Weatherstate: The importance of music in young people’s lives
Toby from UK based south coast punk rock band Weatherstate discusses the importance of music in the lives of young people:
Hi! My name’s Toby Wrobel, I play the drums in Weatherstate, and I’m here to comment on a very important subject to me as an ex-music tutor and youth care worker.
I first fell in love with tutoring during my music degree. There was a teaching module involved, and one of my first assessments was teaching a year 8 class, and I was terrified! What made it exciting for me was helping the shy students come out of their shell and show off a bit; they always surprised me. My uncle was already teaching music, and he helped me get a job in Swindon, where I took on one of the leaving teacher’s work, and it went from there!
In recent years in the UK, music in the education sector has received multiple cuts resulting in schools removing music from their curriculum and many young people missing out on discovering and exploring an unknown or hidden talent that may never see the light of day, this is tragic! In the past, I worked for a fantastic music tuition company that specialised in peripatetic music classes (in essence, I would travel to multiple schools and deliver music lessons).
This was paid for by the schools, but when the cuts started happening, schools had less money for music lessons meaning that work became scarcer. This, of course, meant bad news for me but what I couldn’t get over was that the kids I was teaching would miss out. This was a weekly escape from a dreaded lesson where they could let go and be themselves! Music is also an enjoyable way to improve on cognitive abilities like hand-eye coordination for the little ones, and sometimes I would come across kids that couldn’t hold a pencil but could drum a paradiddle holding sticks correctly, which ultimately lead to improvements in other areas. I eventually became a youth care worker in a residential school for young boys with challenging behaviours. This school did not have a music curriculum, but they did have a drum kit which is a great anger management tool and something to focus negative energy on and turn into positive energy.
The change I saw in those lads when they were drumming with me was instant; I didn’t have to do anything!
Please don’t underestimate the importance of music lessons for your youngster! If little Timmy wants to learn guitar but hates school, you better believe that music will help!
Peace! Toby x
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Weatherstate recently released their new single, Hangar. Check it out:
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