About Me

I’ve been a musician for over 42 years as well as being a teacher for nearly 20 years, and that experience means I firmly believe that music should be fun with a very big capital f. Even if you’re really serious about your music, perhaps to the extent of considering it as a career, it should still definitely be fun. If it isn’t fun when you’re playing, there’s something wrong somewhere that needs to be addressed, and if you’re not having fun when you’re learning, your teacher needs to know – and quickly! I make sure that all my teaching is carried out with this in mind. Boring, stodgy lessons are definitely out and, whilst teaching remains the number one priority, many a lesson has erupted into fits of laughter at some point! As one new student recently told me, I’m not like her previous ‘old fashioned’ teacher.

Andrew and a young student.

I teach piano, both classical and modern, electronic organ, electronic keyboard, music theory and music technology. Given my background in the industry and my work with some of the very first keyboards to come onto the market, it’s perhaps not surprising that I’ve become something of a specialist in electronic keyboard teaching. I’m not just a piano teacher who either ‘dabbles’ with keyboard or reluctantly tolerates it, I respect it and teach it as an instrument in its own right. Keyboard can be an amazing instrument if it’s taught and played properly! Music technology includes basic synthesis techniques, recording methods and all aspects of computer music making. I specialise in using Cubase and Sibelius software and can help you set up a simple home studio system.

All my instrumental teaching is structured, with aspects of theory, aural work and sight-reading routinely built into the learning process of each piece, rather than left until later (or perhaps never covered at all!). If you want to take exams you can, but they’re never compulsory, as I believe that they should always be milestones, not millstones! I also flatly refuse to go in for ‘certificate chasing’, where a student does nothing but take exams, one after the other. (I’ve taken on too many students whose entire experience of a given music grade is just the three exam pieces!) I use the syllabuses of both the Associated Board and the London College of Music for piano and theory, and the London College of Music exclusively for keyboard. If you do choose to take exams, then rest assured that I’ll be supporting you all the way, and you’ll be pleased to know that my students have a 100% success rate, with around 85% of them passing with Merit or Distinction. Marks above 90% are by no means rare and my ‘student high score’ is currently a superb 98%.

With me, there’s a big emphasis on musical performance, as merely playing the notes in the correct order doesn’t really make the music come alive. Piano players will learn the art of ‘reading between the lines’ of what is written, interpreting the piece their way, and putting their own ‘stamp’ on a piece. Keyboard players will go further still, learning the skills of orchestration and arranging, and they’ll eventually be using everything that their instrument has to offer. All of this will come in handy for exams and concerts, plus playing in front of Mum, Dad, relatives and friends!

Whatever you want to learn, you’ll find that there are no age barriers as far as I’m concerned. I have students as young as 6 progressing with their piano and keyboard studies and, at the other extreme, I have several students in their 80’s busy playing organ, keyboard and piano! I make sure that all of them are getting a lot of enjoyment as they learn.

I’m based in Newhaven in East Sussex and teach in the coastal area between Brighton and Eastbourne, and as far inland as Lewes, Burgess Hill and Crowborough. For more details, please contact me by phone on 01273 516517 or by e-mail