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Sunday Life, Sunday 17th November 2024

by Aine Toner

A former TV competition winner has launched a new music school on Belfast's Belmont Road.

Gary Lutton won Guitar Star in 2015 and toured in Europe, the United States and China and, having been fully booked as a guitar teacher for years, decided to open his own premises, Strandtown Music Academy, two months ago.

“I would hold workshops in one venue, teach one-to-one guitar lessons in another, and host student open-mic nights and performances in another,” explains Gary.

“I needed a new space that could not only cope with the greater demand but also accommodate these various activities.

“I've had the idea to start something like this for about three years.

“However, it wasn't until I viewed the premises on the Belmont Road in April that I started putting concrete plans in action for a September 2024 opening.

“The premises had previously been used as a beauty salon and was divided into small studios so we had to knock some walls down to make more open spaces suitable for workshops.”

Gary says he had plenty of great experiences in the wake of his TV win.

“I had the privilege to play in Nitin Sawhney's band for a UK tour, I went to the NAMM show in California (a global music trade show) and I did a bunch of solo tours in Europe and one in China. I also attended various week-long residential seminars led by artists like Pierre Bensusan and Thomas Leeb to further develop my practice.

“The biggest thing I feel I learned from all of that is the importance of playing with others. Particularly with musicians who are more experienced than you are. There's something that you pick up through osmosis when playing with others that you just can't get from a book or a YouTube video.

“This has made it into the ethos of Strandtown Music Academy: we don't just teach the technical side of playing an instrument but also provide opportunities to actually make some music and have fun through workshops, recordings, open-mic nights and performances.”

The school has a number of tutors teaching guitar, bass, drums, piano and singing, as well as running group classes and workshops, one of which, Rock Band, is free. He is hoping to expand his range of classes and lower-cost/free workshops in the future.

“I think it's incredibly important to provide access to music education to as many young people as possible,” says Gary.

“The benefits of learning an instrument and playing music are indisputable in terms of a young person's wellbeing and cognitive development. Music lessons can be expensive and we don't want that to stop young people from being able to learn. For that reason we run free workshops open to guitar, bass, drums, piano and singing every Saturday.”

“Music can enrich lives in so many ways,” continues Gary, who completed a PhD in music at Ulster University in 2019.

“There's a sense of self-efficacy that comes from learning an instrument and knowing that you can improve at something, no matter how slowly. Also, I think it's great that music isn't (or at least shouldn't be) competitive, it's intrinsically rewarding and can be done for its own sake.

“There are cognitive benefits to learning an instrument, especially as we age. Playing with others is a great way to destress and get in that flow state. Finally, performing in front of others can be a great way to develop confidence... even if the nerves never fully go away (as mine definitely haven't!).

Gary believes that everyone can become more musical, it's a matter of finding the “right approach” and the “right medium”.

“Only fairly basic skills are required to be creative and expressive. Lots of musicians whose work I love aren't masters of their instruments but are able to use whatever limited skills they have in unique and creative ways.”