DOVE STUDIO

"Phil is a natural musician. He also has a huge ability to engage others and bring out their skills. His wide a range of musical taste is complemented by his great knowledge of the subject." - Neil (parent of teenage pupil)

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 “High Brow classical music tuition this was not, what Phil offered our two children was something different. Phil in his unique, enthusiastic and gifted way brings popular music to the fingertips of emerging musicians. Our two children had regular piano lessons previously but what Phil taught them is what they can do with it. The CDs they made will always be special, he even got them singing!” - Trish (parent of brother & sister pupils)

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“I really enjoyed developing my keyboard skills with Phil. He taught me enthusiastically and encouraged me to play different styles of music. With his support and encouragement I also started writing my own songs, something which I'd never done before and this gave me great pleasure.” - Lorna (adult pupil for many years)

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"Phil is a fabulous teacher. Lessons were always a joy and had a relaxed feel to them (although not too relaxed!). Singing, drumming and improvising were great to do and it finished the lessons off perfectly. Phil teaches a wide range of music; from traditional classical playing to some cool jazz. I loved this and miss it as not many teachers do jazz. And at the end of a fantastic year you'll have a lengthy but awesome concert which showcases his pupils’ talent as well as a bit of his own." - Paul (young pupil of many years)

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“I learned piano with Phil for 8 years. As a teacher he was brilliant at helping me to understand music better, and overcome the difficulties I faced with increasingly difficult pieces – his patience being key to my progress. But what I find most special about Phil is his ability to inspire a love of music, rather than just an ability to play it. Aside from improving my technical ability, we recorded different songs that I would sing and play, which was a really fun way of putting into practice what I had learned. I always found my music lessons were different to that of my friends, who learned to play classical pieces one after the other, and then took theirs exams. Instead, I discovered a passion for the improvisational aspect of jazz piano and writing my own music, which was definitely down to Phil’s encouragement.” - Hannah (pupil from ages 6-16)

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"Phil has provided my 12-year-old son with an excellent grounding in contemporary music, not just the nuts and bolts of sight-reading and keyboard technique, also the principles of composing, arranging and recording." - Matthew (parent of young pupil)

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 “I’ve gained loads from my lessons with Phil – I switched to his lessons learning jazz piano a couple of years ago and enjoyed every lesson whilst gaining so much understanding about what was behind the piano – rather than just learning the notes he taught me so much about how to compose, how to improvise, basically a lot of skills that in my opinion are essential but somehow missed out on with average teachers. The variety of things we did in the lessons was also brilliant – as he was experienced with all his equipment and can play drums, bass, guitar and the keyboard/piano we were able to create an album for charity entitled “River”, which raised £300 for WaterAid. This helped me so much with the practicality of real-life composition and inspired me to continue writing music. Phil is ideal for all styles of teaching, as we also did classical pieces and worked on other styles whilst I was studying on the ABRSM jazz piano syllabus. It was a shame to have to change teacher when Phil took a break from his many years of teaching – it was hard to find a teacher as good as him.” - David (teenage Pupil)