Local Entrepreneurs Launched Their Own “Rock School” for Young Aspiring Musicians –

The rock school, founded before the pandemic, helped young musicians learn to record their music at home.

The Academy of Music was founded by music teacher Ryan Belshaw and partner Jordan McCain in Lisburn with the support of Go For It in partnership with Lisburn City Council and Castlera.

The couple recently signed a lease for the unit at Enterprise Crescent in Lisburn and were planning to offer one-on-one tutoring when a pandemic broke out, forcing them to reconsider.

Instead, they decided to use the large section room as a rehearsal space to teach young musicians to study, play and record together in a group.

The idea was to teach young people the skills they needed for a career in the music industry, whether it’s an artist, sound engineer, or a member of a band.

However, re-locking put the entire project at risk because none of the classes could run except for the online tutorials, Ryan explains.

“Everything was closed and we were in a place where we had no support. We lost many of our students and if we close we could go bankrupt,” he said.

However, once lockdown restrictions were eased in April of this year, they called the council to understand the legislation and advised it to reopen because they were providing educational services.

“We were able to reopen the group with a risk assessment that tracked the number of people. We lost a lot of students, but it all started again in the summer, when we were having summer seminars,” Ryan said.

They gave several workshops for children during the school holidays, including a music theater workshop that proved popular with young children and a songwriting workshop.

“We also gave a rock band seminar that was a quick version of our Play In A Band lessons that only lasted four days,” Ryan said.

We also held a seminar on acting and acting, where the children had the opportunity to professionally film their shows. We did an audio production workshop where people learned to record their own music, and we taught them all the necessary skills.

“I was very surprised that the vocal workshop was the most popular – people wanted to learn how to record their music from home.”

There was a lot of noise during the summer seminar series, Ryan says: “The kids seemed to be excited to come back in the summer and do something.”

The noise continued into the fall, when classes resumed and the Academy of Music found it had gained 30 or 40 new clients.

“We made some noise from the seminars, posted the show on social media and made some noise, so more people asked for classes in the fall,” Ryan said.

“In early September we had an open day at the Play In A Band and it was really loud as there were still a lot of people in town.”

Go For It’s support has proven invaluable, especially when they have had to change their plans. It is offered free of charge by a team of experienced business mentors in all 11 counties of Northern Ireland City Council and provides expert advice and assistance in developing a robust business plan to help turn ideas into a business.

“Our business advisor was able to adapt well when we had to improvise: in anything legally to do with health and safety or running a joint stock company, he was pointing us in the right direction to get the information we needed,” Ryan said.

The couple has all kinds of plans on where to go from here, including becoming a one-stop shop for teaching all kinds of music, releasing a record label, teaching branding and marketing to students, and talking to music industry professionals. As a free jumbo adult club offer.

“We want to organize our exhibitions in larger venues where students can imagine: it is very difficult for them to get that opportunity. We want to work with the Arts Council and get the kids involved in the community events they organize,” Ryan said.

“So we are no longer in danger of failing: everything is settled, we can live a comfortable life and bring musical excitement to Lisburn and the surrounding area. We now feel we have a sense of community when we have established ourselves as a company.”

The Go For It program is offered free of charge by a team of experienced business mentors across a large network of corporate agencies in Northern Ireland. Provides expert advice and assists in developing a business plan, helping entrepreneurs turn ideas into business.

If you have a business idea that you want to develop, or if you are considering starting a business, contact Go For It on 0800 027 0639 or visit www.goforitni.com