mUSIC LESSONS
Dear Parents and Guardians, The purpose of this booklet is to introduce you to our fantastic team of visiting music teachers and to encourage you to consider the option of your child taking up extra-curricular music lessons at Box Hill School. I started here as Director of Music in September 2020 during a rather difficult time for schools and for the arts, but with a vision for making Box Hill School a place where young musicians can thrive and with plenty of musical opportunities for all children to get involved with. It has been a privilege to work alongside this team of inspiring musicians who are leaders in their respective field who offer the highest quality of individual teaching to all students who choose to learn their instrument here at Box Hill. Having taught music in schools for 16 years, I can personally attest to the transformational effect that learning an instrument has on young people. There are many studies that reveal the benefits, which include: increased memory, greater organisational skills, perseverance, improved co-ordination, a sense of responsibility, cultural awareness, superior concentration, a sense of achievement, better social skills and general wellbeing. In addition to offering all the traditional orchestral instruments as well as singing, guitar and drums it is really important that we keep up with the times and reflect the varied ways that music is used and appreciated in our society. This is why we also offer music technology lessons (sound recording and mixing) and DJ skills. Music lessons are scheduled to minimise disruption to academic lessons. In years 7 to 9 they are rotated throughout the term we try and avoid impacting on academic lessons as best as we can within the limitations of numbers of students per instrumental teacher. If you have any questions or would like to book a trial lesson for your child, do not hesitate to email me at Jessica.taylor@boxhillschool.com I look forward to hearing from you.
Jessica Taylor Director of Music
M U S I C S TA F F Jessica Taylor - DIRECTOR
OF MUSIC
Jessica studied music at the University of Nottingham and then went on to study PGCE secondary music at the University of Roehampton. She is a first study singer and second study pianist as well as being a keen composer. Prior to working at Box Hill School she was Director of Music at Sutton Grammar School for 11 years. She is still an active musician writing and arranging music and singing with the Kingswood Big Band. She has a wide range of musical interests from classical to jazz and pop and enjoys sharing her passion for music with the students she teaches.
Stuart Ansell – GUITAR A graduate of Bretton Hall College of Music, Stuart has been teaching at Box Hill School since 2008 and runs a number of popular rock ensembles within the School. He has toured with Rose Royce, Shalamar, Odyssey, Boney M, Dexy’s Midnight Runners and The Drifters. He is also Musical Director for The Real Thing. Stuart is the guitarist and principal songwriter for the band “The Quays”.
Giles Straw - BRASS Giles Straw is a full time British, London based professional trumpet player and teacher. As an active musician, Giles works all over the UK and worldwide. He has worked extensively with numerous artists, including Amy Winehouse, Lilly Allen, Squeeze and Cliff Richard to name a few. Giles has vast experience with touring theatre shows across Europe and can regularly be found working in London’s West End, most recently on The Rat Pack, The Last Tango, Beautiful and The Jersey Boys. Giles has taught extensively for the past 20 years in a number of independent schools across London and Surrey. He is also a consultant for The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) “Jazz Horns” Syllabus.
Charlotte Burke - DRUMS Charlotte gained the scholarship for Drum-tech (Tech Music Colleges) in 2002 and graduated with a Diploma in Popular Music. As a drummer she has contributed to different bands and ensembles with a variety of styles including rock, funk, hip-hop, jazz, pop, metal, country and western and folk. Her career developed as a gigging, touring drummer in bands such as Naked Ruby, The Volt Union, Vizion City, Magpie, Scatch, Sucker, V12, Firemouth and Magic City Trio. She gained experience in many recording projects with various artists including work released on John Zorn’s label ‘Tzadik’ and completed her own solo project ‘Seven Wanders’ in 2012, where she wrote, played, recorded, mixed and mastered her own songs. She has performed at Glastonbury festival numerous times including the ‘John Peel’ stage. Croissant Neuf and Small world festivals, Le Printemps Bourges, the Hanbury Ballroom and the Angel Academy. She has extensive touring experience in Europe. Alongside her performing Charlotte has worked in education for 15 years tutoring drum-kit to aspiring younger musicians. Running workshops at WAC, mentoring bands, teaching privately and in schools. Parent reviews can be found on her teaching website at charlotteburke.net
Carole Smith - WOODWIND I am an experienced woodwind teacher and love enabling pupils to tap into their musical ability and promote a lifelong love of music. I have taught at several schools in Surrey for nearly 20 years, entering pupils for ABRSM and Trinity College exams when appropriate. I also support pupils not entering for exams, giving them a wide range of styles of music to play. I encourage pupils to join music ensembles as this is great self development and fun and supports other musicians in the school as well as the music department. I have been a music coordinator and ran a school orchestra where I arranged music for all abilities on all instruments to include everyone learning an instrument. I teach piano and violin as well as music theory and have been teaching whole class clarinet for many years. When I am not teaching, I play the flute in a concert band, lead alto for the Kingswood Big Band and tenor saxophone and clarinet for the Bill Geldard Big Band, as well as playing in a saxophone quintet and for other groups when needed.
Zoe Eborn – VIOLIN Zoë Eborn studied with Maciej Rackowski at the Royal Northern College of Music and while there she also studied Baroque violin with Andrew Manzie alongside her normal violin studies. After graduation Zoë spent a further year at the Sweelink Conservatorium in The Netherlands after which she worked as a violinist in orchestras throughout Holland. These included The Nederlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Symphonie Orchestra, Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra and the Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra. Other playing at the time included being principal violin of the modern music group of The Hague Conservatorium and playing principal violin in the modern music ensemble ‘Baccus’ based in Amsterdam. While in The Netherlands Zoë also played in several chamber music ensembles and gave regular recitals throughout the country both as part of an ensemble and as a soloist. Since returning to the UK in 2008 with her family, Zoë has continued to perform in orchestras and ensembles as a freelance musician. Over the last twelve years Zoë has developed a successful career as both a visiting music teacher at many schools in the Reigate and Dorking area and as a conductor of several Surrey based youth orchestras. In 2017 Zoë became a founding member of the Reigate Grammar School Saturday Music College. Further performing experiences include working with singer songwriters in both the Netherlands and UK. Zoë has been fortunate enough to perform at many music festivals throughout her career including the Lowlands festival in the Netherlands and most recently at Glastonbury 2019 where she played alongside Frank Turner.
Shanice Steele - VOCALS Shanice Steele is a Vocalist, Tutor and Live Performer from London. Known for her vocal ability, dedication and professionalism in Music as well as for her smile and happy, fun and lively personality. Shanice is an accomplished live performer and recording artist and her credits include recently touring with globally acclaimed Grammy award winning producer and songwriter Giorgio Moroder on his UK & European Tour as Featured Artist/Singer as well as regularly performing with Artists including Stormzy, Dermot Kennedy, Zara Larrson, Lauv and Ella Eyre to name a few. Shanice’s love of performing has seen her appear on London’s West End and on worldwide tours as the lead female performer in Thriller Live. Currently working on her artist project, Shanice is regularly in the studio writing and recording her original music with some of the most talented producers in the industry. She is fortunate enough to work and perform not only as herself but also with an array of talented musicians in Bespoke bands and Collective’s all over the world. Regularly performing at some of London’s most credible venues including the O2 and Royal Albert Hall. Shanice is excited to bring her Vocal tuition to the School and also share her love of the industry and her skills/experience with the artists of the future.
Nikos Papaioannou - DJ Nikos regularly DJs for some of the world’s biggest clubs and events such as Ministry of Sound, EGG LND, Hush in Ibiza and the Brighton Music Festival. He also works as an audio engineer. His latest project was recording and mixing for X-Factor finalist Holly Tandy. He has also released multiple tracks and frequently charts in the top 100. After graduating he set up his own company “Soundflow music academy” to provide expert tuition in DJ-ing and sound production as well as organising networking events and providing contacts and access to record labels for students. He also arranges graduate gigs for his students to some of the world’s biggest clubs and festivals.
David Ward - MUSIC
TECHNOLOGY AND GUITAR
David Ward grew up in Nottingham and whilst at school studied piano and guitar. From the age of 16 he started playing keyboards on the semi-pro circuit, and at 18 left Nottingham to move to London to become a full time professional musician. Over the next four years he worked on the UK pop circuit, spending two years as the regular keyboardist for the New Seekers, and also worked for Clodagh Rogers and Peter Sartstedt, amongst others. After a year running a show band in Switzerland, he returned to the UK to take up Electronics at London University, and subsequently joined the BBC Engineering Department in London. Thereafter, he followed a career working for various electronics companies including Mitsubishi Pro Audio, where as Technical Operations Manager, his team provided 24-hour support for the likes of Abbey Road Studios, Paul McCartney and Peter Gabriel. Throughout this time, David maintained a strong interest in music as a producer, arranger and performer, working in pop, jazz and soul.
Bridget Wilcox - PIANO Bridget studied piano and clarinet as a junior exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music. She gained her LTCL teaching diploma in 1997 and gradually built up pupil numbers until being able to work full time as an instrumental teacher in 2002. Bridget now teaches the piano at Box Hill, Farlington and Brambletye schools and the clarinet and piano at home. She plays clarinet in Horsham Symphony Orchestra and in the wind decet “New Harmonie” and takes part in local music events.
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