A music teacher has been nominated for an award for creating a website of videos designed to teach the principles of music theory.

Stephen Wiles, a music teacher at Forest School in Snaresbrook, was nominated for the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence and is a finalist in the category of best digital or technological resource.

The award is presented annually to a website, software, app or other digital resource that has enhanced the digital offering available to music teachers and students. 

Mr Wiles, who lives on College Place, Snaresbrook, believes the study of music theory should be complimentary to any musical education and that music theory is knowledge every musician should have.

His website, musictheoryvideos.com, offers free video lessons in music theory and is used by Mr Wiles in his lessons.

He set it up over a year ago after several years of making videos for YouTube, and decided he needed a website to pull his tutorials together. 

He has now had over 2 million hits on his YouTube channel, 14,000 subscribers and has 2,000 to 3,000 new views a day.

Originally designed as a learning aid for Forest School pupils, the website is viewed by people all over the world, predominantly in the UK and USA.

Mr Wiles said: “I first set up the website as part of an extracurricular music club tutorial because I wanted the children to watch something before coming to the club.

“It was based on a flipped classroom idea, where the children watch something at home and do the learning from there, and then essentially come into school to do the homework part of it with me.

“It is really flattering how all of this has taken off and I am so pleased that the videos, which were only intended for Forest School pupils, have reached a much wider community.”

The videos use animation to break down the principles of reading music and can be applied to a range of instruments.

He said: “I find that when children get to grade 5 when learning an instrument and they have to take a music theory exam to continue, they give up.

“That is where my website steps in to make what can often be a very dry topic into something more digestible.

“Parents who gave up instruments as children have also really enjoyed sitting down with them and watching the videos and feeling like they can help with their children’s studies.”

The Music Teacher Awards for Excellence ceremony will be held at the Barbican Garden Room & Conservatory on February 7 next year.