www.ianobrienmusic.co.uk

Welcome To Ian O'Brien Music

Starter Pack 3.0

Contents:

1. Welcome2. About Us

3. Our Philosophy4. What To Expect5. Meet The Team6. Get Connected

7. Making Other People Happy8. Our Policies

9. Making Sure You're Happy10. Free Lessons: Refer Us To Friends11. Free Strings: Give Your Testimonial

1. Welcome

Hello and a warm welcome to Ian O'Brien Music, I sincerely hope you enjoyed your first lesson. Actually, I'm a little confident you did

as I believe we're doing something pretty special here.

When our customers say 'nobody does that!' it makes us happy. So, we're giving you this welcome pack to introduce some of the things that make us different and to help make sure you're totally happy

too.

Music is an amazing thing, I'm sure you'll agree and some of my best experiences have happened because of my decision to take up the guitar. From the 'buzz' and anticipation that came with fretting my first chord (E major!) to playing my first song (and the feeling that I really could do this), to jamming with friends, learning to

improvise, coming up with my first riffs and ideas and the scared excitement of playing to others.

It's like a secret society you've just joined, you're never really lonely, as there's always another musician close by who has the

shared experiences of learning an instrument. I've met my closest and longest friends through music and I wouldn't have it any other way. Welcome again to Ian O'Brien Music. You're in for some great

experiences.

Yours, Ian O'Brien

About UsWe’re a team of full-time, professional and fully-qualified guitar and bass teachers, aiming to spread happiness by teaching people of all ages and

abilities to play, using the music they love.

We formed in 2005 because we were frustrated with the unregulated nature of private guitar teaching (& the amount of unqualified and inexperienced

part-timers and cowboys). Believing that the average experience of learning guitar should be much better, we set about creating a service for guitar

lessons that are as exceptional as they are enjoyable. We work hard to make sure we live up to this reputation everyday, priding

ourselves on being as enthusiastic about teaching guitar, as we are playing it.

Click the link below to view our video and here what our students think of their lessons in their own words:

http://www.ianobrienmusic.co.uk/blog/ian-obrien-music-guitar-lessons-norwich-the-film

“My son has had lessons from Ian O'Brien Music for about 6 months now and the rate of his progress has been amazing (he was a complete beginner when the lessons started). He now takes the guitar with him wherever we go, is confident enough to show off his skills when we

have friends round and has even composed his own song! Even at 12 years old, my son recognises what a good teacher he has and enjoys practicing the various techniques and eclectic mix of songs that Ian teaches.” - Julian Gratton – Creative Director – Red C Marketing

Our Manifesto #1 Spread Happiness

We aim to spread happiness by teaching people of all ages and abilities to play using the music they love. We also aim to spread happiness to the wider world, that's why £1 from every lesson we teach, goes directly into micro-loans that help people in developing countries to lift themselves out of poverty.

#2 Provide Exceptional, Enjoyable & Inspiring LessonsWe aim to take the stuffiness and mystery out of learning music and to create environments where you'll be immediately comfortable, even if you're never touched a guitar before. If something isn't enjoyable, we're all a lot less likely to stick with it, so whatever your aims and abilities, we'll bring our passion for music to every lesson.

#3 Blow People's Minds (With Service)We aim to differentiate ourselves by doing something a little unconventional and innovative. This means going above and beyond what's expected, and aiming for what we do to have real emotional impact. We're not your average music teachers and we're not about to let our student's experiences be average either.

#4 Be Humble, Pursue Growth, Develop As A TeamWe're all fully qualified and each hold more than 7 years experience, but If we are to stay this far ahead, we must continue to learn, grow and develop ourselves. Even our simple process of putting our heads together on a regular basis, to discuss learning music and share lesson ideas, allows us to pool our skills, knowledge and resources far beyond what we (or others) could do in isolation.

#5 Build A Community Around Playing & Learning MusicVia our regular lessons, performance opportunities, newsletters, blog posts, videos, interviews with musicians, articles and social interactions we aim to foster and contribute to a local community based around a love of playing and learning music. No egos, no rockstar attitudes, just a love of music, great experiences and sharing them with like minded people.

What To Expect• Enjoyable one hour lessons, planned around what you want to do on the guitar,

using the music that you love - rather than the usual 'one size fits all' approach

• A structured, systematic and step-by-step approach to learning guitar

• Song based lessons, using real music - not made up examples

• To learn at your own pace, exploring as much or a little of the 'bigger picture' of music as you want to

• To learn the most effective ways to learn guitar, practice and take on board new information - so you can advance as quickly as you want to

• To be playing your first songs, in your first couple of lessons

And if they fit your aims, we also like to include some:• How to improvise and play lead guitar - so you can jam to backing tracks or with

others, holding your own in a variety of styles

• Mini 'ear skills' activities that develop your aural skills and listening ability so you can make sense of what's happening in music when you listen to it

• How to write riffs, chord progressions and songs that you like: Approaches that build upon what you are learning to help you develop your own ideas and creativity.

• Development of your overall musicality, in respect of rhythms, styles, ear skills, improvisation and creativity.

• Knowledge of how chords and scales work and fit into keys, so that you can make up your own versions of them, come up with your own ideas and understand what's happening in the songs you like.

You'll also receive our monthly newsletter, complete with resources, tips, articles, musician's interviews, student of the month and free back tracks. Plus the opportunity to play in our relaxed and friendly showcases and jam sessions.

Meet The TeamEven though we run a tight and professional ship here at Ian O'Brien Music, we also like to keep everything relaxed, comfortable and friendly. So here's our opportunity to introduce ourselves and say hi : )

Ian O'Brien ‒ Founder & Guitar TeacherThe founder of Ian O'Brien Music, Ian's been playing guitar for 18 years and teaching it for 11. During this time he's played in quite a few bands and toured the UK and Europe several times. He loves writing music as much as playing and teaching it and recently created the soundtrack for the McCoys Premier League Darts Tournaments in the UK. As well as teaching guitar and running Ian O'Brien Music, Ian also teaches bands and consults Access To Music, Music Colleges. When not being musical he likes to read, travel, watch films and drink coffee.

Pat Falgate ‒ Guitar TeacherPat's lived the last 15 years as a full-time musician.He graduated from Access to Music in Norwich in 2002 and went on to study as a session musician at the British Academy of New Music in London.Pat gigs regularly and tours internationally both with his own trio (the Pat Falgate Trio) and with a variety of other duos. Over the years, Pat has accrued a vast amount of experience playing many different styles of musicfrom rock, pop, funk, reggae, soul and jazz to bossa nova, world and folk.He can be found in Norwich on Sunday afternoons performing his weekly residency at Cinema City.

Owen Morgan ‒ Bass TeacherOwen is magically blessed with looking far younger than his years and has spent the last decade of them earning his living as a musician. He's played around the world in a variety of acts, from concert halls and recording studios, to Glastonbury tents. He's worked with Mercury Prize nominated artists Fionn Regan and Wild Beasts, plus EZ Rollers, The Darkness, Empire of the Sun, The Rifles, Imelda May, Teenage Fanclub and Steve Harley. He's also the bass player of choice for Ray Simmons - Principle of the London Symphonic Orchestra, in his Jazz ensemble.

For over 8 years Owen's been teaching bass guitar and upright bass to players of all levels, he teaches at Ian O'Brien Music, Access To Music (the music college in Norwich) and can also be found running a variety of workshops and masterclasses.

Get ConnectedWe provide a variety of ways for you to connect with us, that way so you can keep up to date in the way you prefer. In the least, we recommend you sign up to receive our monthly email news letter. That way you'll get our articles, tips, musician's interviews, videos and backing tracks and keep up to date of

the help we give people in developing countries by choosing who we help each month.

Here's what to do:

1. Sign up to receive our monthly newsletterEmail us with your name, address, phone number and date of birth to

info@ianobrienmusic@co.uk

2. 'Like' us on Facebook & get our updates: http://www.facebook.com/ianobrienmusic

3. 'Follow' us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ianobrienmusic

4. +1 us on Google+ & view or leave testimonials:http://g.co/maps/wesud

5. Check us out at Kiva.org:See how we're all helping people in developing countries to lift

themselves out of poverty at:www.kiva.org/lender/ianobrienmusic

Making Other People HappyWe don't just aim to spread happiness to our students, but to those who

need our help in developing countries too. So for every lesson that we teach, £1 goes into direct, nonprofit, personal micro-loans that help people in

developing countries lift themselves out of poverty.

Most of the poor overseas are self employed and a small loan to purchase business related items such as sewing machines or seeds for crops can

empower them to earn their way out of poverty.

It's because of our amazing students and their families (that's you!) that we can do this. So, please join in and help us decide who to fund each month.

We'll ask you to vote in our e-newsletter, and report on their progress.It only takes a minute and it changes lives, so please, help us decide who to

fund!

Visit our page at www.kiva.org/lender/ianobrienmusic to see who we've helped so far and how it's going.

Our PoliciesFor everybody's sanity we have three simple policies you're required to

1. stick to:1. All lessons are payable at the time of the lesson (although some

people prefer to pay for multiple lessons in advance).

2. To cancel or change the time of a lesson for any reason, we require 24 hours notice, otherwise the full amount is due.

3. You must pick up your instrument between lessons.

Making Sure You're Totally HappyFrom time to time we'll contact you to thank you for your custom, check that everything is going well, that you're enjoying your lessons and to find out if we can improve anything for you. The purpose of this is to help us provide the best lessons we can so we're grateful for any feedback you can give us.

We'll also keep it all totally anonymous as we really want your honest opinion so anytime you think of something that we can improve, please let us know.

Referring Us To Friends or...

How to Get Free LessonsAs you know, we're into spreading happiness and we think you'll enjoy your lessons so much that you'll want to recommend us to colleagues, friends and family. That way, they can benefit from lesson like yours.

To have some fun and help you out with recommending us we'll give you a free lesson each time somebody you've told about us books their first lesson. And if you want to purchase a gift voucher for somebody's

birthday, bar-mitzvah or christmas, we'll give you a free lesson then too.

7. Getting Free Strings or...Giving Your Testimonials

We think you'll like your lessons so much that we're asking you to shout about it.

Please take two minutes to give us a brief written testimonial or review on our google+ local page. We'll give you a set of strings in return:

http://g.co/maps/wesud

And if you're not into all that google stuff, then just email us one or hand write one and bring it along to your next lesson and we'll do the

rest.

'We make a point of recommending Ian O'Brien Music to anyone who will listen - young or old. Anyone who can teach real musicality is worth their weight in gold. It's not just about 'learning notes' with Ian, it's about nurturing an understanding of how music works and getting a feel for different styles and techniques. My son hates music at school - hates the regime and lack of imagination of it all - but with Ian he works hard, has fun, learns a tremendous amount - and has gained much-needed confidence amongst his mates as 'the really amazing guitarist'.

- Ade Jolly – Proud Parent