About
My Background
I graduated with a degree in Music and Drama from Royal Holloway, University of London, then continued to achieve a Masters Degree in Musical Theatre from Goldsmith's University of London.
After a successful 14 year career in global executive search during which I continued to perform and teach music, my main focus now on guiding my private students, of all ages, to achieve great things while having fun in learning to play and appreciate music.
Sharing my Passion
I love practicing music and it's never too late to start. My uncle picked up the Saxophone at 80 and had lessons for 10 years! Go for it!
Though when I see Music and Arts education in schools today continue to diminish in funding it saddens me for the opportunity we are removing from young minds. This is devastating for people who are predisposed to learning kinaesthetically, through expressing empathy, and who need Arts as a vehicle to embrace discipline, practice and to embody another language of experience.
Whether you're a just a beginner or an advanced student needing guidance, I'd love to hear from you.
Lessons
I offer private lessons in my music studio in Princes Risborough, where I teach beginners of all ages through to those with more experience.
I am advanced DBS cleared to teach children, however all younger people must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian for the duration of lessons.
The benefits of learning and practicing music
Additional Information
It’s one thing to be involved in music passively, by listening, but it’s another thing entirely to make music by playing an instrument or by singing. Through active, progressive involvement in music making, the benefits multiply.
What happens when you are playing an instrument or singing?
You’re doing a number of very different things, simultaneously. On the one hand you draw on a group of cognitive skills: thinking, controlling, analysing and reading. In musical terms this is about measuring pulse and rhythm, reading and recognising pitch, and controlling physical co-ordination and fine motor skills.
On the other hand, you call on more instinctive and emotional abilities relating to imagination, perception, creative understanding and musical meaning. Rarely is such a wide range of skills and abilities present in one activity, but when you play an instrument, including your singing voice, they are all brought together at the same time.
The amazing thing about making music – the unique lifelong benefit – is that it forges vital connections between all these different types of skill and activity.
Creating these connections is especially valuable during the childhood and teenage years of growth, education and personal development. The benefits will then be there whatever a young person’s ambitions are – musical or otherwise.
Here are but a hand-full of benefits:
Learning to play the piano builds self-esteem
Piano lessons can help with focus and concentration
Piano playing can improve creative and problem solving skills
Learning piano playing can help with general performance at school
Piano lessons can improve communication and maturity
Music lessons increase exposure to wider cultures
Children learn languages faster and better than adults- this may also apply to music
Piano playing improves coordination
Learning to play piano teaches the benefits of hard work and persistence
Piano playing provides relaxation and self-expression
