Like music technique, music theory is built into my lessons. It is vital to allow the pupil to understand how music is composed and performed. This helps hugely in the future for being able to read music at sight (sightread). Many gifted musicians do not read music at all and ‘play by ear.’ While this is also a skill I develop, I think it’s a gift to be able to read music and opens up so many possibilities for performance for life. I liken it to being able to read words in a book – music has it’s own language. During a lesson, getting to know note values, the music stave, time signatures, keys and dynamics (louds and softs) are taught and build up understanding. Knowing this element of music can be excellent if the pupil also studies music at school and is also a valuable skill for the future, opening up so many more possibilities and making music so much more accessible.