Information About James - Dunmurry teacher

Personal Description:

I am an Irish composer and sporadic academic living in Belfast. I froth the cleft between electroacoustic music, field recording, post-disco beat making, and found sound, creating music that fuses together the concrète and the kinetic. In 2012 I completed a doctorate in composition at Newcastle University. I make music under two pseudonyms, James Joys and Base Cleft, as well as working with singer/songwriter Peter Devlin.

I am a classically trained oboe player, and can play piano. However my background and interest lies in experimental musics, and this impulse to explore and play is central to the work I make. I am interested in the relationship between phonographic fidelity and acousmatic approaches to composition. I have worked with a wide variety of musicians - instrumentalists, programmers, singers - and find the key to successful work is collaboration.

I work at the intersection between recorded and synthesised sound, and have many years of experience working and teaching in professional recording studios as well as smaller home studio set ups. However I always approach technology (electronics, instruments, our voices) as a means to an absorbing, interesting musical end.

Tutoring Experience:

Over the last eight years I have taught as a music lecturer in Higher Education (teaching undergraduates and masters level postgraduates at Newcastle University), and as a music tutor in a specialist Further Education music technology college in Bristol (dBs Music) teaching BTec courses. Both positions prioritised practice-led teaching.

I have taught modules such as Studio Recording, Composition, Music Production, Sequencing, Sound Synthesis, Sound For Film, Sound For Games, Aural Skills, Score Writing, Music Theory, and Cultural Theory/History of music.

I am comfortable working with large groups small groups, as well individuals on a one to one basis.

Tutoring Approach:

I believe well-rounded musicianship requires open ears, an open mind and a breadth of experience. I believe that guilt does not work particularly well for ensuring dedication, and no grades or punishment can make up for a lack of motivation, but I am willing to tailor my approach to each pupil to strengthen the level of commitment that is already there, working from the premise that a student is taking lessons because s/he actually wants to.

Whatever the musical direction a student wishes to take, a firm grounding in musical theory is undoubtedly important. However, my approach is to try and illustrate theoretical and analytical concepts in practical and applied ways. I don't separate the theoretical and practical sides of music making and believe that the best way to learn is to have an integrated approach in this regard. Music technology is a useful tool in terms of being able to illustrate complex musical abstractions, and my experience with technologies like MAX/MSP, Reaktor, Ableton, modular synthesis, and other hardware, is helpful in explicating these difficulties in interesting and inspiring ways. Certainly, past pupils of mine have found this approach to be advantageous.