JENNY RIDLEY
About
Jenny is a highly experienced teacher of woodwind in the Salisbury area who creates a bright and motivational environment within which her pupils can develop a lifelong love of music. She is a fully qualified teacher and performer with over twenty five years of valuable experience, both in woodwind teaching and in delivering the secondary music curriculum at Key Stages 3, 4, and 5 . She teaches instruments at both primary and secondary levels, and as a member of Salisbury Area Music Co-operative (SAMC) and the Salisbury Area Young Musicians (SAYM) she focuses strongly on delivering a motivational, challenging and inspirational curriculum to her pupils. In teaching observations both as Head of Music and as an woodwind teacher she has employed a unique style which motivates through the use of humour and playful embellishments, with her quality of teaching praised both by Ofsted and in lesson observations with Wiltshire music Service.
Jenny relishes teaching flute, clarinet, saxophone and recorder from beginner to diploma level and has a high retention rate of pupils. She offers Wider Opportunity / First Access classes which culminate in concerts held at the pupils’ schools. This enables students to display their successes to their fellow pupils, teachers, parents and governors. She also directs music ensembles ranging from recorder groups to wind bands and mixed instrumental ensembles, both in her capacity as an SAYM music director and as a teacher providing tuition in her schools.
Jenny has performed regularly as a soloist, and as a woodwind specialist .
What I / we help young people achieve
Whatever their level, and whether of primary or secondary school age pupils can attain self confidence and enjoyment from lessons. Jenny imbues new challenges with a sense of fun and vivacity allowing pupils to take part in the learning process with strong self belief .
Sensitivity is displayed towards pupils' levels of confidence and lessons are directed towards achieving the best out of pupils' enjoyment of music. To this end, all instrumental students are offered varied routes on their chosen musical journeys, from taking grades (ABRSM or Trinity) up to diploma level, or improving their ability to perform without any interest in taking grades .
Guidance on achieving the best personal standards at GCSE and A'Level performances is given early in pupils' GCSE and A' Level studies so that they can perform their final exams with expectations of achieving results of which they can be proud..
From their first few lessons pupils are able to perform complete pieces from a personal list of 'performance pieces' .
Jenny's pupils use their musical interests in varied ways, from studying their chosen instrument at music college to becoming music teachers themselves. Others choose to play in small local groups or at home for their own enjoyment.
Opportunities for children & young people
- To learn to play an instrument and / or develop skills on an instrument
- To create / write music and / or lyrics
- To play, perform music with others
- To learn things about oneself , other subjects or life-skills through musical activity
- To work with and support other young musicians
- To develop their wellbeing
Also Works With
Member of Salisbury Area Music Co-operative (SAMC) and tutor with Salisbury Area Young Musicians (SAYM)
Times
- Term Time
- After School
- Weekends
- School Holidays
Working with special needs
Jenny regularly works with pupils who have SEND in mainstream education. She ran regular community music workshops for adults with SEND as Head of Music.
Taught Instruments
- Woodwind
- Curriculum Music (Primary)
- Curriculum Music (Secondary)
- Musical Director / Conductor
Ages Taught
- 5-6
- 7-10
- 11-13
- 14-15
- 16+
Level Taught
- Beginners
- Intermediate
- Advanced
Qualifications, Grades & Certificates Taught
- Instrument grades
- Duke of Edinburgh Award
Musical Clusters Covered
- Salisbury / Wilton
- Amesbury
- Tidworth
Endorsements
“Any parent who is thinking about enrolling their child in musical tuition should keep in mind that only half of the teacher’s skills are related to imparting knowledge about the instrument and how to play it. The other half, and for me, a much more important one, is motivating the child to continue playing the instrument, to making the music class a weekly event to which the child looks forward to. As someone who doesn’t know much about music, I am not perfectly suited to evaluating how much my child learned, other than to say that after a couple of years she can confidently produce several tunes which to my ear sound very well executed. What I can say with absolute confidence is that my child enjoyed playing the instrument, that she had fun in lessons and that she looked forward to seeing Jenny every week. Most part of that was during the various lockdowns, and Jenny was extremely responsive in setting up virtual zoom one-to-one teaching classes to make sure that my daughter could progress without disruption. Flute lessons provided a much needed respite from doldrums of lockdown and more importantly, additional social engagement which was very welcome. I can recommend Jenny wholeheartedly and both me and my daughter feel lucky to have been able to engage her as a teacher.” (P. Pavlicic Oct. 2021)
My Training & Development
Jenny keeps herself fully engaged in the process of Professional Development and attends regular sessions at least three times a year:-
Pre 2015 – Regular INSET held at least three times a year by secondary schools whilst employed as Director of Music and peripatetic music teacher with Music Service Provider
05/2016 – Holding Data and sensitive information
Working within a Cooperative
06/2015
– Awareness of Child Abuse and Neglect – Core V15 (online)
01/2017 – Data Protection
– How it feels as a beginner
05/2017 – Music and Mindfulness
– Growing your Business
01/2018 – ABRSM and Trinity music exam boards
– Teach meets and network
– Whole class ensemble teaching
05/2018 – GDPR
– Mental Health First Aid
– Inclusive Music Aware (IMA)
– APPS in Music
– Group Music Making
06/2018
– Awareness of Child Abuse and Neglect – Core V15 (online)
12/2018 – Teaching children with SEND
5/2019 – Early Years
5/2019 – Instrument Hire
5/2019 – Performance Anxiety, tensions, aches and pains
5/2019 – Useful apps, online resources and other technology for teaching
Oct ‘2019 – Mar ‘2020
– Mentor to Teacher Members
Mar-May ‘2020– Online teaching, safeguarding on zoom
5/2020 – Recruiting New Pupils
9/2020 – First aid at work
9-10/2020 – Conducting and directing
10/2020 – Woodwind instrument repair
15/12/2020 – Safeguarding
04/2021 – The new Model Music Curriculum (Mar 2021)
05/2021 – Conducting and Directing
06/2021– Awareness of Child Abuse and Neglect – Core V15 (online)
10/2021– Yolanda Brown: The importance of musical feel
10/2021– Mental Health Awareness
12/2022 – Teaching and autism
05/2022– First Access and resources