Heidelberg Woodwinds

WHEN & HOW?

Whether you're just starting out or wanting to sharpen the skills you've already acquired, I will tailor a study program and lessons to fit your needs. Individual or group sessions are offered in a supportive and relaxed environment, with your enjoyment and speedy progress always the priority. Weekly or fortnightly tuition is also available to help fit in with your life, and online lessons can be arranged for students interstate or overseas.

WHAT INSTRUMENTS CAN I LEARN?

Not only do I teach the more common woodwinds such as the saxophone, flute and clarinet, but also an extensive range of instruments heralding from all around the world. From bagpipes, to harmonica, didjeridoo, tin whistles to asian flutes and recorder, as well as some lesser known instruments like the bansoori and duduk are also offered.

WHAT STYLES ARE TAUGHT?

You can learn a range of styles or just concentrate on a particular one. I've played and taught many genres such as pop, jazz, blues, classical, improvised music and folk. There's a pretty good chance that I'm into whatever it is that you're into.

WHAT AGE AND LEVEL SHOULD I BE?

There is no firm answer to this, as I've taught really small kids from 2 years through to adults in their nineties. And every level in between. It does depend on the instrument, but I will know after a session with you (and hopefully you will too) if I can provide you with quality tuition or not.

WHERE?

Come to my studio in Heidelberg, just north east of the city, or I can come to your house if you're not too far away.

CAN I TRY OUT INSTRUMENTS TO DECIDE WHICH IS BEST SUITED FOR ME?

Yes, you sure can. I have many instruments available and your first lesson or two can be dedicated to choosing the right one for you.

It's vital that you love the sound of the instrument you're going to learn, and that it just feels right in your hands.

"WHAT WILL IT COST?

Individual lessons start at $40 for the half hour, $55 for 45 minutes.

Lessons can be any length, although 45 minutes usually feels about right unless the student is a small child.

Group sessions (of maximum 3 people) are $30 each for 30 minutes.

A BIT ABOUT THE TEACHER

I was born and raised in Melbourne and grew up with music in the home. I decided from an early age that I just wanted to play. Looking back now, I was completely obsessed. I listened to anything and everything, and loved learning from ear and playing along with anything that caught my attention. I was 10 years old when this was happening, after my folks had the fab idea of getting me a saxophone for Christmas. So more serious lessons on woodwinds and voice happened shortly afterwards.

I was lucky to have a woodwind teacher that had great stories and loved great music, and had travelled, being from Scotland, and he shared all this with me. I didn't realize it at the time, but he was planting seeds in my mind that would start to grow up and out quite soon.

So I played right through school in school bands and with mates, and always knew this was really the one thing in my life that was BIG. Everything else was a bit of a distraction to music.

But I took some advice, and I signed up for a law commerce Uni degree which of course went horribly wrong from day one, took a year off and spent my days on music craft, and then auditioned for a notable music college in Melbourne. I thought I'd found my calling. I commenced there, but after scarcely a year of itchy feet, I left for Sydney to live, then to Europe. At the age of 17 I wasn't sure how my musical life and learning could be satisfied in a building or in one city - with arguably some great teachers - and I yearned to hear more of what was going on in the world and get out of my comfort zone.

So six years of what most of the people close to me would have termed craziness followed before I returned to Oz, travelling far and wide, seeking out my idols that were on my childhood records, hammering them for lessons, going to concerts, attending gypsy music parties and music festivals in every corner of the world, getting into trouble, getting out of trouble. Mostly. I avidly recorded life and sounds and transcribed folk music from around the world and practiced and worked on my game and sought lessons from anyone who I thought could teach me something. I just wanted to saturate my body and soul with a ton of musical language. I breathed melodies and rhythms day and night, nourished by those elusive sounds as I hunted down the stuff between the notes, hunting down exotic, obscure instruments and the musicians who could bring them to life.

I don't think I realized it at the time, but I had found a music education that was perfect for me. It wasn't pretty, alot of the time, and it definately wasn't easy or neat. It came with a price, but the upside was immeasurable and exciting. I was constantly ecstatic and buzzing with every discovery, everyday.

When I got back to Australia, despite trying, I felt I didn't fit, (yes there was also a girl too, OS) and so I boomeranged back to Europe after 6 months. My gut was saying "time to go". It proved a timely move. As fate would have it I managed to work my way into some sort of European professional music life, got to tour and record with quite a few of my childhood idols over the next couple of years, and then a string of others I wouldn't have dreamed of after that. I quite soon found myself playing in many of the world's stunning concert halls and theatres, a life which would continue over the next 20 years or so. The nomadic journeys that I had religiously embarked upon once, didn't stop in those years of touring. It all just became a bit easier. There were years where most weeks were a different country and alot of flying and "work" seemed to meet with my passions. I did alot of teaching both as a private clinician and in colleges, schools and Universities along the way as well.

Doggedly following my heart despite what my mind often said, gave me a life, and it still does. I think when you do that, you give yourself the best possible chance of really becoming you, and bringing the uniqueness that is in every one of us to fruition. There's no one way for you to learn music, and there's maybe not even a best way. I think what I have learned is that there are many ways, and depending on where we are in life, we need to choose the road that's best suited to us at that particular time. Even better if it leads us out of our comfort zone. Making mistakes and learning from those errors will always be a sure pathway to success, so just embrace the fails and get right up again, and stay in the moment.

Life and music are so cooked up in the one pot there's no way of separating them.

Learning music, when the lessons are imparted in the right, positive and supportive way, is a life lesson for the student, and the teacher, too. I love teaching, and I think it's maybe because I love learning so much. And I've come to the conclusion that I love learning so much because of how I trained myself to learn. If how and what you learn isn't fun or doesn't excite you, then you're on a road to nowhere.

These days, my time is divided between writing and making music, teaching, crafting timber (a passion that is constantly threatening to become a life mission), finding the perfect wave, and most of all family.

Anyway, that's a bit about me.

I really am looking forward to learning a bit about you too.

Phil

Heidelberg Woodwinds

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