The Piano/Keyboard, is a versatile instrument that builds on hand co-ordination and dexterity. Some students can find the initial finger action tricky, but with excercises and practice, this can be easily overcome. The piano pedals can be an issue for our smaller students, but it is worth remembering that pedals are introduced at around grade 2. As a piano can be an expensive purchase to make when first starting, most people choose an affordable keyboard/electronic piano, before making the long term commitment of investing in a piano.

The Classical guitar has a rounded figure of eight body, with a hole in the middle. This style of guitar has a slightly wider neck/ fret board than the other guitars, and often doesn’t have fret markers. Classical guitar uses nylon strings, creating a mellower rounded tone needed for classical and Spanish style music.

The Acoustic guitar is a similar shape to the classical guitar, but with a scratch plate next to the sound hole. It has a narrower neck, with fret markers on the finger board. Some versions are electro-acoustic, which means they can be plugged into an amplifier. The steel strings make this style of guitar ideally suited to trad, pop, jazz or blues.

Electric guitars are often smaller than the other styles of guitar. They are made in all sorts of shapes, colours and sizes and need an amplifier to produce sound. Their solid bodies can make them quite heavy to hold. The steel strings on the electric guitar, are actually easier to push down for younger fingers than the acoustic guitar. Electric guitars are typically found in modern music, rock and pop (make sure you invest in a set of headphones or have nice neighbours).

Bass guitar, typically has a solid body, and like the smaller electric guitar, is electric based, so needs an amplifier. Usually they have four or five strings, which are strung and tuned differently from a standard guitar. The strings are a lot thicker, but are quite easy to push down on. It is worth remembering, the frets/notes are spaced wider apart than other guitars. Bass guitars are used in all forms of modern music. They really are the driving force behind all styles and genres of modern music.

The main challenges a beginner student will encounter, is building hand strength, and developing the hard skin on their fingers, which all guitarists need. Gentle finger exercises’ and practice can overcome this quickly.

The Ukulele looks a lot like a tiny guitar, but is tuned completely different with only four strings. This instrument has risen in popularity over the last few years, and has featured in many popular music tracks. It is cheap to buy and easy on the fingers to play. Fairly versatile, using chords like the guitar and melody lines. This is a fun instrument to learn and easy to carry around.

The Violin is one of the most popular instruments to learn, being affordable and easy to transport. It is usually held under the left hand side of your chin, and your fingers press/stop the strings against the finger board to change the note. The sound is made by drawing the bow with your other hand across the strings. It doesn’t matter what handed you are, both hands are utilised equally and fine motor skills are important and developed over time. The violin is capable of being extremely versatile, used across many genres of music such as classical, jazz, traditional etc…. The initial challenges are co-ordination between hands, and dexterity of fingers. Violins are made in many sizes so even young children can learn to play. At the beginning, the violin like others in the string family, is difficult to create a good sound all the time, but perseverance can bring amazing rewards. Playing the violin needs simultaneous independent activity with each hand, which can be quite tricky for some to achieve. The most important things, are dedication and perseverance, and an accomplished player gains entrance to a world of some of the most beautiful music composed.

The viola is the violins big brother. It is held and played in much the same way, but it is tuned differently than the violin, and it is lower in pitch. The sound created is mellower and richer but unfortunately, it is often over looked for the violin or cello. As an instrument, the viola is greatly underestimated. The potential for professional opportunities for competent viola players, is greater than for violin and cello students/performers, simply because there are less players. The viola comes in many sizes, making it suitable  for younger students too. Often violinists take a side-step from violin to viola,when they have reached a full sized violin. Unlike the violin the violas music is written in the alto clef,  which can be a complicated step for those who can already read music. The viola is a beautiful sonorous instrument which deserves a look in too!

The Double Bass is the largest and lowest pitched of all the string family It has four or five strings and is a highly versatile instrument. Double bass players can transfer easily to electric or acoustic bass guitar, opening up greater performance opportunities for them. It is a relatively easy instrument to achieve good results on quickly, so in our opinion, should be considered more often than it is. The bass is played either sat down on a stool, or stood up with your left hand stopping/pressing  the strings to change the notes, and as with the violin etc, you create the sound by either plucking the string, or by drawing the bow across them. There are now mini bass’s available, so children as young as 5 can now learn too! The world of bass is wide varied and great fun, but it should be noted, that they are more expensive than other instruments, so that should be taken into account. We do have good trade links with suppliers through, and we can source full sized quality instruments at affordable prices.

The cello’s  full name is violoncello, and it is the smaller sibling of the double bass. The cello is played sat down on a chair, which makes keeping an eye on your left hand a lot easier than on the violin and viola. The instrument rests against your body, which allows you to feel the note, as well as hearing it. Co-ordination skills needed are equal to that of the violin etc. However, learners produce good results often quicker than beginner violinists. Cellos are available in small sizes so young children can learn too. A starter cello is more expensive than a violin/ viola and are bulkier to carry around, but good ones can be got without spending too much money.  The cello is a very worthwhile instrument to learn, with its beautiful rich tone, capable of being haunting and also passionate. The cello is a wonderful instrument that deserves to be considered by new beginners!

There are a lot of different percussion instruments, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Percussion is utilised across all sorts of music genres. This allows students to experience a wide range of settings from playing in a , jazz rhythm section, orchestral percussion to rock drummers. One of the most popular instruments to play, especially in modern music is the Drum Kit. The basic kit consists of a bass drum played with a foot pedal, two or three tom toms, a snare drum, a ride cymbal and hi hat (two cymbals operated by floor pedal.) Playing the drum kit is a very physical activity, and requires great co ordination and stamina. A kit takes up a fair amount of room and makes a pretty loud sound, so talk to your neighbours nicely! Percussion instruments can be fairly expensive so it is worth shopping around and asking the advice of your teacher!

Percussion instruments fall into two different categories tuned and untuned. Tuned percussion consists of many different instruments from all around the world; here are examples of some of the most common ones majority of these are struck with beaters/mallets.
Glockenspiel
Hand bells set
Marimba
Steelpan
Tabla tarang
Tubular bells
Vibraphone
Xylophone
Then we have the un-tuned…. Hand held instruments like maracas, claves, bells, castanets, tambourines.. etc and naturally, drums are available in all sorts of shapes and sizes from hand held bongos to the majestic timpani .

So what is the differences between a fiddle and a violin? In short the answer is, nothing!
The difference comes in when describing what is being played on the instrument. Generally, fiddles describes an instrument being played in folk/traditional genres, like Irish trad, Blue grass music, and klezmer. The bowing style of this genre tends to be looser, and relaxed. The instrument is referred to as violin when playing composition based genres, like classical music, orchestral and jazz, where the bowing style is different, and more technical than “the fiddle”. But when it comes down to it, it’s the same instrument. It’s not uncommon to hear a virtuoso violinist refer to his Stradivarius as his “fiddle,” or a bluegrass fiddler to fondly describe how his family “violin” was whittled by his grandaddy in the woodshed. Physically, the beginner is faced with the same challenges as the violinist. It is worth noting here that trad music tends to be based in the aural tradition, meaning it is learnt more by ear and repetition.

The Tin Whistle the name “tin-whistle” can be traced back as early as 1825, but neither the tin whistle nor the penny whistle seems to have become popular until the 20th century.It became popular in several musical genres; English, Scottish, Irish and American traditional music. Due to its affordability and portability the tin whistle is popular household instrument. Usually taught as part of the National School curriculum, this is an accessible and fun instrument to play. Often misunderstood it has an integral part of Irish traditional music today!

One of the greatest concerns a parent of a child with ASD faces, is will my child be catered for and understood? Our staff create a relaxed, all inclusive environment where each child is accepted for who they are. The inclusive environment is imperative to our ethos, where strengths are embraced and the child comes first. A lot of our staff have training and personal experience with ASD, which makes us ideal to both understand, and embrace the uniqueness of each child, and allow them to be safe, and secure that they know, they are OK with us. We accept them for who they are. We already teach many kids with ASD from one end of the spectrum, to the other, and we can 100% with hands on heart say that there is not 1 child we have taught that has not benefited and gained from their lessons with us. Your children are safe to be who they are with us. We don’t want to change them, we want them to be happy and accepted for who they are.

It’s not being different that’s the problem. It’s people being the same 🙂