Work With Me

I can help you develop the musicianship skills described here. It is not always a quick process, as it involves unlearning or unblocking and does not come from just acquiring new information.

It involves:

  • refining perception
  • stabilising attention
  • and developing a clear, reliable relationship with musical structures

For many musicians, this process requires 121 coaching and I work with people who want to engage with this learning in a sustained and practical way. The work is individually focused and adapted to your instrument, background, and level of experience. It is not based on a fixed method or a set of exercises. Instead, it works through careful attention to how you currently hear, think, feel and play music — to make your experience of making music clearer, more stable, and more connected.

Typically, musicians come to this work when:

  • something in their playing feels inconsistent or uncertain
  • their ear does not fully guide what they do
  • they find themselves relying on effort, control, or habit
  • or they are looking for a more direct and reliable relationship with music

The aim is not simply to improve performance. Nor is it a quick fix for many of the common struggles that so many musicians encounter but rarely discuss. It is to transform your relationship with music — perhaps restore your original love and motivation for it — and to develop a form of musicianship that is:

  • clear
  • responsive
  • internally stable
  • and free from unnecessary strain

My Background

I was fortunate to have studied with two wonderful teachers when I was very young — Ella Pounder until the age of 9, and Denis Matthews until the age of 18. They both encouraged me to discover real fluency in the language of music. Between thes age of 9 to 14, I had a conventional, strict, pressurising teacher. I rebelled against him (and my parents) quietly, by discovering and using my own clear, simple model of musical language — the one I now use as an artist and teach to others. Although I practised my model as a rejection of the pressure to achieve competitive success, paradoxically it enabled me to do well in exams and competitions. But more importantly it gave me access the joy of self-expression.

At 18, I went to the RNCM, studying piano with Ryszard Bakst, and singing with Vera Cross. There I performed in many public concerts as a soloist, won awards and graduated with high marks but decided that a conventional career as a classical pianist was not for me — I wanted a less competitive approach to my music-making career.

So my work as a professional musician (artist, teacher, composer and producer) has always been unconventional. I have increasingly made fluent musicianship my primary focus, both as an artist using improvisation and eclectic musical styles, and as a teacher. I've worked with many brilliant musicians and have an extensive, rich and diverse experience of music across different genres — classical, jazz and pop.

If what you’ve read across this site resonates strongly with your experience, and you would like to discuss if working together might be for you, then please do get in touch.