We Care About Your Children!

A fundamental tenent of our teaching philosophy at KMC is to teach the whole child. We are not a hot-house or prodigy-producing factory. Far from it.

Temi comes into class wearing a scowl on her face. She has had a long, hot day at school, and is quite fatigued. To top it all, Betty annoyed her in the playground earlier and Ms Rayo threatened to give her detention if she doesn't hand in her overdue project tomorrow morning. The last thing she wants, or needs, is an activity that demands a significant cognitive load on her already exhausted brain. She is also annoyed at the thought that she still has to spend two hours later this evening finishing off her 3D cardboard model and would rather be home right now getting that done.

Reading her mood, Mr Korede knew he would have to abandon his lesson plan and focus on helping Temi. His priority is to help her decompress and salvage what he can of the lesson.

He starts off by saying: "Who upset my Temi? Who??? Tell me so I can go sort them out". Temi gives him a little half smile. She flops down on the piano bench and after a few deep sighs, ventilates about her day. Mr Korede listens attentively, occasionally interjecting with a few sympathetic sounds and refrains from commenting, interrupting or trying to solve the problem.

Five minutes later, Temi's face is visibly more relaxed. While her deadlines and workload remain the same, and thinking about Betty still annoyed her, she nevertheless felt less stressed and less tired, having offloaded her pent-up frustrations.

"I hope you get everything done tonight before bedtime and that you are happy with the outcome" says Mr Korede. "How about we get started so we are done as soon as possible and you can go home and finish off your project?". Temi nods in agreement.

"Where would you like to start our lesson today?" asks Mr Korede - we could do some theory, or listening exercises, or scales, or review your old pieces or start on a new piece?"

"I want to start on that new piece we spoke about last week" replies Temi. Feeling a sense of agency, she opens up her book to the right place and starts playing through the piece.

50 minutes later, the class ends and Temi leaves the room with a bounce in her step and a weight off her shoulders. She doesn't feel so daunted about completing the project and already has some ideas on finishing touches she could add to make her 3D sculpture stand out from the crowd. Her hour-long mean music classs had given her a new lease of life and she left the lesson feeling refreshed and reset.

Mr Korede was pleased to have managed to complete 3 of the 5 actvities he had on his lesson plan, some of it to a high standard, considering that Temi was in no frame of mind to take her lesson when she arrived...

Every day, a Temi walks through our doors or joins a virtual class, carrying the weight of their world on their shoulders. Their issues are real, and may seem insurmountable.

Rather than ram-rod them through the class, we are not afraid to pause and be with them in the murky waters, because their mental health and emotional wellbeing are arguably more important than anything else.

A well crafted music learning experience will lift the mood, relieve stress and refresh the mind and is thoroughly recommended at the end of a busy school or work day.

At KMC, we care about the entirety of your child, not just their ability to perform.