A Lanarkshire music school is celebrating being a class act after being recognised as the best in the business for a sixth year.
The Village School of Music is the top rated music school in the Glasgow area and recently won the prestigious accolade by ThreeBestRated.co.uk which they have taken for six consecutive years.
The site reviews small and medium size businesses, trades, and service providers who they recommend using a 50-point inspection which includes reputation, history, ratings, satisfaction, trust, cost, reviews and excellence.
VSOM proudly display the Three Best Rated seals on their website.
Director Jamie Finn told Lanarkshire Live : "We have a vast team of staff and tutors at VSOM that work exceptionally hard to bring top quality music education to East Kilbride, and we focus a lot of our energy on giving our students platforms to show off their talents.
"Whether it’s with our mixed instrument groups, RockStarz and RockClub, or our traditional fiddle group FiddleClub - who brought home medals at the national Mod traditional music competition - or at our biannual charity concerts, or in student performance videos which you can see on our website and YouTube channel.
"To be recognised in a official manner by Three Best Rated really means the world to us, especially as we work to rebuild the business after lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. We aren’t complacent though and are always striving to improve our services.
"We have exciting plans for 2023 when VSOM celebrates is 20th anniversary and Village Music turns 30 so watch this space!"
The thriving local business had another reason to celebrate this week as a new rock-inspired mural was brought to life at their St Bryde's Street studio in the Village.
Designed and painted by Strathaven artist Luisa Preston from Cocozza Aesthetic, the commission by the main door is set to be re-designed for each new term.
Jamie explained: "We first spotted Luisa’s work in Strathaven where she has created amazing window art for local businesses for events like the balloon festival, gala day, and reindeer day.
"Luisa was in VSOM repainting the studio window at the beginning of August and showed us an epic design she had in mind for the outside wall by our main door. As musicians ourselves supporting local creatives and artists is very close to our hearts, so we jumped at the a chance to bring the mural to life.
"We originally commissioned her to liven up our reception with some art on a large bay window that looks into our main teaching studio. Luisa is a huge music fan and that first design was really bright and vibrant with a real rock edge which went down a storm with our students.
"We have commissioned her to change up the design between terms two to three times a year. It’s been so well received that we have earmarked a few other walls and windows on the premises we hope to have Cozza-fied over the next year!"
Luisa specialises in window painting and murals and was commissioned to paint the mural at the boating pond in Strathaven Park among others in her hometown and the south side of Glasgow.
Luisa commented: "Village School of Music have been a beloved customer for over two years now. The last time I arrived to paint a 'back to school' window for them I noticed the white wall in front of the school and asked if they'd ever considered having a mural painted.
"I wanted to go for something bright, colourful and bold and after coming up with a design we decided to go for it. My inspiration came from the 1980s with the cassettes acting as bricks and the bold tattoos that were in style at that time.
"Instruments and music had to be at the centre and the rainbow aspect was also important as a queer artist working in a space for young people - Lucy and Jamie have always been keen to be as inclusive as possible in all their window art - I feel this is incredibly important.
"I was delighted to create this mural for them. It was absolutely a labour of love."
Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did yo u know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head over to our page to give us a like and share.
