Stockport doesn't get talked about as often as its neighbours, which has always seemed a bit unfair to me. The Underbanks — those steep, cobbled streets running down from the Market Place — have more independent character in a five-minute walk than most town centres manage in a mile, and the viaduct that carries trains out over the Mersey valley is one of the largest brick structures in the world, whether or not anyone stops to think about that on their commute. It's a town that rewards a bit of attention, and I say that as someone who now spends a fair chunk of each week driving through it between lessons.
I'm Sam Pendrill, piano and singing tutor at Phillips Music Tuition, based in Wilmslow but covering Stockport as part of my regular teaching area alongside Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Bramhall and the villages in between. I trained at the Royal Northern College of Music, specialising in both voice and piano, and I've been teaching professionally for three years. Away from lessons I still perform regularly — I've worked with artists including Cian Ducrot and Self Esteem, appeared on the Christmas Songs of Praise alongside Tony Hadley, and gig around Manchester and the North West with my own material.
Families I teach in Stockport come from right across the borough — Heaton Moor and Heaton Chapel with their cafe-lined streets, Davenport and Cale Green further out, and plenty from Edgeley, where a good number of my younger students support Stockport County and like to tell me about it before we've even sat down at the piano. It's a mixed bag in the best way: some students are working steadily through ABRSM grades with a school audition or GCSE Music in mind, others are adults who've decided this is finally the year they get back to an instrument they gave up as a teenager, and quite a few are younger children having their very first go at reading music.
Lessons come to you, wherever in Stockport that is, so there's no extra trip tacked onto an already full week — just you, a piano, and time that's properly set aside. I teach the full ABRSM syllabus from Initial through to Grade 8 for anyone on the exam route, but plenty of students I see have no interest in exams at all and just want to get better at the songs they actually enjoy. Because I trained as a vocalist as well as a pianist, singing lessons are available too, either alongside piano or on their own — useful if you'd rather not juggle two different tutors for the two things.
Lessons are £35 for 60 minutes or £18 for 30 minutes, with travel included wherever you are in Stockport, and every new student starts with a free consultation lesson before committing to anything. I'm fully DBS checked, with safeguarding training in place for lessons with children.
If you're in Stockport, Heaton Moor, Edgeley, Davenport or nearby and have been thinking about starting piano or singing lessons, I'd love to hear from you.
Find out more and book your free consultation on the Wilmslow Piano Lessons page →