2020 Review

2020 Review

Here is a review of 2020. What an extraordinary year in every sense of the word. We all remember around this Christmas time last year we started to get news of a deadly flu like strain emerging in China. I don’t think many of us ever thought it was going to reach British shores or travel the globe the way it has. Kick up the 80’s had a full diary for the year. We also had a flight to Guernsey booked. It was going to be our first gigs off the mainland. Everything was going great until March. Kick up the 80’s played the Robin 2 Bilston 7th March, and Students were booked in for exams Little did we know how much all of our lives was going to change. On March 16th the U.K went into a full lockdown.

Live Music

Everyone was hoping that life would be back to normal after the first lockdown. The gigs we had planned was starting to get cancelled on a weekly basis as the virus spread. Live music was totally banned, pubs, clubs and theatres were all closed down. Then rules started to change as we came out of the first lockdown. Kick up the 80’s managed to do a socially distanced gig at The Station Cannock. There was a very limited number of people allowed in. The gig was completely Sold Out. Everyone in the audience had to remain seated and had table service. This was 26th September. There have been no more gigs since this. Please check my gig guide for planned gigs 2021

Lesson Changes

To continue to give guitar lessons I had to think of something quickly. I decided to take all my lessons online. This was something I had never done before. Some of my students did not want to continue if lessons was online. I managed to purchase a large roll up perspex screen to put inbetween the student and myself. However due to the government restrictions and me wanting to keep everyone safe. Online lessons was the only way I was able to continue.

I wanted my online lessons to be the best they possibly could be. So I took to locking myself away in my studio for hours at a time, and started to write lessons out in order for me to be able to send a PDF files over of the music I was covering within lessons. My lessons still remain one to one and online at this point in time.

Moving forward some students have already said they would like to continue online when things eventually return to normal. This would save some students who live further away from travelling. There will be an option to go back to students visiting when allowed. I am missing seeing everyone here. However for now lessons must remain online.

Exam Changes

I had students booked in for face to face exams in March. These were all cancelled due to the pandemic. Trinity College then decided to take exams to digital assessment. This was a new process for everyone involved. In order for me to understand and be able to guide people through the process I decided to enter via video for grade 8.

Around the same time I did video recordings of songs from all the grades and also typed in the music. I then found a way to marry these together in a program that allows me to be able to send a link to students. The student can then see me playing the video while the music is scrolling, and is also able to slow down everything and a loop up the more difficult parts of the track. This is using new technology to its full musical potential. This was no easy task but I knew once the work was completed how helpful this would be for all of my students regardless of their level. Every single note and chord had to be typed in by myself to achieve this.

The video exams from Trinity College have helped students continue with their graded qualifications and also allow them to continue to earn UCAS points. These could be so important at the present time with schools closures and academic exams in danger.

How to do guitar exams

Guitar exams now with Trinity college are at the moment all via video submission. For Rock and Pop you have to play 3 pieces one of these has to be a technical focus piece. The 3 pieces have to be in one take to the backing tracks provided. The examiner must be able to see your face and guitar clearly and also hear the guitar and backing track clearly.

I ask my students to send me their video via Whatsapp so I can check it before they send it. I do not need to see every take just a final take with no mistakes. The video does not need to be of film studio quality for more information on this click HERE.

The digital assessments are certainly not in anyway easier than face to face exams. Initially there was a lot of music teachers saying how harsh the marking had been on the digital assessments. I have to agree with this, although please take into consideration you are able to record your video as many times as you like before submitting it. So if you think your video is loaded with mistakes do not send it and do it again. So far all of my pupils have passed using this method. I would urge all of my students to send me their video 1st before submitting it for examination. We don’t want to be in a situation where a student will fail the exam.

The syllabus I use for acoustic guitar used to be Registry Of Guitar Tutors this has now merged with London College Of Music The exam process for this remains unchanged as this has always been via video submission. However the RGT exam workbooks have now been replaced by London College Of Music books.

Schools

The only school I have been able to teach in since September is St Michaels First School in Penkridge. This is in a Covid safe environment. I will hopefully be getting back to schools as soon as it is safe to do so. If any parents want their child to continue with lessons that take lessons in school. Then I am happy to teach them online.

Finally

I have managed to get into the Top 10 UK Guitar Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2020. I would like to give big thanks to anyone who has supported my music career over the past year. It’s been a tough year for everyone let alone musicians. I have also managed to put together my own guitar, that some of you may have seen online. I will be writing a news update on this very soon.

Hopefully 2021 will see things return to some form of normality. 2020 has been a massive learning curve. We have all had to adapt very quickly. May I ask you all to support live music when it is allowed to return safely.

Stay Safe

Anthony