I have been surrounded by music for most of my life. From a young age, I was taught piano, recorder, and music theory by my parents and grandparents. When I was 10 years of age, my grandfather gifted me with my first clarinet. From here, I self-taught myself the instrument. It wasn’t until I was 14 years old that I would gain my first clarinet teacher, David Shephard. Due to the nature of self-teaching, I inevitably taught myself some bad habits and I have had to work hard to overcome these obstacles.
In the years 2013-2014, I attended TAFE in Grafton NSW to undertake a Certificate IV and a Diploma of Music. Through these, I obtained knowledge in songwriting, sound recording and editing, basic improvisation, and gained experience performing in a variety of groups. I played in ensembles / bands ranging from rock to jazz-inspired to pop.
In 2016, I moved to Adelaide, SA to undertake a Bachelor of Music (Music Performance – Classical) on clarinet. In 2019, I graduated with First Class Honours. Throughout my four years at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, I played a variety of positions in the university ensembles. I played in a number of chamber groups, and my parts in the wind orchestra ranged between Bb clarinet, bass clarinet, Eb clarinet and contrabass clarinet. I also played bass clarinet, and both first and second clarinet in the university symphony orchestra. Alongside this, I played with the Adelaide Wind Orchestra, Adelaide Youth Orchestra. I also played in a variety of musical theatre performances – shifting between clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone and baritone saxophone.
At the beginning of 2020, I attended The Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp. It was here that I undertook the Words About Music Program, which has assisted me to refine my ability to write journal articles and program notes. Since completing this program, I have been commissioned to write program notes for institutions such as The Australian Youth Orchestra and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
I started as a freelance music teacher in Adelaide in the second year of my degree. I quickly became aware of my passion for providing excellence in education to students. This joy of imparting knowledge inspired me to move to Canberra to complete a Masters Degree of Secondary Teaching, which I am due to graduate from at the end of 2021. In Canberra, I currently play with Canberra City Band and Australian Wind Symphony. Despite my shift towards classroom teaching, individual music tuition will undoubtedly be a lifelong passion, and I hope to always be able to provide this to young musicians.