GROOVE ACADEMY
About Us
Established in 2004, Groove Academy is a community-music school for young musicians from the ages of 11 to 16 years old, based in Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond-Upon-Thames.
Over the years we have worked with hundreds of young people from all over our borough and the surrounding boroughs of Spelthorne, Hounslow and Kingston-Upon-Thames.
Our students come from various musical backgrounds, including those who have more formal music training, i.e. grades and classical training, to those who play by ear and are self-taught. Whilst grades are not a prerequisite, we do expect to see good pitch, rhythm and musicality, essential ingredients for a developing musician.
Our aim is to build a community of like-minded young musicians, who, together, are able to achieve great things and make an impact at a local, national and international level.
By working on a variety of projects, we are able to teach our students what they need to know to achieve the desired results for each project. By carefully choosing projects with different aims, musical genres, and different levels of difficulty, we are able to educate our students and develop their skills and technique within the context of a given project.
We work within a broad spectrum of musical genres and also use musicology (the exploration of the cultural, ethnic and historical background of the songs and the rationales of the artist).
Within this framework of learning, we are able to develop a broad musical concept within our students, providing them with the tools they need to accomplish their goals at Groove Academy and beyond.
For examples of our training methods please press the link below:
As important as the above framework incorporating musical skills, technical ability and musicology are, there is one more essential ingredient: creativity.
Through continued use of improvisation, we teach our students to step out and experiment, thereby developing their ear, and encouraging innovation.
We provide opportunities for song-writing and composition, having produced four albums since our launch in 2004.
By producing music videos for our original material, we are able to involve our students in the whole creative process, from filming and editing, to make-up, costume , sets and lighting.
Please press the link below to listen to our albums and music videos:
An example of a project which combined every area of our work, musical skills, technical ability, musicology, improvisation, song-writing and composition, with that added ingredient of creativity, was our original show, 'The Aimless Wanderings of Peer Gynt', based on Ibsen's Peer Gynt.
By given our students this framework or context, they were able to incorporate every aspect of their learning into the production of this show from writing, composing, arranging and performing, to drama, narration, costume, etc. They also researched Ibsen, and the society he came from, and why he wrote Peer Gynt which produced a wealth of meaning which would have otherwise been missed.
For video footage of Peer Gynt, please press the link below:
Ben wrote this article for us a few years ago. He completed his BTEC and is now hard at work as a gigging musician.
To find out more about what Ben and several of our former students are doing now, click on the button below.
We are committed to providing performance opportunities at a local, national and international level and have a long and proven track record. (See Performance History)
We are able to advise our students as they explore the possibility of going into secondary, further and higher education in the field of music, the performing arts and the creative industries.
We have seen many of our students audition for and be accepted into educational institutions such as the Brit School of Technology and Performing Arts for years 10 - 14, Brooklands College Music Department, Kingston College Music Department, BIMM, Goldsmith's University, The Institute of Contemporary Music, the SAE Institute, UK, University of Westminster, Southampton Solent University, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Berklee College of Music, Boston.
Our slogan is 'Building Community Through Music'. Whilst 'music' is our medium, and we aim for excellence, 'community' is the essential ingredient which makes it work. We believe that through the forging of friendships and respect for one another, we are establishing a strong musical community, able to tackle anything together.
Our cyclical model of work, 'The Four Rs', cultivates this culture of mutual respect.
For more details on our model press the link below:
Groove Academy is a registered Arts Award Centre. (See Arts Award page for more details).