No more excuses… Learn to play for free at Manchester’s Forsyth Music Shop!

Free instrumental lessons are available at Forsyth Music Shop in Manchester as part of Learn to Play Day 2018.

If you have always wanted to pick up an instrument now is your chance to give it a go. Forsyth is taking part in Learn to Play Day on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 March.

Learn to Play Day is a nationwide event encouraging people to learn a new instrument or return to an instrument they used to play.

All weekend, over 100 stores across the UK will be offering free taster lessons to anyone, adult or child, who would like to start making music! The event has been organised by the Music for All charity annually since 2012, and is supported by the likes of Dame Evelyn Glennie, Rick Wakeman, Gareth Malone, Gordon Giltrap and patron Jools Holland.

The 160-year-old music department store will be putting on lessons for piano, guitar, ukulele and all major woodwind and brass instruments. Each lesson will be for an individual learner and last 20 minutes. There will also be an hour long group lesson held for people keen to learn the ukulele (17 March, 4pm).

Forsyth will lend instruments for these sessions to anyone who does not yet have their own, and everyone attending a lesson will receive a goody bag, including a voucher for special discounts, as well as advice and encouragement to help take their music further.

Manager of Forsyth, Emma Loat, says:

It’s always such a fun and rewarding weekend. We see people of all ages, all eager to have a go: adults who have always wanted to play but never had the chance, parents and children trying to decide on a first instrument – even experienced musicians wanting to try out a second or third or fourth!”

“There is always so much demand for lessons”, says Emma, “we have to make use of any available space as temporary teaching areas: offices, storage rooms, even our shop window!”

That window recently made headlines when a video of self-taught Liverpool pianist Christopher Scamp playing pop mashups on Forsyth’s street piano went viral with over 6 million views on Facebook.

Forsyth is the largest general music shop in the UK. Its five-storey premises in the centre of Manchester offers 15,000 square feet of pianos, guitars, orchestral and folk instruments, sheet music, recordings and accessories, as well as restoration and publishing services.

The Forsyth family name has been synonymous with the supply of musical merchandise throughout the UK and worldwide since its foundation in 1857. At 160 years old, it is the oldest independent business in Manchester, still run by the fourth and fifth generations of the same family. Its team of over 40 highly experienced staff, will be joined by volunteer teachers from all over Manchester for Learn to Play Day.

You can book a free taster lesson via 0161 834 3281 (extension 204) or learntoplay@forsyths.co.uk.