1:1 Music Lessons: Voice, Composition or Creative Practical Musicianship

Sonya's teaching style is supportive, positive, informative and a little bit quirky. Every lesson is different because every student deserves to have a lesson that is right for them. 

🎼 VOICE LESSONS
In a 1:1 lesson, we work on developing your vocal, musicianship and performance skills in a personalized way.
 
Skills that we work on may include: 
- Vocal skills - breath and support, technique and technical exercises/vocalises, posture, producing sound in a healthy way. 
- Musicianship skills - matching pitch, rhythm and time, phrasing and more...
- Performance skills - posture, interpretation of the song text, communication with the audience, creating a performance project (a long term goal), dealing with stage fright or anxiety.
- Repertoire - from Disney songs to operatic arias, the choice is yours! If you want some help choosing a song let Sonya know but, if you would prefer to work on your singing without a song that is great fun too!

Accompaniment or A Cappella (unaccompanied)
You can choose if you want to sing your song a cappella (without accompaniment) or with accompaniment. If you are planning to sing a song with accompaniment, it is best to have a second device to play your accompaniment track on - a phone, a tablet or similar - to stop and start the recording as needed during the lesson. This is the best and safest way to make sure that the sound syncs and does not have a delay as many music teachers have discovered in recent years. 

Let Sonya know if you need her to help you find a backing track. 


🎶 COMPOSITION LESSONS
During a 1:1 lesson, we work on enhancing your composition and creative musicianship skills by tailoring the lesson to suit your individual needs and goals.

In an individual composition lesson, skills that we work on may include: 

Discussing the fundamentals of music:
- Form & Structure, Harmony and Sound World, Instruments & Sound Color/Timbre,  Rhythm & Tempo, Texture

Experimenting to develop your own unique sound:
- Different styles and composing techniques, tricks and tips.

Documenting your composition:
- How to compose if you don't read music - graphic scores, narrative, and other ways. 
- Different software programs for music notation and recording.
- Traditional music notation.

Looking at music that you have already written:
- Getting personalized feedback and guidance.

We will: 
- Develop your musical skills while having fun creating your own music.
- Work at your own pace and focus on the areas of music composition that interest you most.
- Get tips and tricks for making your music sound and look professional.
- Build confidence in your musical abilities and gain a deeper appreciation for music as an art form.


🎵 CREATIVE PRACTICAL MUSICIANSHIP
In a 1:1 lesson, we work on developing your musicianship skills in a creative, practical, and personalized way. All classes revolve around different ways to listen and understand music. 

In an individual creative practical musicianship lesson, skills that we work on may include: 
- Form & Structure - identifying how a piece of music is put together - the building blocks. 
- Harmony and Sound Worlds - identifying major/minor; tonal/atonal; consonance/dissonance
- Instruments - identifying instruments visually and orally; learning about new instruments from different cultures.
- Sound Color/Timbre - Identifying and learning about ways to describe sounds in descriptive ways. 
- Rhythm - Repeating given rhythms by clapping or playing or speaking; identifying time signatures and bar/measure/phrase lengths; simple and compound time.
- Tempo - Identifying the speed of music; learning the vocabulary to describe different tempi.
- Texture - Identifying how thick or thin a texture is; learning new vocabulary to describe a given texture. 
- Melody - Repeating a given melody by ear; playing or singing; describing a melody with new vocabulary including step/leap. 
- Creating - Inventing your own melodies and rhythms. 

We will: 
- Develop your musical skills whilst having fun.
- Work at your own pace and focus on the areas of musicianship that are important for your musical growth.
- Get tips and tricks for your own music-making.
- Build confidence in your musical abilities and gain a deeper appreciation for music as an art form.


A note about attendance: 
Outschool has very good attendance guidelines that will be followed: "If your learner has not joined the meeting 10 minutes after the class’s start time, the meeting may be cancelled, at the teacher’s discretion. This is considered a missed meeting and you are not entitled to a refund."
https://support.outschool.com/en/articles/16379-outschool-s-happiness-guarantee-and-refunds