My passion for teaching started when I taught my first piano pupil when I was 14 years of age. I enjoyed it so much that I developed a Saturday morning Music School for adults and children of all ages. In those early days, ABRSM music exams were important to our lessons, and I established a 100% pattern of Merits and Distinctions – this still exists to this day (Grades I – VIII).
Over the years, I’ve worked full time in various famous schools in the South of England and in Switzerland, teaching music to a wide variety of pupils. As my career developed, so I accepted posts as Director of Music but this often led to far more administration and planning with far less teaching. In 2013, I left my last Director of Music post to focus on my two passions: writing music for film and teaching.
I quickly discovered in my early years of teaching that happy pupils were motivated to enjoy their music to a greater level, facilitating truly amazing progress. I promote well-being in all my lessons, encouraging adults and children to relax and to explore the elements of music with confidence. I support the pupil’s core activity (e.g. piano) with related musical activities (e.g. theory, composing or singing). This holistic approach to music teaching enables me to inspire pupils of all ages to acquire valuable life-long skills and knowledge.
Piano, singing, music theory, composition, music technology, mixing, performance techniques: all of my pupils pursue an evolving individually tailored course of study to suit their needs. I support this with my own crafted teaching resources, tweaked regularly to suit the individual pupil. We still do exams, but they are a by-product of a happy and productive musical journey. The success we have in our lessons enhances well-being, and this cascades into many other areas of the pupil’s life.
If you’d like to learn more, contact the studio for availability. I teach face-to-face and online, with pupils in the UK, France and the US. I have an up to date enhanced DBS.
