Music was my main hobby and passion through my childhood. I studied piano from age 6, then took up flute a few years later and singing lessons from age 16. As a child I sang in children's choirs and adult choirs, played in local orchestras, arranged songs, composed music, conducted choirs, and performed locally and on TV in a folk/medieval girl group (with guitars and tambourine!).
As a young teenager, before I started singing lessons, I knew was not a good enough pianist or flautist to have a performing career. I aimed to study engineering because I wanted to build things. More specifically I wanted to be the person who designed and produced the demonstration models explaining science and technology to young TV viewers on BBC’s “Tomorrow’s World”, I now realise this career path would have combined pedagogy, design, creativity and problem-solving - all extremely relevant to my teaching.
Almost as soon as I started singing lessons at age 16, I happily realised that singing, which had always been my first love, was an ideal profession for me. I dropped my ideas about engineering and dropped chemistry A’ level. I took a music degree at the University of Birmingham, which included further studies in piano with Piers Lane and singing lessons at the Birmingham Conservatoire.
After my degree I spent two years teaching piano and flute in France and learning Italian in Italy (I had to catch up on my language studies once I decided on a singing career).
I continued my singing studies at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio. I went on to win the top UK classical singing prize and I had an international career as a classical singer, cut short by the unfortunate side effects of thyroid surgery.
When I turned back to teaching, I discovered that is it very fulfilling to my creative, problem-solving side and my interest in pedagogy. After some years using many different piano tutor books for beginners, I became very dissatisfied with the current available material, so I started writing my own. The content of my tutor book has been road-tested by 12 of my students and tweaked and perfected over time. I now have a 48 page book which I am proof-reading and preparing for publication. Watch this space!
I also have three more books already well advanced in the pipeline. There will be a second, follow-up piano tutor book (the material for which has already been used by 9 of my students) as well as two books for learners of any instrument; one to train in rhythm, and one to support understanding of keys, scales and chords. I plan to produce much more supporting material for students and teachers.