A RECORD label is working to combat the lack of music being taught in schools by setting up a music academy.

Darwen’s Sunbird Records will launch Sunbird Academy next month, and will aim to teach music to children who no longer get lessons in school time.

The academy was born out of frustration after Darwen musician Ramsay Lohan noticed funding for music lessons was being cut in schools in East Lancashire.

The 27-year-old, who used to tutor music to children at The Redeemer CE in Blackburn and St Stephen’s Tockholes Primary in Darwen, said he couldn’t believe the subject was no longer being taught in certain schools.

Mr Lohan said: “I left my job as a tutor because there was no money to fund it. A lot of high schools are now losing their music courses, including Witton Park, which no longer teaches music to years seven and eight.

“I wasn’t academic at school, I struggled to write and do exams but when I was given the opportunity to do music, I excelled.

“At one of the schools I tutored at I saw a lot of kids from lower-income families or who had had bad backgrounds who just didn’t do well in normal lessons and would misbehave, but once they got stuck into music they showed real interest and promise.”

Mr Lohan said with Sunbird Academy he’s wanting to inspire young children and instil a mindset that they can have a career in music and don’t just have to be academic to succeed.

He said: “Learning music can be a great way of enhancing creativity. And it doesn’t just have to be about playing an instrument, there’s so many elements to the music industry and kids need opportunities to learn this.”

The academy will be run out of Sunbird Records in The Circus, Darwen.

The programme will take on 30 students from across the region, aged between 12 and 18.

Pupils will be put into groups of five to form a band and at the end of the six-week cycle they will perform in a concert.

Mr Lohan said following the gig, that the six week cycle will then begin again, giving students to chance to build on the skills learnt in the first programme.

He said: “Students don’t have to have any prior music experience, they just need to show an interest, and the programme is open to anyone.”

There are still a few places left for the February intake, and the programme, which Mr Lohan and Sunbird Records are funding themselves, costs £45 per pupil.

For more information email academy@sunbirdrecords.co.uk or phone 07411462383.