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Student Enrichment Reports - Emily Walker The Student Enrichment Fund is a College fund which students can apply to for financial assistance towards their wider student experience and personal development. Having not had music lessons at all when I was younger, I was attracted to learning a new skill after my A-Levels. I first decided to have piano lessons during my gap year, but a few months in the pandemic hit. Online tuition wasn’t as common at the time and I understandably had to stop seeing my teacher, music exams were also cancelled so my progress dwindled. I had planned to start taking lessons again once I got to Durham, but Michaelmas last year flew by and I still couldn’t meet with a tutor. So, I was intrigued to see the advert for the Student Enrichment Fund, and after a couple of emails, discovered that I could have a term’s worth of piano lessons in John Snow’s music room funded by the college. Fortunately, I found a wonderful tutor who could teach me online from the comfort of the hub and secured a weekly music room booking to organise lessons over the whole term. Needless to say, I learnt plenty of technical skills during my lessons. It was great to be making progress again - despite not being able to sit music exams, I worked through the content for Grade 2 and now anticipate Grade 3 being my first official exam. What’s more, the piano lessons gave me an opportunity to work on something leisurely outside of my degree during a very stressful term. During Epiphany last year, college was a lot quieter which meant I had the time to make the most of the funding by practising throughout the week. Also, I had something fun to work on when sports and societies weren’t available. I had a great experience taking piano lessons this year and am thankful the SEF for facilitating this project, especially during a time during which many of us were missing the Durham experience.
