Teaching
I have many years teaching experience, mainly one to one private students. I have a Bmus degree and LRAM teaching diploma from the Royal Academy of Music and I am currently on the teaching staff at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and London City University. I have also taught at the Prague Jazz Summer Workshop and have given masterclasses in conservatoires in the UK so I have some experience teaching in groups too. Mostly I teach trumpet (from beginners to advanced), but I do sometimes teach other instruments if you are looking to improve your jazz improvisation. If you have a specific problem or aspect of your playing you want to work on I will, of course, focus the lesson on that, but here are some things that I would generally go through with a student if the aim is general improvement: Trumpet/Brass stuff- technique, embouchure, breathing, articulation, long tones, scales, sound production, projection, endurance, range, flexibility, 'singing' your sound, improving your ear (developing relative or perfect pitch), visualising your playing in your 'inner ear'. Harmony, modes and application of scales over chords, transcription and how to practice them so you get the most out of that material once you have a solo down on paper, phrasing, time and 'feel', practicing with a metronome, expanding your jazz vocabulary, creating your own jazz vocabulary, memorising tunes/repertoire, playing in different styles (swing, bebop, mainstream, contemporary/modern) and studying different players, interpreting melodies, playing in different keys, intervallic improvisation, playing 'outside' the changes. I would undoubtedly go into the psychological aspects of playing and performing music too, especially as applied to jazz and trumpet playing. Also how to use your practice time efficiently. Often it's not how many hours you practice but HOW you practice that makes the difference. The trumpet is a particularly demanding instrument physically which often means we can't practice as long as piano players, guitarists or saxophonists without running the risk of permanently injuring ourselves, so this is VERY important for us brass players. A well thought out practice routine can help tremendously. If any of this sounds like it might help and you're interested in a lesson please drop me an email (see contact page).