Training

As an experienced teacher and trainer I'm available to lead workshops, inset training, etc in churches and schools. This is always tailored to the specific needs of your situation and is designed to be realistic and encouraging. I'm also painfully aware of the budgetary constraints many of us work under, so my rates are designed to ensure maximum value for money!

Church . . .

I regularly lead workshops for church musicians on all practical aspects of providing and leading music for worship. This might be for a specific worship team in one church who want an “independent ear” on their sound and ideas for development. Other possibilites include musicians and worship leaders from a group of churches looking together at a particular focus. In any case, the specific content is always designed to fit your particular requirements in consultation at the planning stage.

School . . .

Possible areas for workshops or inset in schools spring mainly from my own specialisms -

• I am an experienced composer and arranger in classical, jazz, pop/rock and electro-acoustic techniques
• I use jazz and improvisation (yes, anyone can improvise!) as an inspiring and fun basis to develop performance and compositional skills
• I make extensive use of music technology (Sibelius, sequencing, Audiomulch, hardware and software synthesis) to teach composition and sound design.

In many conversations with secondary music teachers, it quickly becomes apparent that the value they place on pupil's musical experience at KS 1 and 2 is very high. At this stage pupils are very receptive to diverse styles and approaches, and capturing their imagination then can lay crucial foundations in terms of practical and creative skills, but also in their attitudes to music and all its rich possibilites. Often, the reality is that available time, staffing and resources all challenge this ideal - a workshop session for staff or pupils can bring a welcome injection of inspiration.

My experience with KS 1 and 2 pupils is that they respond enthusiastically to all the areas listed above, provided the material is pitched appropriately for their experience. Perhaps it's not surprising that in my work with older pupils right up to sixth form level, the same strands and approaches come to the surface, just at different levels of sophistication.

I am happy to run inset training with staff to develop inspiring strategies based on realistic, practical classroom exercises; or I can work directly with pupils in workshops to explore a particular curriculum area or project. Many trainers offer “pre-made” package workshops on particular subjects - I would rather engineer each session in discussion with you, to ensure the areas you need are covered.

My rates for training sessions are £30/hour, plus travel at 30p/mile. Please get in touch to discuss ideas or possibilities.