270 Miller St, North Sydney NSW 2060, Australia
Clarinet Lessons
Bio
James has been a dedicated musician for over 40 years. At an early age he received a scholarship to attend the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and then, during his undergraduate years, he wrote and had performed his first musical “Alice”, was principal clarinettist with the Australian Youth Orchestra and completed his degree in musical performance.
In the late 80’s and early 90’s James worked as a film and TV post production sound engineer and was lucky enough to work closely with many of the most talented film directors and producers in Australia at that time: George Miller, Phillip Noyce, Bruce Beresford, John Duigan, Chris Noonan, Vincent Ward, Martin Armiger and many others. This work included music composition, recording orchestras for film music, ADR and foley work, as well as post production sound mixing.
James had the privilege of working directly with George Miller by completing the music composition for the TV series Bangkok Hilton after becoming a trusted assistant to the composer Graeme Revell.
The Australian film industry took a dive in the 1990’s but luckily James discovered he was good at software engineering. Whilst working as a software engineer and raising two daughters over the following 25 years, James still managed to find time to continue his musical development: he completed his post graduate studies in musical composition, was the musical director of multiple musical theatre productions, he was the clarinettist with the Aeon Ensemble, he was the principal clarinettist of the North Sydney Symphony Orchestra, he wrote and recorded his own theatre songs, as well as orchestrate and conduct various ensembles.
In early 2021 James sold the software development company he founded and is now back to working on music composition full time.
James continues to enjoy playing the clarinet at a high level of expertise when relaxing from composing.
Teaching Info
James is a dedicated clarinettist: he teaches his students to enjoy the disciple of practicing scales, technical work and the classic clarinet repertoire. But mostly to express themselves through the sound of the clarinet. He works on developing clean, smooth finger work, a steady airflow, a beautiful articulation.
"James is a highly qualified and experienced clarinet teacher, his love of clarinet showed throughout the time we have had James as my daughter's clarinet teacher. His wealth of expertise and coupled with his patient teaching style, I would recommend James to any students of all levels."
Fiona L.
"James is a wonderful clarinet teacher. He is an extremely experienced musician which makes him highly suitable for students of all abilities. He currently teaches my son the clarinet and has enthused him with a love of the instrument. This is very much because of his patient, encouraging and engaging teaching style. He makes every effort to ensure his students are enjoying their musical journey along with precision in the technicality of playing the clarinet. I would highly recommend him as a teacher."
Kate C.
"James is an esteemed clarinet player, composer, performer and wonderful teacher. A passionate musician James encourages all students to love their instrument. He teaches with an excellent balance of technical skill along side an enjoyable repertoire. I would recommend him to anyone wanting to learn and perfect their clarinet playing."
