I am very committed to education, and see it as an important part of being a musician. In the right circumstances, the arts can offer a different educational paradigm from that usually on offer in our goal-oriented educational systems. Genuinely creative education has many of the same characteristics as artistic practice, leading to new discoveries and encouraging an openness to new experience. My work in education has been mostly as a composer, making new work with groups of people in a variety of different contexts. These contexts have included schools, universities, prisons, care homes and hospitals, as well as working with professional musicians leading professional development and workshop training courses. These creative projects generally focus on developing skills that include those of collaboration and facilitation, as well as the creative use of existing musical skills. The projects are experiential, and lead by the development of the creative work rather than a pre-defined curriculum.
I have taught workshop skills for fifteen years at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and also worked as a creative director and education consultant for many arts organisations in the UK and overseas. Other arts organisations that I have worked for as an educator include;
BBC proms, BBC Concert Orchestra, The Philharmonia Orchestra, London Mozart Players, The Barbican Centre, London Sinfonietta. Glyndebourne opera, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Aldeburgh Education, amongst others. (see CV for more details)
Overseas projects in Tanzania, The Gambia, Thailand, Sweden and East Jerusalem (Gaza/West Bank)