Welcome to the Acorn Rooms

Getting here
My address is 720 Newmarket Road Cambridge, CB5 8RS.
Coming from town this is opposite the cemetery car park; Heading towards town it’s just after Meadowlands.
Parking
You can park on the drive or the verge outside. Some students park on Meadowlands itself. If you cycle please bring your
bikes through the side gate. The code is C2370Z
When you come through the side gate my teaching studio will be directly in front of you. Please take a seat in the waiting room.
What to bring
Please bring your instrument, music and some hydration – blowing woodwind instruments can be thirsty work.

1 Face-to-face lessons The Acorn Rooms studio building

I teach face-to-face and online via Zoom. I keep my teaching dates in line with the school terms, with extra lessons
available in Summer Holiday time. You’ll receive a contract from me once a year to keep information up to date.
My Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check certificate is available to view on request. Our waiting area has an eco-friendly composting toilet.
If you’re feeling poorly This toilet must be used sitting down so that it can compost
the right things properly. Liquids go in the front bit, solids
If you’re feeling ill and you’re due to attend a lesson, please don’t come! Let us know as early as you reasonably can, then
in the back.
rest up and concentrate on getting better. Making music is physically demanding, and will not help a speedy recovery.
Please make sure you use the toilet sitting down. If your
The waiting room child is on the young side, please check with them that they
The Acorn Rooms waiting room has a radio and a magazine rack. There is also an eco-friendly composting toilet – if you’re are using the composting toilet properly.
not familar with these, please see the information on the right.
You’ll see posters in the waiting room at The Acorn Rooms – these are for gigs and concerts coming by bands that I work
with or bands that rehearse here once all the learning is done for the day. Please do check them out!
 Using the Portal
Using the Student Portal Zoom online lessons - optimum settings:
On the right is a list of optimum settings for lessons using Zoom. Please set these before you join the Zoom Waiting Room. In the top left of the Zoom meeting you should see a button
called ‘Original Setting for Musicians - Off’. Click this to On.
The ‘My Music Staff’ Student Portal has a wide range of resources, including invoices, attendance and upcoming lessons.
You’ll also find news, and your practise notes for the coming week. If you have online lessons it’ll include your link to the If you don’t see this button, go to Audio Settings in
Zoom waiting room. Here’s what’s there in more detail (you’ll see icons down the left hand side of the screen): Preferences and:
• Calendar – this shows your lessons, and also slots available, incase you need to reschedule your lesson to another time. To • Test your microphone level while playing/singing. If the
reschedule, click on the Slot Available icon and hit Register. You can also cancel your lesson if you’re not going to be available. meter maxes out, lower the Input volume.
• Contact info – who and where we are • Uncheck ‘automatically adjust microphone volume’
• News – blog posts, important notices, such as availability of parking, traffic jams affecting the area etc. Also details of • Check ‘original sound for musicians’
live music that I’m performing that may be of interest. • Check ‘high fidelity music mode’
• Accounts and invoices – this tab is for the grown ups only. It shows the lessons booked and completed, invoices raised and
If you do not have access to the Student Portal, please email
2 balances due. Do check the due date on the left however; it defaults to month end rather than term end and can be misleading.
me and I’ll send you a login.
• Attendance and notes – here is the history of attendance and also practise notes. The notes summarise what was
covered in the lesson for your information, what to practise for next time, and what will be covered in the next lesson. If If you are a parent of a student and you would like the
you’d rather Practise Notes were emailed as well, please let me know. student to have their own access, I can set this up too. It’s
• Lending library – this section’s not currently in use. basically the same information, without the invoicing and
• Online resources – one of the most used and useful areas of your Student Portal. Here you will find sheet music and billing information. I get a notification whenever students/
backing tracks / piano accompaniments for things being covered in lessons. The backing track function is especially parents log in, but that’s all - the rest of your use of the
helpful as you can change the speed of the playback. This is why I put tracks in here rather than emailing to you. Portal is private.
Also in this section are warm ups, and worksheets specific to your instrument.
• Practise log – this is for you to use, you can log your own practise time to keep a track of it. I’m not pushing my
students to use this function as you all know practise makes progress, but I also know that sometimes life just gets in
the way and practise doesn’t happen. I’m not here to judge.
• Repertoire – see Lending Library
• Message history – this is a log of emails and contacts sent through My Music Staff.
And that’s it – there’s actually quite a lot going on and I want to make sure you’re all aware of the extremely useful info that
this management system has to offer! If you have any questions or queries about any of the above please do drop me a line!
 Online lessons
What you need:
• Your computer / laptop / tablet in a living space
• Your instrument set up and ready to go
• A Music Stand
• Your music
Vision
• Please stand in a well-lit space with the light facing you, not behind you.
• Face your camera, try to make sure your embouchure and hands are visible to me.
• Use a computer if possible. A phone screen is generally too small and the tablet version of Zoom doesn’t give you as many audio settings to get the best sound quality.
Sound
Zoom is optimized for meetings, not music. The filters that cut out background noise and echos can disrupt the audio quality.
3
In the top left of the Zoom meeting you should see a button called ‘Original Setting for Musicians - Off’. Click this to On.
If you don’t see this button, go to Audio Settings in Preferences and:
• Test your microphone level while playing/singing. If the meter maxes out, lower the Input volume.
• Uncheck ‘automatically adjust microphone volume’
• Check ‘original sound for musicians’
• Check ‘high fidelity music mode’
Recording Lessons
There is a function available to record the lesson which I can enable if you wish - I am not intending to use it myself but if you would like a copy of the lesson for your
reference do let me know at the start and I shall record and upload the lesson to Dropbox for you.
Safeguarding
The pupil must take lessons in a room with an open door (no bedrooms / bathrooms please if possible) and parents/guardians must provide that one of them or a trusted
adult shall be in the same premises as the pupil while the lesson takes place.
Please dress as you would for a lesson here at The Acorn Rooms.
Enjoy your lesson!