As part of our ‘Pieces of the PIE’ Project, the Guitar Hero Programme has made a great start! Offering free guitar tuition and instruments to students, the programme involves a combination of sessions - two in person (Covid safe!) a week on a Tuesday (at Start Point in Woodley) and one zoom session every week on a Thursday. The sessions are run by Lee, of local Manchester band Prose (who recorded the arena bomb anniversary song in 2018) and who has been teaching guitar lessons in schools and privately for almost 10 years. The students have already learnt to play a few songs, including Wonderwall, Valerie, Someone like you, I Got a Feelin', and Kids.
Sessions so far have been really well received, so we’d like to share some of the feedback from students and parents:
Macy: "The guitar lessons so far have been very helpful for lockdown as it cures my boredom as I develop a new skill and learning guitar has been something I've been wanting to do for a while and I am enjoying learning." Macy’s mum: "Lessons have given Macy a needed focus during lockdown and she has wanted to learn for a while. Lee teaches in a way that's easy for Macy to follow and she has learned a lot in a short space of time. It's a joy for us to see her interest sparked and to listen to her play, she also teaches us. We feel very grateful to have access to these lessons thank you to PIE Beth and Lee!" Eryn: “It’s been fun, it’s been a good stress relief. Lee has helped me learn and it makes me happy.” Jayden: "They're really fun! I don't usually get to do stuff outside of my house at the moment so it's really exciting to have the chance to do that. I'm enjoying learning the guitar and I loved learning 'I got a feeling'."
Morgan: "It's nice to learn a new a skill and have the chance to be creative."
Emie: "It's fun to come down and have sessions like the guitar lessons - with schools being shut it's good to be able to still get to do something new. This is helping me be much happier and more confident whilst the schools are shut."
Lee (Tutor): "The guitar lessons through PIE, I believe have been a great success so far. The organisation and cooperation with Beth has been fantastic. The kids have responded with great enthusiasm and are willing to learn as much as possible in a short space of time. Their progress has exceeded expectation and it has shown them what can be achieved still during these difficult times. The many benefits for the children have been: an ability to learn a new instrument, to learn more about music generally, to be social distanced but sociable and to give them weekly goals and keep themselves active and motivated whilst off, and during school."
Our next round of Guitar Hero is starting soon (again including free guitar!) so if you want to get signed up then please email beth@pieuk.org