I absolutely love a new academic year - it’s my favourite time of year! As the holidays end, this is the time to start mapping out your music journey. Grab a notepad and a pen, rummage through your piles of music books and plan out the year ahead. Whatever has gone before, whether it’s success or not, we can make a fresh new start. Share my excitement as I prepare for the forthcoming academic year.

Computer software programmes, like Sibelius etc, are all well and good, however, handwriting music notation still has a place. Not only is it a great skill for a musician to have, it’s also a thing of beauty! If you take the time to neatly write out music manuscript you have a much more engaged and tactile relationship to the notes you write - you can really connect with the music you write and the notes start to sing off the page. This is bound to help your understanding of music. Computer music print outs are a super way to quickly and effectively but, while we may not want to go to the time and trouble to create the illuminated manuscripts of Gregorian Music, let not throw away the time-honoured skill of writing music by hand.

A vintage recorder now adds a quintessential element to what has become a growing collection of recorders. Made of Bakelite, this beautiful recorder is such a joy! I'm so grateful for such beautiful gifts from such great friends. In its original box it even has the old pencil that she used to take to recorder practice. It seems that addition, instead of replacement, has become the pattern for my little hobby of playing recorder.

Thank you so much for “buying me a coffee” - I’m overwhelmed by your kindness. Much as I love coffee, and as energising as coffee is, your support means that I can reinvest into my channel. It’s so encouraging to hear how my tuition has helped your studies - so much so that I’m cutting back on some of my commitments to pour more into my videos. (Like the tip of the iceberg, they’ll start appearing soon!) In the meantime your ‘coffee’ is sustaining me. Thank you!

My Buy Me A Coffee Page www.buymeacoffee.com/sharonbill

Here’s proof that teamwork and hard work pay off - so many distinctions. Well done for such great results. Also, thank you for the encouragement to me for my Music Theory Video Lessons. I have videos for everything you need to fully understand your music theory, and here is evidence that success is within your grasp. Congratulations to all those who have passed.