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22.07.20 – Darrell Priestley
This is mainly by way of a diary entry, so I will try to keep it brief. In preparation for the return of students and teachers, my wife Eileen and I have been I have recently been going through the NMA building, leaving very little unchanged. Protection is paramount, and prevention of transmission of the virus is the key to this. We are determined that, if there is just one place outside of the home that everyone might feel safe, then this will be it.
To this end, we have been slowly gutting the building, and those of you who know it well might be surprised at the changes. We have been going out of our way to create the space to allow proper physical distancing at all times. In my estimation, ‘1 metre plus’ is inadequate, being predicated on kickstarting the economy rather than ensuring public health, so we are sticking to the greatest extent possible with 2 metre distancing, but with additional measures in place.
Eradicating the virus should be the goal for all of us, and we should believe that this is possible, however difficult it might be in practice. The latest research points to the conclusion that success is going to be based on three things:
Research would appear to suggest that, in order to be fully effective in eradicating the virus, around 90% of the population should commit to doing these three things all, or almost all, of the time. Because these behaviours are basically just habits we can learn to adopt, we want to encourage them to the fullest degree, because it seems absolutely right to commit to eradicating this virus, rather than simply learning to live with it. We think this is a small price to pay for a future safe from Covid-19.
There is another aspect to this, though. The better we become, as a whole, at adopting lifestayle changes to counter the spread of the virus, the more we are entitled to expect our government to adopt sensible policies that will make our future safer, and ultimately our economy more rubust and resilient. Plus, in our personal lives, the sooner it will be safe for us to fully resume our normal relationships and do the simple things on which we have always depended, like hugging our friends and families, and kissing our grandchilden.
16.07.20 – Darrell Priestley
So, where are we all now? Well, actually it’s hard to say. At best, probably somewhere in-between. En route to normal life, you might say. But we are all still working out what that looks like.
Most of us are simply nostalgic for the reassuring elements of normal life to assert themselves, but many of us have had a chance to reflect, and perhaps we don’t need everything to be quite how it was before after all.
Some things, though, are more concrete. Education, for the young, represents the path to ‘becoming’, of growing into a world of wonderful potential. For older students, meanwhile, education represents renewal, of reaffirming who you are and that you still have something to offer in life. But for everyone, education is vital, at all stages of life.
At this time, against the backdrop of a global pandemic, the need to feel strong, independent and capable requires us to be confident, and we can feed that with learning. Many of us will choose at this time to make changes to our lifestyle, to adjust our priorities. That makes this a time of opportunity. Seen positively, this is a great time to assert ourselves, step forward, and learn something new. Learning music is a fantastic response to the pandemic, because of how music makes us feel – enthused, vital, confident and optimistic. Perhaps this will be the difference that makes us ready to face a world that it is still too early to know.
11.07.20 – Darrell Priestley
Lessons in person are coming back! Right now, we are busily preparing for that day, with lots of changes to the interior space, the studios, the timetables, etc, but within a few weeks we will begin inviting the first students back. You can expect us to do this thoughtfully, with proper regard for your health and well being. So, what to expect?
Timetables will be tweaked, with some new lesson formats introduced for the first time, including a new family only group option, and all piano group lessons will be both smaller and shorter, with students more widely dispersed. In our piano studios, teacher and students will each use a separate instrument throughout the lesson, so No Sharing, and the instruments will be cleaned between students.
Together with a range of price points, the new lesson options should help make sure that a quality music education remains available to the greatest number of people. When you return to NMA, we want you to feel totally comfortable, and so online lessons will also continue in some form if you would prefer for now to have your lessons at home.
For now, work here continues, with plastering, decorating and a fresh new look on the way, and we expect to have filled a few skips by the time the work is done. Meanwhile, throughout this time we continue to teach many of our students online. All in all, it’s been a busy old time, but one thing is as true as ever: we are really, really looking forward to welcoming you back!
See you soon…
05.07.20 – Jessica Laughton
During these months spent in lockdown we have all seen many changes to our way of life. Where we would have once taken an innocent trip to the shop to buy a card for an occasion, or perhaps buy that ‘thing’ that we need to complete this job at home etc has meant that over time we have had to become quite inventive.
Inevitably life continues to progress, even in lockdown, and occasions come and go and children outgrow their clothes. When such instances occur, I am often reminded of stories my Grandmother would tell me about gowing up during the war. How they made their own clothes by repurposing materials and how communities came together supporting one another, sharing food they had grown or baked.
In recent weeks I have adopted the ‘make do and mend approach’. For special occasions such as birthdays, Easter and father’s day we have made cards using whatever we have to hand at home. Both my children are starting to outgrow their clothes (baby Elodie especially). So, aided by a very talented and helpful Grandma, we are able to repurpose other material to make beautiful summer dresses and bonnets.
One memory that will stay with me from lockdown is the VE day celebrations. The people on our street all decorated their homes with beautiful banners and bunting, ready for the self distanced street party. I wanted to decorate too but had no bunting, so after hunting around the house I managed to find old painting rags to produce home made red, white and blue bunting to join between our home and that of our neighbour. We used red, white and blue paper to cut into strips to make paper chains that ran down from the house to the front garden and mirrored this on our neighbours side. My son made poppy wreaths out of handprints and we used two large pieces of cardboard to paint two life size silhouettes of soldiers saluting, before finally cutting the flag on an Aldi bag to stick to the card and a cane to make large flags. Surprisingly, we received several compliments on the way we had decorated both homes (ours and our neighbours) for VE day.
We have found a new passion for upcycling. Both myself and my husband have remarked at how liberating the make do and mend approach is. Born of necessity, it has proved enormously satisfying, and is something we plan to keep up with long after lockdown.