This week I’ve spent loads of time doing school work with my 8 year old son, while his school is closed. Helping him out with his maths and (particularly) English makes me realise how much I’ve forgotten from my own days at primary school. KS2 literacy certainly seems more complex than it ever was when I was at first school!… Read more »
The vast majority of my students first and foremost learn some musical performance skill: how to play piano / guitar / ukulele / bass or to sing. Along the way, most inevitably encounter issues of music theory. Theory is, after all, a lot to do with the written language of music – how we communicate our musical ideas to one… Read more »
With some Skipton schools closing for half term holidays this coming Thursday, I have the prospect of a shorter week of available lesson slots. There are a couple of available spaces, though, should you want to book in: Monday 19th October 17:00 (30 mins) Tuesday 20th October 11:15 (2 x 30 mins) I am taking a week off for half… Read more »
A duet for two solo instruments. This is a traditional melody (played on the clip below by Andrew Wallwork on violin). I wrote and added a countermelody (as second melodic part) to it and played in on guitar. The music is below for you to enjoy.
I use guitar TAB websites all the time to get started working on songs (mostly) that my students would like to learn. But, invariably I find that the chord and TAB sheets that are available are littered with errors. I either edit them myself, or just start from scratch. A case in point is the Keane song ‘Watch How You… Read more »
For the past few years, the most common repertoire request I’ve had from student pianists has been to play music by Ludovico Einaudi. People hear his music on television, often as a backdrop to adverts or trailers for TV shows – it’s real ‘mood’ music that uses trance-like repeating patterns to lull the audience into a relaxed state of mind…. Read more »
Covid-19 Safety Measures With face to face lessons resuming this week, I’ve put in a series of measures aimed to reduce the risk of spreading the Covid-19 virus. These policies are in compliance with current UK Gov advice for close contact businesses, and will remain in place until that advice changes: Performance Psychology I’ve recently been learning new some new… Read more »
When new students first approach me about learning piano or guitar, my first point of enquiry is to establish whether they are interested in playing their instrument as a soloist or as an accompaniment to something else. Customers broadly fall into one of three camps: 1, I’m only interested in playing on my own. 2, I want to play and… Read more »
Click on the window below to watch our LIVE concert, streaming from the Skipton area across the globe on YouTube! You can also support the charity by going onto my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/skiptonmusicteacher and scrolling down to the DONATE button.
Live Streamed Concert for MSF As this week begins, my students, friends, associates and their families are getting geared up towards the concert we have planned for Saturday! It’ll be broadcast live to YouTube, and you can watch it by visiting my YouTube channel: A link to the live feed will also be viewable on my Facebook page, where you… Read more »