Year started at NECOM: 2021
Teacher of Drums & Guitar
WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT WORKING AT NECOM?
Teaching people how to play music is a fun and rewarding experience.
The staff here are welcoming and have a passion for teaching and performing music. NECOM is not only about learning, but also about performing and giving back to the community. NECOM has sought to bring music education to children whose families otherwise can’t afford private tuition with school programs, bursaries, and scholarships.
I love working at the wonderful Armidale Teacher’s college. This mysterious place is like a multileveled area in a computer game. Brilliant pianos and percussion instruments inhabit several of its rooms. Many of its rooms have brilliant acoustics for chamber music. It has a rich history that includes a period of storing valuable artworks during World War II. I am looking forward to its continued restoration and am grateful that many parents, students and audience members can experience it.
YOUR EARLIEST MUSICAL MEMORY IS
I remember hearing ‘’One Summer’’, by Daryl Braithwaite while sitting in a car when I was probably about two years old. I also remember dancing along to ‘’Beds Are Burning’’ by Midnight Oil at a similar age.
WHAT IS ONE MEMORY THAT STANDS OUT AS A HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
I was fortunate to do two tours of Japan with Isabella A Cappella. We performed at concert halls, nursing homes, preschools, the Australian Embassy and met many people on the way.
IF YOU COULD ONLY KEEP ONE PIECE OF MUSIC IN YOUR COLLECTION, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Saturn: Bringer of Old Age (for that ending) by Gustav Holst
Interestingly Dennis McCarthy quoted Mars In his soundtrack for an episode of Star Trek: Voyager called Ashes to Ashes. Part of Saturn seems to also have been inspiration for Jeremy Soule for his track called Aurora in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim