Adult education centres offer high-quality music tuition for complete beginners and more accomplished musicians alike. Music makes up approximately 19 per cent of all tuition. The teaching offered may be designed to establish basic skills, improve technique, foster your own creative expression or enhance your confidence as a performer. Playing music with like-minded people is fun and a brilliant energy boost.
Both vocal and instrumental lessons are available and the courses are designed to cater for all tastes. The exact offering will vary according to demand. Some courses are well established, with the same groups re-convening year after year. Choirs and orchestras, many of them well-known in their local area, also often operate under the tutelage of the centres. At times, tutors will have knowledge of a highly specialised area, which allows the centre to offer tuition in more unusual topics.
As a rule, courses are offered either on an individual basis or to smaller and larger groups. Some adult education centres also offer tuition that conforms to the requirements of the so-called basic education in the arts, a goal-oriented qualification, supported by a national curriculum. It is designed to offer a basis for a life-long and independent enjoyment of music. Some centres also offer early years education in music for pre-school children.
