John

I am a pianist and composer. In 2017 I received a scholarship to study for an MA in composition at the Royal Academy of Music which I completed in 2019. I graduated in 2016 with a first class BA in music from Oxford university I achieved a mark of 80 for both composition and techniques of composition. I have had my pieces workshopped and performed by Chroma ensemble, Anima ensemble and ensemble ISIS.

Tutoring Experience

Before attending university I worked for a year at the Zelda School of Music in Plymouth. There I gained experience of both one to one and small group tuition. I taught from beginner up to grade 6 piano and theory to primary school aged pupils and composition to GCSE pupils. I principally taught from the ABRSM syllabus for piano and theory and constructed my own composition tuition around Arnold Schoenberg's book Models for Beginners in Composition. This method takes the pupil from composing two bar melodies over tonic and dominant harmonies to writing a thirty-two bar minuet in the classical style. I also undertook one week of work experience at the Music Zone in Plymouth. I spent the week working as a music assistant, helping disabled and disadvantaged children learn music. This involved helping prepare a concert performance given by children who had been expelled from school, taking part in group music making with elderly people with dementia, assisting with music lessons given to local primary schools that did not have a music departments, and music therapy for people with severe mental and physical disabilities.

Tutoring Approach

My lessons are not a simple run through the ABRSM syllabus. My aim is to get pupils more involved in musical life through creativity. This is achieved through composition, improvisation, listening to recordings, going to concerts, playing duets and chamber music with other students. I am able to teach pupils how to write in any style of music from Mozart to Nirvana and to find their own style. I have found this method to be far more successful at inspiring pupils to practice.