Charles

I am a pianist, double bass player, organist and a teacher of GCSE and A level music, composition and Music Theory. I gained Grade 8 in piano, organ and double bass at School; I also played in the National Youth of Orchestra of Great Britain as a double bass played for two years. I was awarded a Choral Scholarship to New College, Oxford University. As a member of the well known Chapel Choir at New College (tenor), I sang evensong every day and performed in numerous concerts and other occasions both at home and abroad. Some of my musical highlights included playing piano concertos by Mozart, Beethoven and Rachmaninov and conducting the college orchestra. After completing my degree in Music, I studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Dram in London on the one-year piano accompaniment course.

After University I pursued a free-lance music career in London. I sang as a deputy in various churches (Westminster Abbey) and worked as a piano accompanist with some accomplished singers (Anthony Rolfe Johnson). I ran a business providing small groups of singers for weddings and other occasions and I also worked as a repetiteur with various opera companies (including at Garsington Opera with Wasfi Kani). In 1997 I decided to pursue a career in Music Education.

Tutoring Experience

I have taught Music in Independent Schools for 27 years. For the last 24 years, I have been Director of Music at an independent school in the north of England. Here I do all the academic teaching, including GCSE and A Level Music. I am also responsible for all the extra-curricular music activities - choirs and instrumental ensembles - and I play the organ in the School Chapel. I teach the double bass to individual pupils (I play the bass guitar in the school swing band). Much of my time is spent coaching pianists and accompanying and coaching instrumental and singing pupils. I am retiring from my current position in August 2024.

Tutoring Approach

I like to be flexible in my approach to teaching. If a student wants help with the rigours of Mozart and Beethoven's piano music, I am very happy to do that. Alternatively, I can teach the basics of a more chord-based contemporary style. Teaching harmony in the style of Bach's Chorales is a specialty, as is teaching music theory. Grade exams in instruments provide the structure of useful stepping-stones for gradual advancement but I am perfectly happy if a student doesn't want to take that route.