Individual Lessons

Music of Life provides over 1200 individual music lessons per year for children and young people aged 7-25 with a wide range of disabilities. We carefully match our students with highly-qualified teachers and monitor their progress closely through our evaluation programme.

In addition to lessons, our support includes provision of professional accompanists, contribution to the cost of instruments, music software, subscriptions to specialist music & academic resources, exam fees, adapted transport and access costs.

Music of Life aims to introduce a growing number of highly regarded, experienced teachers to working with disabled students and offers support and guidance to those who are new to it.

In addition to lessons, we offer performing opportunities both at our own events and through placements with external performing groups.

Majority of our individual lessons are provided through our partnership work with educational bodies – special schools where we run our general music programmes and local music services. In a small number of cases we are able to match an individual student with a teacher as a stand-alone project, but due to the charity’s limited admin capacity it is not our general practice to make individual arrangements.

I just had to write to tell you how fantastic Amy is with Martha. My daughter’s confidence has never been so much nurtured… She is attempting things and taking more risks…the lessons, the opportunity to perform, and all that this entails, have had a positive effect on how she feels about herself. Various professionals say she can sing, it’s a good boost.
 – mother of a Music of Life beneficiary who has a visual impairment and autism and has been receiving singing lessons with a Music of Life teacher for 2 years

“Kali has made massive improvements. Initially she would find anything in the room distracting, try and draw staff into unrelated conversations, damage instruments, draw on things etc. Now we are able to do up to 1 hour and 20 minutes of focused work! I use her attempts at distractions as inspiration for our composition. That way she isn’t really rebelling, but rather being creative.”

– teacher of a 15-year-old beneficiary with a learning disorder, behavioural and emotional difficulties.

“I often wonder where my son would have ended up without his music lessons… He is so proud he can play guitar and drums and is always up to something with his teacher. He used to be restless and withdrawn at home, now he often wants to play to us what he learnt in the lesson”

– parent of a 14-year-old beneficiary with an autistic spectrum disorder