“I was no A* student music kind of captivated, gave me a passion and a purpose” – Anthem Music School is coming to MediaCityUK

Anthem music school is coming to MediaCityUK on the 13th of September 2021.

The family-run business run by Rachel and Adam Atkins is located in Lord Byron’s Square in MediaCityUK.

Despite having two other locations in both Monton and Urmston they now want to make their mark in MediaCityUK too.

Adam Atkins, Founder and Director of Anthem Music School said that: [the] other [locations] are filling up quite quickly so we’re looking for some extra space.

Even though each location is approximately 10-15 minutes apart from each one Adam is aware that it can be difficult to travel depending on what city you live in and on how the individual is travelling by car, by foot, or by public transport.

Mr Atkins said that: “MediaCityUK has got that kind of exciting music and media vibe to it now. When this unit Came up available for rent, we jumped on the chance to open a new space there.”

Anthem music school run concerts twice a year one in the summer and one at Christmas and have an attachment to the media city area. There is usually about 50 or 60 students that take part in each concert and 100-200 parents who come down and watch.

The school takes students from age three upwards of all abilities from its 3-4 mini musicians’ program which is a fun introduction to music lessons and based around games and activities. Introduction to music aged 5-6 students can learn 4 instruments and they have four weeks on each one on guitar, drums ukulele and piano, so that they can find out what instrument they want to learn the most.

Mr Atkins said: “Kids at age 5/6 aren’t always sure what instrument they’d like to learn, and parents aren’t always sure what’s best to start them off with. We’ve found out that the best way is just letting them have a try etc… that’s our intro to music course which has become really popular this has not been advertised before.”

“It’s exciting that kids are getting into music after the past 18 months with covid everyone’s been separated and it’s nice to be able to bring people together it’s good fun in the class, people are making friends and building relationships through a hobby which is really cool for us, it’s what we love. After that students can learn any instrument by age 5 and are grouped by age and ability, small classes, kids’ classes, teen classes, and adult classes.

You can learn from never having picked up an instrument to being an adult who used to play an instrument but gone away from it and got busy with work and is now getting back into it. The adults are enjoying being a part of the community and the groups and they get involved in the concerts too.”

Anthem Music School want to include the children’s parents within their child’s learning, so they have created a lesson system, all the lesson notes get written up each week and emailed directly home so that parents can keep up to date and practice notes can be downloaded from the website.

Students choose to get involved and we also have smaller events which are called solo recording sessions which means more for students who want to learn a piece on their own and shoot a music video performing a piece that they’ve been working on in class the music video gets edited and then the footage can then be shared onto their social medias, if the student wishes to do so.

The school are down to just having small group classes, as these are really popular.

Pre-covid-19, lessons were conducted over Zoom however, Atkins added: “The majority of students that was fine for other students that needed that in-person engagement they went on pause and are now joining us back in person.

“Some of the students really enjoyed the zoom not having to commute to the school, so some of the adults are staying online. But the majority are coming back to in-person classes as the restrictions have eased.

One of the best things about music is playing to music, to play the part that you’ve learnt to the track and see what it sounds like. However, it’s hard to do with Zoom and the lag.”

Mr Atkins said: “We started teaching in high schools and primary schools whilst we were studying at Salford University. So, we started teaching guitar and keyboard singing and drums.

“In 2017 once we’d done about 10 years of teaching, we decided to set up our own music school over in Urmston not too far from the Trafford centre and then two years later we opened one in Monton/Eccles in about seven days’ time we’re due to open in MediaCityUK as well that would be our third location which is exciting.

Mr Atkins added [we have a] “team of about 20 teachers we did used to teach the majority of the classes by ourselves but now we ensure that everything runs smoothly, we have graduates from Salford University, and we are really happy to be working with them.”

“For me I wasn’t too into sports at school academically I was alright. But I was no A star student. Music kind of captivated, gave me a passion and a purpose and that’s just something that I want to pass down to kids.

If they have a tough day at school to just get on the drums and bash out a rock song for twenty minutes, it relieves stress it’s good fun and it’s something that both myself and Rachel are very passionate about. Hopefully we’ll be able to inspire a new generation of musicians that are confident and able, excellent performers.”

You can apply for classes through their filling in the online form on the website, or via Facebook.