Introduction
Somerset Music offers a wide range of services to children and young people across the county, including instrument hire, whole class tuition, progression through large group tuition at key stage 2, and music therapy.
Competitively priced instrument hire is available to all Somerset students, music groups, and schools. We offer considerable savings over equivalent commercial musical instrument hire providers. Subsidies are available for children who are entitled to free school meals. Hire is fully subsidised (at no cost to the individual) for children who are looked after.
Musical instrument hire
If you want to hire instruments for your child from Somerset Music, you can fill in the form below. Please complete any additional information in the notes section.
The form has two pages, and should take one to two minutes to complete.
We have a range of high quality instruments that can be hired for performances by professionals.
Please visit the instrument hire section of the Somerset Music website for more details.
Whole class ensemble tuition
A key feature of our provision is the delivery of whole class instrumental and vocal tuition.
Whole class ensemble tuition is usually carried out by one of our specialists working in partnership with the class teacher. We give whole class ensemble tuition to approximately 5500 Key Stage 2 students in Somerset schools.
We have a wide range of projects to choose from, including samba, guitar, brass, strings, woodwind, steel pans, and ukulele.
Pay Somerset Music invoices
There are three billing periods for instrument hire – the autumn, spring and summer terms. Instrument hire fees must be paid in advance.
You will be billed via the Support Services for Education website and you will be making a payment online.
Our invoices
Early invoices
Our invoices are usually sent out 28 days before the start of the term. This allows parents and carers to tell us in time if they don’t need instrument hire for the following term, and gives us time to arrange for the instrument to be collected.
If your circumstances have changed and you are struggling to pay our invoice
We appreciate that a change in family circumstances (for example, redundancy, divorce, or illness) can cause financial difficulties, and we are sensitive to this. The charge for instrument hire for children who are entitled to free school meals is reduced, and you should let us know if this applies so that we can amend your records. For children who are looked after, instrument hire is free.
If you are having difficulties paying an invoice, please email us in the first instance, and we may be able to arrange an instalment plan of payments – somersetmusic@somerset.gov.uk
If you no longer want to hire the instrument and want to return it
You must email us to tell us that you want to return the instrument. Please do not simply return it to the school because we will have no information to arrange collection, and you will still be charged for hire.
Under the terms and conditions of instrument hire that you signed at the start of your agreement, you must give 28 days’ notice to cancel the hire. Please note that hire charges are for the term. There will be no refund of hire charges for instruments that are returned during the term.
Once you have emailed us, we will tell you the best day to return the instrument to your school for collection. For your own protection, please make sure you get a receipt from the school saying that you have given them the instrument. If the instrument goes missing this will be your evidence.
If your child has had an accident or illness and cannot play their instrument at present
Please get a letter from your child’s doctor or the hospital confirming the details, and send it to us so that we can amend the charges.
Broken or damaged instruments
If an instrument is damaged or broken, you should not try to repair it yourself. Musical instruments require specialist repair. Please contact us and we will arrange for the instrument to be collected. We will assess the damage and make the necessary repairs. Depending on our stock levels, we may give you a replacement instrument whilst the old one is being repaired.
Pupils who hire an instrument from us should take proper care of it at all times. While we will cover the cost of any repairs needed due to reasonable ‘wear and tear’, our hire charges do not cover negligence, wilful damage, or damage caused by anything other than normal wear and tear.
Under the terms of your hire agreement, we will invoice you for any costs of repairs.
Lost or stolen instruments
Please tell us immediately if an instrument is lost or stolen. Our hire charges do not cover loss or theft. You are responsible for paying for a replacement instrument if it is lost or stolen.
Paying after the deadline payment date
We need to send invoices out to customers around a month before the start of the term. While we understand that this may cause difficulty for some people, it is necessary to ensure that we can process payments, and arrange the collection of instruments that are no longer needed.
If you are unable to pay the invoice within the time period, please email somersetmusic@somerset.gov.uk telling us when you expect to be able to pay, and we will consider your application for late payment.
If you don’t contact us and the invoice is still unpaid, we will ask you to return the instrument.