A Kingston music teacher who lost a quarter of his income during the first lockdown has spoken out about the difficulties of running his business during the pandemic.

Chris Keyte, 35, teaches guitar and piano, as well as some bass, ukelele and music theory, and had 31 pupils on his books before the pandemic hit.

But when lockdown restrictions were introduced in March, he immediately lost six pupils, and quickly had to come up with ways to teach his other students online.

“Some understandably felt it wouldn’t work. I had to adapt my teaching accordingly,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“I think one of the more obvious kinds of factors was the idea of teaching young children, trying to get a five to ten year old to engage in lessons on an iPad was probably out. Some people were willing to give it a try at least and see if their kid engaged with it, but it is hard enough to get them to concentrate in person sometimes,” he joked.

“To some people it just didn’t occur to them the idea of me doing online lessons because I had always been in person with them.”

He said he was often frustrated that people seemed to think there would be a huge demand for online music lessons during the lockdown.

“It was like, yeah, but who’s got the money? Everyone is having to watch their earnings so it wasn’t like I had a huge flood of enquiries. It was such a new situation that everyone was figuring out. A lot of people couldn’t afford to.”

But as restrictions started to ease over the summer, more people started getting in touch, and Chris had a bounceback.

“People were thinking ‘right, now I’ve  been through a lockdown I want to do something productive, now there’s a bit more light at the end of the tunnel’, and that kind of motivated people more.

“I think people didn’t have the motivation [during the first lockdown] that I think the internet makes you want to think they do.”

Even when the second lockdown came in November, a number of Chris’ pupils stayed on, as they had started learning with him remotely over the summer.

“I actually started to have a better year than the previous two, because people couldn’t go away on holiday.

“My December was my best in 10 years of teaching, somehow,” he said.

But there has been another slowdown since the third lockdown came into force in January.

“It’s just so up and down,” he said.

“This lockdown has been a bit more of an extended lack of earnings. There’s a bit more uncertainty as cases are so high, and it’s now been nearly a year of this. A lot more people are fed up and distressed.”

Chris says he currently has around 15 pupils on his books and is down about £100 per week on his ideal earnings.

“In order to sustain myself in quite an expensive area like Kingston I am always trying to have over 20 pupils, and it was just a bit of a kick in the teeth when the first lockdown happened. It was right after I managed to achieve the most pupils I have ever had,” he said.

Fortunately Chris has the support of his partner who has a stable job in the civil service to keep the pair going and cover the essential bills when times are tough and if grant money doesn’t come through.

For Chris, music is one of the most important things in life and he loves encouraging his pupils to get creative and listen to different kinds of music.

He also thinks it is great for people’s mental health and encourages a “gentle and patient” approach to teaching that focuses on fun and relaxation rather than grades.

“Discovering new music was a big part of getting me through lockdown,” he said.

Chris can be contacted on chrisguitartutor@gmail.com or 07849776934.