Vivace Music School
Vivace - where music really is for life!
Established in 1994 as the Len Tyler Music School and continuing under new ownership as Vivace Music School, we are a fun and friendly music school for children from birth to upper primary school age with weekly live online classes. These replace our classes at The Harlington in Fleet, Hampshire and the Spire Church in Farnham for the duration of the Coronavirus crisis.
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Passionate about children and music, we are solidly rooted in the Kodály approach to bring you the best teaching practices from around the world.
Our goal is to inspire in children a love for music that lasts a lifetime so that they reap the many benefits of music in all areas of life.
You will love our classes – wanting to see that spark of fascination, enjoyment and curiosity in your child’s eyes is what drives our ongoing quest for the best songs, games and activities.
Nadja Flowerdew
Principal's Notes
Vivace - pronounced like Versace - is Italian and means "lively". For me, it encapsulates what music is all about. I've always loved music. As a young child, I used to sing more than talk, and since I did a lot of both, you get the idea! I learned to play several instruments, and this was when I felt the most alive. However, music also felt like a foreign language - something I sensed I ought to understand, but couldn't. I was able to play composed music, but not compose myself. I was able to play what the eyes could see - music notation - but could barely play by ear. I felt that there was a logic to music - something akin to grammar - that was eluding me and while I attained a high standard on my instruments, this sense of not understanding music prevented me from pursuing a career in music.
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When I came across classes at the Len Tyler Music School in 2012, I was immediately hooked. Not only was the singing in the classes beautiful - in tune, in time and varied - I also experienced one light bulb moment after another. My gut feeling had been right - there is a deeper logic to music, and it can be understood and taught in small, incremental steps that build upon each other, just as languages and maths are taught. The nerd in me wanted to know more, and so, mentored by Len Tyler, I trained as a Kodály music teacher, attending courses by the British Kodály Academy, Nikhil Dally from Stepping Notes and others.
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The Kodály approach has literally given me the career in music I thought I could never have. For me, teaching is about sharing the joy of music and the sense of aliveness with my pupils, and fostering a sense of fascination and exploration that makes life exciting.
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For over 25 years, the Len Tyler Music School has shared the joy and skill of music with literally thousands of children. While time stops for no one, and Len has more than earned his retirement, I believe passionately that what Len has established over time needs to continue, so over the past few months, Len, the teachers and myself have worked very hard to create a legacy that we hope will stand the test of time. We originally aimed for a handover at the end of the academic year 2019/20, but Coronavirus necessitated immediate changes to how we run classes, and so we have brought the change date forward. As of the 4th of April 2020, the music school will continue under my ownership. We are working full-steam on creating and delivering live and on-demand online classes that we hope will bring you, not just music, but also a sense of routine and normality in the coming weeks and months.
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