Portfolio Career

JSBM Popakademie in Vienna (2020 - 2021)

Since September 2020 I have been teaching jazz violin at the JSBM Popakademie in Vienna For one academic year I supervised students of all levels including professional classical players who are learning more about improvisation and groove music on the violin or viola. For students enrolled on specific courses at the college my teaching follows a programmme that runs in tandem with supplementary courses in ear-training and playing in ensembles. Whilst the repertoire is based around jazz and its derivative styles there is often room to include other music with which I have personal experience such as irish folk, klezmer and eastern european fiddle tunes. More information about studying jazz violin at the J.S Bach Music School can be found HERE. After one year I was not satisfied with the position and chose to leave.

Keystone Tutor (2009 - )

For twelve years I have worked with one of the U.K's most successful tuition agencies. I began working with Keystone Tutors in 2009 after completing my first Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and French. Initially I offered tuition in those two subjects up to and including A-level but having studied composition at Trinity Laban (London) and having subsequently retrained as a music teacher in Vienna I now frequently work with students towards GCSE and A-level Music also. My life as a freelance musician has also led to a lot of experience with music technology so my tuition of composition often extends to include the recording and mixing process within my DAWs of choice. I also teach verbal and non-verbal reasoning and physics.

Freelance Musician (2013 - )

I have worked as a freelance composer and violinist since 2013. I began writing and performing in my home town, London where I founded my first band, Don Kipper whose success throughout the U.K and Europe gave me a musical passport that introduced me to so many exciting places I may never have seen without it. I moved to Vienna in 2016 where I retrained as a jazz-violin teacher completing a second Bachelor's degree in Music Education (Instrumental- und Gesangs-Pädagogik). For the first two years of transition I still returned to the U.K (or travelled to other countries) to perform with Don Kipper but in late 2018 I decided to say goodbye to the band that kick-started my career in order to focus on more jazz-based projects in Vienna.

Musical Community Projects (2017 - )

In September 2017 I joined a project named the "UKI Ensemble" set up by the Yehudi Menhuin Foundation, Live Music Now that offered free instrumental and vocal teaching to refugees living in temporary accommodation in and around Vienna. The project brings students from refugee backgrounds together at universities to learn and perform music. The set up is always geared towards learning to sing and play instruments whilst creating an ensemble comprising every student that is capable of performing a short set by the end of each semester. Originally I taught group violin lessons but since September 2020 I have been coordinating the whole project at the JAM Music Lab in Vienna.

BSc Maths with French (Manchester: 2005 - 2009)

Immediately after completing my A-levels I was awarded a scholarship to study Mathematics with a subsidiary in French at the University of Manchester. I was very interested in pure maths especially the fields of number theory and proof. That a mathematical theorem could be proven beyond all doubt (given just a handful of axioms) was fascinating to me at the time. I chose the Manchester course not only for the scholarship that came with it but for the opportunity it afforded me to spend a year abroad in Paris. This allowed me to spend time studying literature and philosophy at the Sorbonne. I also took my violin back out of the box and learnt the rudiments of jazz improvisation at "boeufs de Manouche" jam sessions I returned to Manchester in 2009 to complete my Bachelor degree with first class honours before moving my life back towards music.

MMus Composition (Trinity Laban: 2010 - 2012)

During my time at Manchester I had begun building a portfolio of compositions. Having completed my Maths degree I took a year to prepare for a musical masters at Trinity Laban, a conservatoire in which I was particularly interested for its strong jazz department and collaboration with contemporary dancers. While at Trinity I collaborated with film-makers, dancers and jazz musicians eventually performing my own material with scratch ensembles and collectives. While at Trinity I began attending the jam sessions that would later lead to the founding of Don Kipper. I was also lucky enough to have the opportunity of arranging klezmer music for Trinity's largest Wind Band. I graduated with Postgraduate Distinction in June 2012.

BAME Jazz Violin (Vienna: 2017 - 2021)

Having moved to Vienna in 2016 I began training as a Jazz Violin teacher. During my studies I became fluent in German and consolidated my compositional studies with two years of Jazz theory and arrangement. While studying I became heavily involved in community projects working with Live Music Now offering free musical training to refugee students in and around Vienna. Whilst studying at the Jam Music Lab I co-founded the band Fourchestra with fellow students, a project dedicated to expanding the scope of acoustic 'chamber'-jazz ensembles. I wrote my thesis on the unique effects of improvisation on the human brain, a new exciting field that I hope could one day revolutionise education systems everywhere. I graduated in February 2021 with "Auszeichnung" (First Class Honours).

Bootcamp (Full Stack) (Code Factory, Vienna: 2021)

My life is all about discovery and leaping into the unknown in order to challenge myself and extend my limits as far as I can. Coding for me means moving forward at this stage in my life. That's why I decided to build this website from scratch. I am currently self-teaching but will be joining a boot-camp shortly in September 2021 to further hone my skills. Sofar I have enjoyed learning Python, Javascript (in tandem with HTML5 and CSS3) and exploring mini projects using LAMP stacks. As a fledgling web-developer I am currently happy to work with interesting people and start-ups at astonishingly low-rates in order to learn the trade in a zero-plus game situation for both of us. Feel free to contact me if this applies to you. But hurry! I don't intend to be cheap for very long 😉.