It all started when…
I started playing the piano at the age of 11 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It immediately took over my entire life and after one year of learning I was performing Chopin Nocturnes and Waltzes. In 2002 I won first prize at the Musicon National Piano Competition in South Africa under the tuition of Avryl Cheetham - a musical legend of Port Elizabeth. In 2003 I moved to Johannesburg to attend The National School of the Arts, specialising in music with piano as my first instrument and oboe as my second. It was at this time that I began taking piano lessons with the incredible Professor Joseph Stanford at the University of Pretoria. In 2004 I won first prize at the Rodean/Lovemore Music Competition in Johannesburg. I also graduated high school achieving distinctions for both of my music subjects.
In 2005 I began my BMus degree at the University of Pretoria under the tutelage of Professor Joseph Stanford. The same year I was the piano category winner at the ABSA National Youth Music Competition in Port Elizabeth. I also won the prize for the best interpretation of a 20th century composition. In 2006 I won first prize at the Varna Symphonic Workshops International Piano Concerto Competition in Bulgaria. It was there that I had masterclasses with Joseph Banowetz, Tamasz Ungar and Adam Wodnicki. Another achievement in 2006 was when I won second prize and the prize for the best rendition of a South African composition at the UNISA (University of South Africa) South African Scholarship Competition.
Joseph Banowetz & Joseph Stanford at the 2006 Varna Symphonic Workshops Masterclass, Bulgaria
In 2007 I performed Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto no. 4 with the University of Pretoria Symphony Orchestra and was a semi-finalist in the UNISA National Piano Competition. In 2008 I won first prize for teachers at the UNISA Overseas Scholarship Competition as the top newly-qualified music teacher in South Africa. In 2009 I graduated cum laude with my BMus degree and received second place and a special prize at the SAMRO Overseas Scholarship Competition.
2008 UNISA Overseas Scholarship Competition in Pretoria, South Africa
BMus final year concert in 2008 at the University of Pretoria, South Africa
2009 Graduation, University of Pretoria
In 2011 I obtained my UNISA Piano Performer’s Licentiate diploma cum laude and took the programme to Italy where I attended the European Academy of Performing Arts Masterclasses in Montepulciano, Tuscany. I was extremely fortunate to meet and have lessons with the amazing Professor Carmen Piazzini from Darmstadt, Germany. The course culminated in a final concert which included me performing Prokofiev’s Sonata no. 3 and receiving a standing ovation for it. In 2013 I was invited by Professor Piazzini to attend her summer academy in Radolfzell, Germany. I performed at six concerts during the ten day course and received an excellent response for my interpretations of multiple works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Out of 21 international participants including pianists, violinists and cellists, I received the top award for Outstanding Artistic Interpretation at the end of the academy.
Palazzo Ricci Masterclasses, Italy, with Professor Carmen Piazzini
2013 Radolfzell am Bodensee Somerakademie, Germany
I am proud to say that I achieved one of my life goals by performing JS Bach’s monumental 90-minute Goldberg Variations from memory for my Master’s degree in 2019 at the University of Pretoria. My dissertation was entitled ‘The reevaluation of ornamentation in JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations’ and was submitted along with my live performance of the work for critical analysis, resulting in my Master’s degree being obtained cum laude.
Not only do I adore classical music, but I am equally zealous about popular and electronic music, composing and producing my own songs on Logic Pro X. Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoy DJing, recognising the decks as an instrument in their own right and the power a fantastic mix of music has on an audience.
I have been teaching music for 15 years both online and in schools around the world includingSouth Africa, South Korea, Dubai and Thailand. I have taught all ages and various types ofcurricula including the UK National curriculum, New York State curriculum, South Korean MEST curriculum as well as the South African CAPS and IEB curricula. I have extensive experience teaching ABRSM, UNISA and Trinity theory to students at all of the schools I’ve worked at as a music teacher. I have taught students in their final year of high school, most notably at The National School of the Arts where the music students had an extremely rigorous curriculum, above the UK A Level standard. This included harmony, composition, improvisation, repertoire, score analysis and history of music. As the Head of Music at Rugby School Thailand I was able to expand upon the UK National Curriculum by implementing my own curriculum such as an in-depth study of Taylor Swift’s latest album Midnights. This included analysing lyrics, lyric videos, music videos and sounds of the production itself. The students thoroughly enjoyed this course as it helped them to become more conscious of the music they listen to. It also developed their critical listening skills in order to extract as much depth from the music as possible whilst appreciating the supreme artistry of Taylor Swift’s compositions.
In 2021 I obtained my PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) diploma from the Nelson Mandela University cum laude specialising in high school Music and Creative Arts. Part of this course included 120 days of in-school teaching which for me took place at Alexander Road High School, Port Elizabeth - a school with an excellent music department. I was able to teach beginner students the basics of music theory, up to final year students who had to write four-part harmony in their final exams. One standout lesson was teaching Grade 11’s the rise of nationalism in the romantic era where we analysed Chopin’s Polonaise Op. 53 which I played for them in the classroom. I also presented a series of lessons on the Scherzo, tracing its development from the classical era into the romantic era through a variety of musical examples from Beethoven’s symphonies to Chopin’s piano solo works. The core principles of my teaching philosophy are rooted in a humanising pedagogy with a reconstructionism view focusing on social justice, equality, social change and empowerment. I use my personality and passion to deliver engaging and humorous lessons. This, combined with my positive demeanour and patience, creates a fun and effective learning environment for all students in my classroom.