Strings West

2026, The year of the horse is just around the corner. What better time to try something new! Cello lessons are available in Newport by the term or casually. Email [email protected] to find out more! 🎻🎶🐴

Thank you to all our new cellists! It's lovely to see your enthusiasm each week. You are all making great progress and we are having a ball!

If you wanted to try cello lessons, it's not too late. We have a handful of lesson times left for both child and adult. But get in touch soon - they're filling fast!

Email: [email protected]
or text/phone Laura on 0404 889 613

Now taking cello enrolments for 2024!

Should read Term 1, 2024!

Although group classes have now closed, individual cello lessons will be available from Term 1, 2024 with Founder and Director, Laura Sheridan. Contact us for more information.

Although group classes have now closed, individual cello lessons will be available from Term 1, 2024 with Founder and Director, Laura Sheridan. Contact us for more information.

Stay home, stay safe, and keep creating

String Things #11: Less is More!

Did you know that when it comes to practice: less is more? . . . Well, more or less ;)

Studies show that multiple small amounts of practice are much more effective than occasional large amounts of practice.

Why?

Because of three things: attention, repetition and rest.

Building the co-ordination and memorization involved in performing a piece requires repetition. So we need to play a piece multiple times.

But to engage the brain and get the most out of these repetitions, we need to set a goal for each iteration, and pay close attention to pursuing that goal in a careful and considered way.

Finally, to move that new knowledge from short term to long term memory, our brain needs to rest. So including breaks (and better yet, sleeps) between practice sessions is a key to success.

So while we’re all at home in COVID lockdown, find a way to include multiple short practice sessions in your day and practice smarter not harder ☺

When Strings West returns we will be moving to Mason Street, in the very heart of Newport!

Which means, when you drop off your young musician, you will have one hour to shop, eat, browse, and play!

We’d love to meet the neighbours, and maybe even create a loyalty card for our families to use.

So can you tell us, which businesses and shops would you like us to visit?

While coronavirus keeps us inside, work is underway to develop the curriculum for our new 2021 Wrens and Robins classes.

These beginner group classes will now run for an entire year before any need for individual lessons.

Each lesson will still comprise maximum opportunities for creativity and place each child, their abilities and their interests, at the centre of their learning.

Why?

Because children learn best when they are engaged and placed at the forefront of their own learning.

Which is why our mandate at Strings West is not to ‘teach’, but teach, but to ‘educate, encourage and inspire’!

This week’s musical story-time is ‘Galaa’, by ABC Classic kids ‘Music For the Dreaming’.

In this episode kids will; listen for the sounds of summer, like cicadas singing and happy bongo rhythms, do the Rompy Stompy Crab dance, sing-along with host Kamil to Aunty Brenda’s song about summer, and learn more Dhurga words associated with summer.

Music for The Dreaming: Galaa Galaa means summer in the Dhurga language of the Yuin People, and in Wreck Bay, summer means fishing! In this episode kids will listen for the sounds of summer like cicadas singing and happy bongo rhythms, do the Rompy Stompy Crab dance, sing-along to Aunty Brenda’s song, and learn Dhurga words as...