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Training and Qualifications
Full Clean Current Driving Licence and CRB Checked both in England and Scotland.
January 2010 Go for Bronze - a Kodaly Training day for choir and group music educators with Lucinda Geoghegan and NYCoS
January 2010 Early Years Music Education Weekend: Dalcroze Training with Margareta Burrell and Kodaly Training with Lucinda Geoghegan
October 2009 Early Years Training Day at Chethams School of Music, Manchester, specialising in Dalcroze Instruction.
March and October 2008 Kodaly Workshops with the British Kodaly Academy
Music, Movement and Song Games for Babies, Toddlers and Children up to 6 years with Lucinda Geoghegan and Zoe Greenhalgh
2004-2006 Practical teacher-training with the Music House for Children, London.
Specialised in Music & Movement for Early Years and Magical Music Entertainment with Emma Hutchinson and Music in Primary Schools with Paula Steel.
2004-2005 Practical teacher-training with Hoxton Hall Youth Music, East London
Specialised in Piano Tutoring and Youth Band Co-ordination and in Children's Choir Training with JB Rose
2003-2004 Master of Music (with distinction) in Ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Specialised in African Music with Lucy Duran; Migration & Diaspora with Parvati Raman; Applied Ethnomusicology and Fieldwork with Keith Howard; and Exchange and Exploitation of Musicians on the Global Stage (dissertation).
1998-2002 Master of Arts (2:1) in Music & Psychology at Glasgow University.
Specialised in Music & Politics with Martin Dixon; Historiography & Criticism of Opera and the History of Music with Marjorie Rycroft, Stuart Campbell and John Butt; and Cultural Comparisons of Minority Music Scenes (dissertation).July 1997 A-Levels in Music, Religious Philosophy and English and AS-level in General Studies.
Instrument Training and Teaching History
CELLO Since the age of 5 with teachers Paul Cox and Gabriel Amherst. Grade 8 ABRSM with distinction. Played in school and university orchestras and chamber groups, and played for 3 years with the Kelvin Ensemble in Glasgow. Am a current member of Solway Sinfonia. Also enjoyed folk, composing, theatre music and improvising. Have taught cello since October 2004 using a fun, kodaly based method derived from Sheila Nelson.
PIANO Since aged 6, with teachers Chris Preston and Anna Rastopchina. Grade 8 ABRSM with Merit. Classical and theory-based training. Have taught piano since October 2004, in groups and individually.
GUITAR Self-taught since 14 years old. Now a professional singer/songwriter with recording and performing experience. Winner of SouthWest Sound Live 2008 singer/songwriter competition. Have taught beginner guitar and songwriting with guitar accompaniment since 2004.
VOCAL/CHORAL Sang in choirs and choral groups through primary and secondary schools and at University, and with Dumfries Choral Society. Solo singer/songwriter on folk and acoustic stages across the UK, most recently at the Wickerman Festival 2008. Trained as a children’s vocal workshop leader at Hoxton Hall Youth Arts, and have led the choir at an annual music camp for primary school-aged children since 2006. Teach choir and part-singing to adults and children in Dumfriesshire, using a large and constantly expanding repertoire of unison and part songs from the UK and Africa.
WORK & TRAVEL
January - July 2010: Musicianship Tutor and Orchestral Assistant for 8-15 year olds in Dumfries, as part of RSAMD MusicWorks Project.
Since 2007: Founder and Director of Ash Tree Music - a private teaching practice through which I run a choir, several early years music groups and music ensembles as well as one-to-one tuition in piano, cello and guitar, in rural South-West Scotland.
2006-2007 Tujatane Music Project, Zambia
I set up a music department in a school for 140 underprivileged children on the banks of the Zambezi. The school originally had no music teachers or instruments, and now it has own head music teacher, plus a piano teacher and a music co-ordinator (all Zambian). A new music room, which we built in 2007 now houses over 50 instruments which were either bought, custom-ordered, or donated. During my stay in Zambia, I interviewed and worked alongside the music teacher to devise a syllabus appropriate for the school, and I helped to implement a daily and enriching music programme incorporating both Zambian and Western Classical music into the school timetable. Now every single child at Tujatane School participates in music each week.
Since Aug 2006 Priory Farm Music Camp Director
I have set up and now annually run a small, specialist summer music camp in Oxfordshire. Working with other musicians, we cater for 20 children aged 6-12, who camp in tents, and play in orchestra and chamber groups, and who sing in a choir. I lead some of the groups, tutoring piano, cello and guitar instrumentalists; co-arrange the music in advance; and deal with all the administration and finances.
Sep 06 – July 07 Hoxton Hall Youth Music Co-ordinator
I was given the role of organising the content of tuition sessions for a children’s band programme, co-ordinating 3 other tutors, and ensuring that we worked as a team, teaching children a huge range of musical concepts and activities both theoretical and instrumental with the different instrumental groups coming together as a band to perform at the end of each term.
Oct 04-July 06 Hoxton Hall Group Keyboard and Voice Tutor
I taught groups of complete beginners on keyboards during separate instrumental sessions of the youth band programme, and I also helped lead voice workshops each week.
Sep-Nov 2002 Assistant to a Music Therapist in Romania
This was a Music As Therapy project which sets out to show teachers in special needs schools and institutions in Romania how to use music as a therapy with children with autism and other mental and physical disabilities. I assisted the music therapist musically, organisationally and looked after the reports and accounts for the project while taking part in music sessions and recording sessions and training on video.