Category: Uncategorized

  • Are conductors necessary?

    Originally posted on Steven Berryman: Haydn’s last visit in 1794-95 [to Great Britain] had marked both the climax of London’s public concert life and the beginning of its decline. The founding of the Philharmonic Society in 1813 by a group of professional musicians was a rare flash of light in an otherwise sombre scene. Although…

  • Opera “too difficult”?

    Originally posted on Steven Berryman: I read Susan Elkin’s piece for The Independent, ‘Why are educationists so afraid of cultural excellence?’ with much nodding of my head. I am particularly passionate about promoting living artists in my teaching – right from Year 4 upwards – and also ensuring pupils are engaging with as much music…

  • Learning to sing

    It’s been nearly a year since I took up singing lessons. It remains incredibly stimulating and rewarding work, on a musical and personal level. It connects immediately with all those Alexander Technique lessons I’ve had since 2001; for the voice to work well, like the body (or the ‘self’) it needs to be connected well.…

  • Reimagined and Recomposed

    Much of my early experiences of composition teaching was exploring the processes of other composers and recently I’ve become fascinated by how other composers and musicians have reimagined the work of others. A student of mine introduced me to the work of the pianist Christopher O’Riley, sharing an album of Radiohead songs O’Riley had reimagined.…

  • 5 Questions to Joby Burgess

    As ‘genre-busting’ percussionist, whose work has led you to collaborate with musicians and artists of a variety of disciplines, I wonder where and how this collaborative approach began in your musical career? Well the variety has always been there: I grew up listening to my Dad’s record collection of jazz, opera, rock, classical and world…

  • Opera writing

    After seeing so much opera, reading about opera and now learning opera via singing lessons, I have started to work on one with a much welcomed collaborator. Early days, and I eagerly await the libretto to make a start. My main aim is to create something where the music conveys the emotion more than the…

  • Texture: Say what you hear?

    At each of the courses I led over 2013 when I asked the teachers present, “what musical elements do our students find difficult to recognise?”, the first response was always texture. It seems ridiculous that there are only a handful of ‘terms’ to describe texture in the various syllabi of GCSE and A-level music courses;…

  • Reimagined: recomposed?

    Much of my early experiences of composition teaching was exploring the processes of other composers and recently I’ve become fascinated by how other composers/musicians have re-imagined the work of others. In preparing for an article I asked the pianist Christopher O’Riley three questions about his re-imagining of Radiohead. What lead you to re-imagine Radiohead songs…

  • Musical Creativity

  • Virtuoso Teacher Review

    My review of Paul Harris’ Virtuoso Teacher appears in the most recent issue of Music Education Asia magazine. The magazine can be read for free on iPhone/iPad via a free download. Additionally I will be speaking at the Music Education Asia’s conference, MusicLearningLive! 2013, taking place in October in Singapore.