Music Lessons

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About Our Tuition Centre

Music For Everybody

Lessons are a huge part of Shades and continue to grow in numbers. We offer one-to-one tuition as well as small group lessons, catering for all ages and abilities. From Rock and Reggae through to Classical, Jazz, and Blues, we help students achieve their goals in any style — whether that’s working towards qualifications or simply playing for fun.

Students are encouraged to take regular graded exams (entirely optional). These are fully accredited, ranging from GCSE-equivalent grades at the lower levels through to A-level standard and UCAS points at higher grades.

At Shades Music, our teachers are the heart of everything we do. Each instructor brings a wealth of professional experience, deep musical knowledge, and a genuine passion for teaching. With excellent teaching styles that are engaging, patient, and adaptable, our tutors know how to connect with students of all ages and skill levels. They take the time to understand each learner’s goals, tailoring lessons to build confidence, technique, and creativity. Whether you’re a complete beginner or an advanced musician, you can trust our expert teachers to inspire, motivate, and help you reach your full musical potential.

 

From Rock and Reggae through to Classical, Jazz, and Blues, we help students achieve their goals in any style — whether that’s working towards qualifications or simply playing for fun.

Meet Some Of Our Tutors

Roksana
Roksana - Piano & Violin Tutor

Since graduating from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Roksana has been an active violinist performing classical pop
and jazz music in places such as Poland, UK, and Dubai and she
is also a dedicated violin and piano teacher.

 

Roksana has been teaching children and adults for over a
decade, using various teaching techniques (Suzuki Method,
Alexander Technique). Her students are always distinguished in
ABRSM and Trinity exams.

 

Roksana is very skilled with teaching group lessons as well as
one-2-one. She is teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools
around Birmingham.

 

She has played in many orchestras, including one conducted by Simon Rattle and for the Commonwealth Games 2023- as the
main artist with her 3-piece band, Symphonica Orchetsra.

 

Roksana is also a co-founder of String Thing- piano and violin
duet and Azul Strings- string quartet based in London, performing classical, pop and Bollywood music, on big stages and worldwide.

Jack
Jack

Initially starting out as a self-taught drummer getting hooked after trying it out at the end of a friend's drum lesson - I have spent the last 18 years honing my skills in local bands, playing to thousands in venues and festivals all over the country.

Whether students are absolute beginners tackling their first fills, or drummers looking to delve deeper into theory and technique, I deliver a light-hearted but goal-oriented approach that works towards any student’s aspirations at a pace that works for them.

I specialise in both one-on-one and group tuition and have put on many drum workshops teaching students in local colleges around Birmingham.

Lessons can be geared towards learning to sight-read/write drums or take a more tactile route - learning by listening to the students’ favourite bands/artists.

I teach people of all ages and backgrounds every day; working
through graded exams (1-8), learning a range of skills in multiple genres, helping the students get closer to their gigging goals.

Iain
Iain - Piano & Brass Tutor

Iain graduated with honours from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2003 and has a Postgraduate Diploma in Composition from the Royal Northern College of Music.

 

He was the winner of the Evelyn Forbes Ruark Memorial Scholarship for Solo Piano Performance, the Dr. and Mrs. William Christie Piano Trio Rosebowl, the Miss K.H. McLauchlan Cup for Piano Performance and the RNCM Alan Rawsthorne Composition Prize.

 

As a composer Iain’s music has been performed live on BBC Radio 3 and in concert halls around the UK and abroad including the Bridgewater Hall, Kings Place, Brighton Corn Exchange and the
Kungliga Operan (Royal Swedish Opera). Iain was in the band Lucky to be Here in North East Scotland and was a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland.

 

He has performed and narrated his own works in concerts at Birmingham Conservatoire and the
Royal Northern College of Music, and has performed at the prestigious St Andrews Old Course Hotel.

 

In 2015 he was proudly conferred with Honorary Membership of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (HonRBC) for services to the music profession. In 2022, he was elected as a Fellow of the Guild of Musicians and Singers (FGMS), presented to him at the Regent Hall in April 2023.

 

Iain is an enthusiastic and patient teacher passionate about unlocking potential in every student. He has over two decades of teaching experience. His primary years music education work had
been judged as “outstanding” by Ofsted.

Liz
Roksana - Piano & Violin Tutor

Liz Read is a freelance musician based in Moseley, Birmingham who teaches a range of vocal, piano and woodwind lessons in music centres and schools.

She also conducts community choirs and performs regularly with various orchestras and bands, such as Symphonic Ibiza, Jack Goodall and The People's
Orchestra and Big Band.

Liz is a fully qualified teacher and gained six years' experience as a primary school teacher before branching out to specialise in music, and has worked in primary, secondary and special education school settings delivering peripatetic 1:1, small group and whole class music lessons.

Mendi
Mendi

B.A. Bachelor of Arts, M.A. Master of Arts (Honours) in Indian Tabla music.

Mendi started learning the tabla drum from the age of 3 years old, today he is a versatile freelance percussionist who has over 30 years of experience touring around the world.

Mendi performs nationally and internationally as a percussionist and has
collaborated with high calibre artists such as Peter Gabriel, Darius Brubeck, Anad Shankar, Shalil Shankar and Malkit Singh MBE. He has performed in venues such a Gandhi stadium - India 2001, Chile stadium -
South America 2005, Bellas Artist - Mexico City 2009 , Womad festival
2010, Victoria Town Hall - Brazil 2014, Etihad Stadium - Manchester 2017,
O2 arena - London 2017, Symphony Hall - Birmingham 2018, to name a few.

In 2017 Mendi performed with Take That in the Wonderland arena, stadium UK and Ireland Tour; playing live to over half a million people. One of the shows, from the O2 arena, broadcast live in 600 cinemas around the world. Mendi's most currant work has been creating online Tabla courses The Ultimate Beginner Tabla Course part 1, 2 and 3 available at Udemy.com

Mendi's most recent tours have been in Saudi Arabia with a break dance production called TBreak and Barcelona with he's Duo Tala Tarang consisting of Tabla Tarang and Harp.

LESSONS

HOW DO I BOOK A LESSON?

Book

Email or phone the shop to book your lesson with one of our qualified instructors.

Learn

Come in store and learn how to play your instrument. No matter your level we will take you to the next level.

WE ARE

IN THE HEART OF BIRMINGHAM