Hi, I am a freelance music teacher and conductor working in the Leeds and Bradford areas. Pre-covid, I taught and trained roughly 200 pupils and students a week both privately and in schools. I belong to the Incorporated Society of Musicians which campaigns on behalf of music and professional musicians and was a council member for six years. I make regular appearances at local music festivals such as Horsforth and Harrogate and regularly organise my own charity concerts and examination venues.
I have been working at Abbey Grange for thirty years, teaching piano and keyboard and providing piano accompaniments for all the higher grade and diploma examinations as well as school concerts. I am currently in school on Tuesday mornings and all day on Thursdays, teaching piano. Many of my students are working towards ABRSM examinations and they have all shown great resilience and flexibility in adapting to zoom lessons and have continued to make great progress in these complicated times.
In 2008 together with then Head of Music, Julie Kilburn, and woodwind teacher Mary Plumb, I relaunched the Abbey Grange Concert Band. In the years since then the band has gone from strength to strength with many regular performance opportunities. They willingly support the school calendar of events as well as promoting the school at outside venues such as the Armed Forces Day at Leeds Town Hall and through frequent appearances at Leeds Minster. The band has an especially busy programme of concerts and carolling events over the Christmas period. In 2012 they performed at one of the official Olympic Torch Relay events. Repertoire over the years has featured a wide variety of music including arrangements of film and musical scores, pieces from the military band tradition and music written specifically for wind and concert bands. Many of the band members use their playing experience in the skills section of their Duke of Edinburgh awards. We are looking forward very much to being able to resume our rehearsals and performances before too long.
