Janina came to Key Lessons wanting guitar lessons after having trouble keeping teachers for longer than a few months at a time. She was born with Spinal Bifida and so has limited movement in her arms and hands. She had tried for years to find a guitar tutor who wouldn’t become stressed with her lack of movement or impatient with her learning speed but she hadn’t been successful. This eventually led to her quitting music for several years until she heard of Key Lessons.

Key Lessons have specialised physical and learning disability tutors. When she enquired we provided her with a tutor who had experience working with other students just like Janina. Janina started with 30 minute lessons as her hands and arms were fatigued very quickly and also she thought her maximum concentration length was capped at 30 minutes.

After only a handful of lessons she increased the lesson length to 45 minutes. Through daily practice and regular lessons she has strengthened the muscles in her arms and with her enjoyment came an ability to concentrate longer on her lessons!

Janina has often said that she is very grateful to Key Lessons as she felt isolated from the world of music previously though she desperately wanted to be included. She even said “I have fallen in love with music in a totally new way since having these lessons and couldn’t be happier. ” Janina has since gone on to perform infront of her local church several times and is starting on her grade 2 examination preparation after passing her grade 1 with Merit.

Janina is also part of a facebook group for those living locally to her with Spinal Bifida . They meet up once a month and she has noticed that several people feel the same as she did about learning music and the difficulties of finding a tutor with the ability and patience that is required . Janina started playing her guitar for everyone at the beginning and end of every session to start inspiring others who may feel isolated from music.

Janina is proof of so many things but most certainly that dedication and hard work gets you very far. Her passion for music and perseverance in finding the right tutor has paid off for her and we at Key Lessons are so proud of her. Her progression with the guitar has been astounding  but that is due to her sheer determination to achieve every note, every chord as intended.

A great student and a great story that we wanted to share.