons and enjoy music related activities in either English or Welsh.\u201d<\/p>\n Heather added: \u201cThis is a service which we hope will continue to be widely used long after the lockdown is eased and social distancing measures are hopefully reduced.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see it as a valuable addition to our existing services, making music lessons more easily accessible to children of all ages. Learning to play an instrument out of school in the less pressured environment of their home is something children truly enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n The chairman of Denbighshire Music Co-operative, Councillor Mark Young, said he was hugely impressed with the quality of the service and the speed with which it built from a purely ideas stage into reality.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI witnessed one session where a teacher even taught a pupil how to restring their guitar online. This is an online generation and through initiatives like these children \u2013 and adults \u2013 have the potential to learn new and exciting skills no matter where they are based.<\/p>\n \u201cMusic is a vital part of all our lives, it has the potential to change our mood, and bring communities together like no other medium, which is why I feel privileged to be a part of something\u00a0 so tremendous. A lot of hard work, time, effort and resources have gone into creating this online service which I wholeheartedly commend.<\/p>\n \u201cI call on everyone, schools, families and individuals to support it and keep Wales\u2019s long famed love story with music at the heart of our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n Denbighshire Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts, Cabinet Lead Member for Education, Children\u2019s Services and Public Engagement, said: \u201cThe council is delighted to support the launch of the Denbighshire music cooperative\u2019s new online resource, Totally Music.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have continued to work alongside the cooperative to ensure that the best resources are available for our learners in Denbighshire \u2013 this is especially important at this time as we all work toward successful blended learning.<\/p>\n \u201cThe new resource focuses on both well-being and fun and this is something as an authority we are keen to ensure reaches our pupils both at home and those in school at the moment \u2013 we wish the cooperative the very best in this new online resource and we look forward to watching it develop.\u201d<\/p>\n Wrexham violin teacher Sophie Davies-Ngom says the feedback from her online pupils and their parents has been hugely positive.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cI love doing the lessons online. It\u2019s safe for everyone involved and all my pupils have taken to it quite naturally. I\u2019ve found their concentration is increased and they see it as aen entertaining thing to do, in no way a chore.\u201d<\/p>\n Her sons, double bass learner Fallou, 10 and cellist, Seris, particularly love the free, fun challenges part of the package.<\/p>\n Fallou said: \u201cI love music and, because I\u2019m tall, the double bass is the perfect instrument for me.<\/p>\n \u201cThough Seris and I don\u2019t currently do the online lessons we can still access the fun inter-active tasks which are a big part of totally-music.com<\/a> and are fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n Sophie added: \u201cIn the longer term it will also make learning an instrument so much easier for children faced with time constraints or who have no transport to get to lessons in the wider community.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really hopeful that schools will endorse and support it, helping spread the news to pupils and their parents about the brilliant new service that is totally-music.com<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a sentiment echoed by Austin Bowers, headteacher of St Mary\u2019s School, Brymbo, near Wrexham, also welcomed the launch of totally-music.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIt is a brilliant additional resource to schools who are keen to keep music alive in the curriculum and the community. I totally endorse it and would encourage all music learners to get on board.\u201d<\/p>\n Phil Wynn, Wrexham Council\u2019s Lead Member for Education, said: \u201cWe\u2019re very pleased that the Wrexham Music Co-operative has \u00a0developed these online learning resources to support our schools during these difficult times.<\/p>\n \u201cThe interactive and engaging sessions were well-received by the pupils, parents and staff in the schools where they were piloted recently, and we\u2019re excited to be able to rollout the offer now to all Wrexham schools.<\/p>\n \u201cThe resources can be used to supplement the schools\u2019 own blended learning offer and can be accessed by pupils whether they are at school or at home. We look forward to seeing this valuable resource continuing to develop over the coming weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n To find out more about the online service or to book lessons go to <\/strong>www.totally-music.com<\/a><\/p>\n