Tag: composition

  • Watford Festival 2014

    I had a wonderful  afternoon meeting a few young composers who had entered the Watford Music and Drama Festival Composition Class of 2014. There is always a buzz when you’re about to hear a piece performed for the first time, and it was pleasing to hear live performances of the works for the most part.…

  • New Voices @ CUA

    My choral piece ‘Versa est in luctum’ was performed in January as part of the New Voices festival at Catholic University of the Arts in Washington, DC. As part of the festival website I was asked to write about the piece and my musical inspiration; below is what I submitted. Originally published on the festival…

  • A right way to teach composing?

    With composition a compulsory part of the school music curriculum (at all levels) I continually reflect on my approach to teaching composing. The range of activities vary from whole class, small groups to individuals and emcompass a breadth of styles and genres. There can never be one method but a series of strategies that can…

  • Why shy away from dots and lines?

    I, like probably every other classroom music educator, find myself regularly contemplating the importance of Western musical notation. Why bother teaching it? Is it of any use? Yes, I think it is. And yes, I should bother to teach it. Seeing posts about how pupils ‘forget’ the teaching they have received on notation and it…

  • Can we teach composition?

    After another batch of coursework is complete for GCSE and A-level music I like to look back and reflect on the year. I firmly believe in composition being an integral part of these examinations as it is the natural culmination of the study of musical rhetoric, in terms if its theoretical and stylistic constructs, and…

  • Connect CPD

    It was fantastic to catch Sean Gregory, Director of Creative Learning at the Barbican and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Sean took the time to speak more about the continuing professional development in creative leadership offered by the Guildhall School to help me write an article for Music Education UK (Spring 2012). I attended…

  • Composing Across the Spectrum

    -Below is the text of the article that appears in the current issue of EPTA’s Piano Professional- Nothing can be more satisfying in the early stages of a new composition with a pupil than exploring scores. For me, all composition should start with research; listening to similarly scored pieces, exploring a particular composer in depth…

  • Curating a musical past

    Last autumn I attended an alumni/careers event at a university as a speaker; I was there to chat about my experiences of working in music education. Even now I often avoid writing “teacher” as so much negativity has developed around the “music teacher” role. This was particularly apparent when speaking to music students. Even after…