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Posted on: 5 August, 2022

Looking back on this year at Kent Music

The end of an academic year is always a time for reflection as we take a breath and count a beat before it all begins again in September.

We’ve done the maths (a transferable music skill, thank you very much) and it turns out that this year we’ve taught for…almost a whole year! That’s right, our hard-working KM teachers have taught, end-to-end, almost 320 days worth of lessons to the students of Kent. And that’s just lessons – our ensembles, courses and County Groups make a whole lot more.

We also spoke to members of the team across Kent Music to find out their thoughts as we close the 21-22 chapter – here are just a few!

Liv Edwards, Schools Support & CPD Manager

“I have loved getting CPD out there in person again to as many schools as possible. The Kent Music free CPD programme has supported over 100 teachers across the county this year and we worked with a number of fantastic organisations to help train teachers! Shout out to Voices FoundationInspire WorksKatie Teage and Passing Notes Education for providing us with amazing training sessions!”

Kirsten Ellington, Tuition Manager

“This year we have had eleven new teachers join our team across a range of instruments enabling us to provide even more quality tuition across the county.”

Richard Davies, Area Manager (Canterbury and Thanet)

“The term at Thanet Music Centre closed with an excellent Summer Performance Evening on Wednesday 13th July in front of an appreciative audience of families and friends. The programme showcased each of the ensembles and also included solos, duets and trios performed by the staff.Thanet Music Centre only reopened last November so the concert was a fine celebration of all the hard work everyone has put in to re-establish music-making over the past year.”

Lucy Duff, Area Manager (Ashford and Swale)

“This year the Ashford Music Centre re-launched with three new ensembles and lots of keen new young musicians who took up instruments for the first time. Over Spring and Summer 2022, Kent Music worked in partnership with The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) to bring English Folk and Bhangra music to secondary schools in Ashford. Participants explored the pieces completely by ear and got the chance to learn with specialist tutors.”

We’re excited for a good rest over the summer (with some musical interludes for O1 and KMSS of course) but are already excited for September. Let’s make it a full 365 days next year!