I have extensive experience of teaching, particularly as a tutor at the Merlin Academy of Traditional Music, from 2017 to 2023, and can teach guitar, piano accordion, bouzouki/cittern, mandolin and tenor banjo.
Guitar
I have primarily taught steel string guitar using a flatpick approach, specialising in melody and accompaniment for Celtic repertoire, usually in standard tuning and ‘drop D’. I can also teach in DGDGAD, a tuning that I’ve picked up from guitarists Donald Knox and Matt Seattle, and which I now use extensively. I can also teach fingerstyle to intermediate level.
Piano accordion
I’ve taught piano accordion students focusing on Scottish and Irish repertoire, as well as other students who are particularly interested in Balkan and continental European repertoire.
Cittern and bouzouki
Cittern and bouzouki tends to be used as a modal accompaniment instrument for Celtic repertoire, and lessons are usually focused around chords, counter-melody and lead melody. I use ADAD for bouzouki (occasionally GDAD), and DADAD for cittern.
Mandolin (and tenor banjo)
Both instruments tend to be more melody focused, and lessons have usually focused on this area. Whilst I don’t consider myself a tenor banjo player, within Celtic repertoire it shares the same tuning as mandolin, an instrument that I’ve played since childhood.
Music theory
My approach to music theory focuses on developing an understanding of melody, harmony and rhythm and how the three areas interrelate and can apply to folk and traditional music. Whilst being able to read sheet music is a useful skill, I see music theory as a separate subject, more based around developing our ears and an understanding of how music works.
Skills that are valuable to musicians (particularly chord/melody players) include:
- Identifying the root note of a melody.
- Identifying the chords in a given progression.
- Identifying the mode of a particular melody.
- Identifying the rhythm/time signature.
- Identifying intervals between notes.
Whilst all the above could be deduced from looking at the sheet music, it is usually more valuable to musicians of most genres to develop our ears to pick out these musical building blocks, and this is a process that can often be developed surprisingly quickly, with some dedication.