Information About Simon - Glossop teacher

Personal Description:

I am a composer and producer who creates live and recorded music for concert performance and various multimedia projects.

After completing my undergraduate degree in music technology, I set up a recording studio in Liverpool from which I worked for six years. The studio functioned primarily as a space for bands to rehearse and record, but during this time I received requests to write for various local theatre and dance companies: this is how my love of 'composition' was born. After hearing 'The Rite of Spring' for the first time in 2013 I chose to focus on developing my composition skills and undertook three years of self-directed study into classical composition before going to Amsterdam Conservatoire to study for a masters degree in composition.

Capable across multiple disciplines, I have composed concert music for (amongst others) 'Nieuw Ensemble', 'Ricciotti Ensemble', the CvA Symphony Orchestra and 'Score Collective'. I have produced electronic soundtracks for dance companies such as 'EnCompass Collective' and 'Tilt' and has created compositions for Liverpool Light Night, Festival Number 6 numerous Arts Council funded projects. In 2018 I was selected as a finalist in the 2018 Kaleidoscope Orchestra Composers Competition, chosen from over 2200 entries from 76 countries. In 2015 I was part of the creative team to win the Gi20 jury prize for an experimental street theatre commission for marching band and electronics.

Through my varied experiences of electronic music, collaboration and concert writing I have developed a versatile, broad-minded and flexible composing method. Proper planning and the ability to adapt, to invent idiosyncratic methods for each new and challenging project are the key to this. A vital element of my aesthetic is found in merging methods and sounds particular to traditional music composition with elements particular to electronic music production. My style aims to blend and twist the relationship of acoustic and electronic characteristics to create music with a unique personality; to take elements from various styles, genres, and disciplines and present them in new and fresh ways.

I have just returned from three wonderful years in Amsterdam in order to begin Ph.D. in composition at the RNCM, Manchester.

Tutoring Experience:

I have successfully completed my first year PhD training to teach undergraduate composition students at the Royal Northern College of Music (a top-level music conservatoire).
I have worked as a teaching assistant for Emily Howard - one of the UK's top composers and have my own private teaching practice in which I specialise in acoustic and psychoacoustic principles within music composition. I also specialise in using technology alongside traditional composition techniques, so if you want to use DAW's such as Ableton, Logic etc as a key composition tool, then I am a specialist in this area.

Tutoring Approach:

I have myself been taught by world-class composers (including the former composer laureate of the Netherlands and a winner of the world-renowned Grawemeyer Award).

I look forward to passing on the skills and experiences I gained whilst studying abroad. I will aim to provide a unique and personalized approach to music tuition, as I myself have experienced from my wonderful teachers in Amsterdam. Individuality is the key ingredient to being a musician in today's world, and I will endeavor to help my students find their own voice.

My lessons will be focused but friendly and aim to bring out the best in the student.