I think we had all suspected 2021 had the potential to throw us some curveballs. Perhaps we had all become a bit too used to our Guernsey bubble way of life. But on the morning of Saturday 23 January that bubble was quickly burst.
Our SOPM Tots sessions have been specifically designed to teach and coach music for young minds.
We use fun musical games to introduce the tots to different instruments and singing. Classes run for 45 minutes and we use our own pre-grade levelling system to track their progress and make sure that they are being rewarded for their achievements.
Most importantly these sessions are great fun!
Currently, private lessons will be resuming as normal however ALL group lessons will break up early for Easter on Monday 23 March. Please be assured that our tutors are taking the necessary steps to prevent any possible contamination for your private lessons. We will keep you constantly updated on this.
Saturday Sessions and Ukulele Club WILL be running this weekend and then stop for Easter break. These will resume again on Saturday 25 April. All of our group students will receive 2 sessions in credit for when we return.
Behind the scenes, we have a solid contingency plan for providing online lessons. If you would prefer this option let us know and your tutor will be in touch to provide further instructions. I can confirm that it will be simple to set up… promise!
You can now join our community on DISCORD.
Please do not come in for your lessons if you are showing any symptoms or have been off school. We really appreciate how many of you have been considerate and let us know that you won’t be able to make it in. Again, we can offer online lessons where possible!
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to email: [email protected]. We will be more than happy to help.
This is a very strange and worrying time for us all. In the six years that I have been directing SOPM, I have never experienced anything like it. However, I have absolute confidence in my team and our incredible customers – yep, that is you guys! Things may get bumpy for a short while but together, it’s nothing that we can’t handle.
All the best, Tyler Edmonds (Director)
We were delighted to welcome Nikki Franklin back to Guernsey. Nikki was yet again very impressed by the attitude and composers shown by all of our awesome students. she also confirmed that she gave out her highest score this year to a SOPM student, for the second year in a row!
Honourable mentions go to the following students who scored 90% or above!
This summer we hosted our two biggest shows ever in celebration of SOPM 5. Across the two nights, we saw over 200 of our students take to the stage. Nice work everyone. ?
The first of those events was the the Summer Showcase at the Royal Centre of Performing Arts. View the full set of photos and buy your favourites from Tall Pictures.
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What a day! Thanks so much to everyone who came to watch us attempt to set the new world record. We never expected so many! ?
We didn’t quite make it but Rodney gave it his best shot and SOPM voices created a wonderful noise. Unfortunately, Ellie, the cow seems to suffer from stage fright!
We have many more exciting SOPM 5 events to come this year, all in aid of our goal to raise £10k for our two charities – Guernsey Mind and Children in Need. We have set up a Just Giving page raising money, please help us hit our target!
Summer School 2019 is one of the most important dates in our calendar. This year was our biggest and most ambitious yet with 50 students performing in 10 brand new bands!
Some of these students were taking to the stage for the first-ever time whilst others just can’t get enough of it and have taken part many times before.
Opportunities included: busking, professional recording, professional band photoshoot, working with a graphic designer on band logo, performing at the Fermain Tavern and taking part in the one and only band camp.
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With all of that said and done, we bring a close to the summer schedule of events! Have a cracking summer everyone, big thank you to everyone that has taken part over the last couple months and we look forward to cracking on with more great events in the coming months!?
Remember you can view a selection of photos and buy your favourites from Tall Pictures. ?
The SOPM Voices Group is going to sing to a Guernsey Cow while it is being milked in an attempt to break the current world record of 2.25 litres in one minute.
Tyler Edmonds, managing director of SOPM said: “It sounds bonkers, but we got the idea after reading research about how cows produce more milk when they listen to music. So we thought ‘perfect!’ and merged our love of Guernsey with music – what is more iconic than the Guernsey Cow!”
According to a study done in 2001 at the University of Leicester, a pair of psychologists showed that slow music did, in fact, increase cows’ milk production by 3% as compared to fast music which had no effect.
Guernsey Cow auditions have already begun and local Farmer Rodney Dyke will be hand-milking the winner on the day. Tyler is confident that they’re in with a chance: “It is our belief that with the collective power of music we can help push Rodney and his dairy cow over the line and claim the World Record.
“We really hope we manage to smash it! If anyone wants to get involved by becoming an event partner and sponsoring our attempt, or by joining in and singing on the day then just contact the school.”
The milking event is taking place on Saturday, 21 July 2019 at the Vintage Agricultural Show, and is one of five events that the School of Popular Music will be embarking on during 2019 to celebrate their fifth birthday. There is also a concert in the pipeline and an exciting partnership with BBC’s Children in Need.
Please contact Tyler Edmonds on 01481 244833 or [email protected] for more information or to arrange interviews.
This study focused on the brain development of young children (6-7 years old) and in particular, they covered the areas responsible for language, sound, reading and speech development.
The study monitored a group of 37 children from an underprivileged neighbourhood in Los Angeles (LA). Thirteen of the children received music training from the LA Youth Orchestra and practised up to seven hours in any given week.
Eleven of those children were enrolled into an athletic club, either football or a swimming programme, and a further thirteen children were starved entirely of any extracurricular programmes at all.
The research team tracked the electrical activity in the children’s brains, conducted behavioural testing and compared the results across the three groups to look for any differences between their development.
The results proved very interesting, after a couple years a pattern emerged showing that the auditory systems of those children that were enrolled in the LA Youth Orchestra Programme had accelerated faster than the groups of children that were not engaged in a regular music activity.
The auditory systems of young children were greatly stimulated by practising music and could be responsible for the earlier engagement of general sound processing.
It is possible that through the early introduction to music, young children can get a head start in the development of their reading abilities, language progression and communication skills.
Source: https://dornsife.usc.edu/bci/brain-and-music/
Dr Assal Habibi, PhD. was one of the Doctors leading this study and we couldn’t think of anyone better to go into the finer details! In the below video she delves deeper into the procedures undertaken and what the broader set of results could mean for the little people in our lives. Below the video we give SOPM’s final thoughts.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1dVbavg9RU
At SOPM we believe everyone should have access to the power of music and the doors it may open both mentally and socially. We provide music classes for all ages and that begins with our SOPM Mini’s! This group is specifically designed to introduce and develop musical skills for young minds.
It has always been our belief that music has a far more profound effect on the development of an individual. Our own evidence brought about through tutoring some of our students for over five years supports the results that Dr Assal Habibi and her team have produced.
But, we believe this is only the tip of the iceberg – yes, we’re very pleased to hear that music does indeed help to accelerate auditory development in young minds, but our evidence suggests that music will continue to provide great value to an individual as they grow into an adult and beyond.
For more information on the services SOPM offers, please explore our website, call us on 01481 244883 or drop us an email [email protected].
SOPM Mini’s: https://www.sopm.gg/sopm-minis/