Information About Matthew - Stonehouse teacher

Personal Description:

I believe passionately in the power of music to touch the heart and move us deeply and seek to share this in my teaching my playing and my composing work.

My musical journey has encompassed both a classical training including a music degree, as well as an interest in exploring and assimilating various other influences from traditional musics from around the world. Since 2002 I have been fascinated by improvisation as creative expression, and has felt this to bring a new and exciting dimension to my performing, composing and teaching.

I have a one-to-one teaching practice in piano, clarinet and improvisation in Stroud and Bristol, and many students have come seeking support with improvising and finding intuitive ways to engage with music to complement a more classical approach.

As a performer on clarinet and piano, I have accompanied singers and played solo at concerts and festivals in the UK and abroad. I have played clarinet with the band Faeland and appear on their recent album.

I have taught highly successful regular classes for adults in Music Appreciation since 2009 with the intention of sharing my knowledge and love of music widely including deepening the listening experience of those who have not necessarily had a formal training in music.

My own music takes its inspiration from natural landscapes and the timelessness of ancient chant. One current project, Songs of the Forest, seeks to weave a magical and contemplative tapestry of sound using piano, clarinet and voices in a way that evokes the beauty and power of mountains, rivers and forests and the interconnection between forest species. I believe passionately in music as something to be experienced actively rather than heard passively, and part of my composing work seeks to explore ways in which non-musically-trained people can engage and be a part of a moving musical experience. i have written participatory multi-faith chants for the 2018 and 2019 Sacred Music Festivals in Stroud, embodying a conviction about the power of music to unite people and to build bridges. I believe in the capacity for music to articulate experiences and to heal conflicts in a way that words cannot.
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Tutoring Experience:

I have taught one-to-one and in groups since 2007 in clarinet and piano which are my main instruments as well as music theory and appreciation. I have taught in schools and privately, both adults and children. I have entered students for grade exams, both classical and jazz and rock and pop. I teach improvisation and composing.

Tutoring Approach:

I offer one-to-one tuition from beginner level to advanced. My main instruments are clarinet and piano, but I also offer tuition in improvisation, music theory and understanding the background to a wide range of musical genres (including Western classical, jazz, Klezmer, traditional music from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and India, minimalist music). This may be be of interest and benefit to people learning other instruments.

I teach both adults and children, and I tailor my approach to the individual learner. There are various possibilities including learning from sheet music, developing aural skills by playing by ear, improvising and composing one’s own songs, deepening an understanding and appreciation of musical repertoire, finding approachable ways to delve into music theory.

Above all, I’m keen to share the joy that music has brought me since childhood.

Teaching is available in Stroud (Gloucestershire), in central Bristol (near Gloucester Road), and via Skype. It may be possible for me to travel to learners’ homes – please enquire. I’m fully insured and DBS/ CRB-checked.