A LITTLE ABOUT MY MUSIC JOURNEY SO FAR

I have been listening to, playing and writing music for as long as I can remember. I've been involved in all kind of projects over the years as a sideman and leader of my own groups. I had my first couple of guitar lessons as a child, and admittedly did not fall in love with the learning process immediately. I was not a natural and did not pick up things right away, but my love and admiration for the sound of the electric guitar was enough of a spark to keep me going and ignite a life-long love of music.

I eventually found a teacher named Enda Byrnes who showed me how to harness my creativity and love for music in a practical way, and so began my journey of becoming a student of music. After secondary school I went on to study Music and English in University College Dublin, Where I learned a lot about music theory and history, however I always felt a degree of separateness between my studies and my guitar playing because this knowledge was always on paper and never practically applied to my instrument. After Completing this course I played music with friends for a while, always just for fun, but still had a hunger to learn more about the instrument and keep on improving.

 I decided to go back to school and study music in a much more practical and hands on way. I was always hesitant to do this because I never thought I was good enough to play music in an academic environment, however it was in BIMM Dublin where I began to make connections with other musicians and started to grow much more confidence in my abilities on my instrument. This was due to having encouraging teachers and classes based around music I enjoyed, which in turn allowed me to expand my theoretical horizons on my instrument and explore and develop my own style of playing. Upon completion of the CPD course, I met some fantastic musicians and began playing music live in bands, which will always be my first love. At this point I felt much more confident, but still had a strong desire to keep developing and evolving as a musician. I was also beginning to fall in love with playing and listening to improvised music around this time, and after a trip to visit a friend in New York, began my life-long love of jazz music. I have always drawn most of my inspiration from my friends and peers and could see those who went on to study jazz music develop in a way I admired, and I decided that this was the path for me. I was fortunate enough to see some great jazz musicians on the Dublin scene including Irish guitarist Tommy Halferty, and became completely enamoured by their style. My now fiancee managed to ring Tommy after one of his gigs which we went to see together, and eventually badgered him into doing a couple of lessons with me from his home, and gave this to me as a Christmas present, one of the greatest presents I've ever gotten!

Tommy eventually encouraged me to join the jazz degree programme in Newpark, which is now part of DCU, where I undertook an apprenticeship of sorts into the deep waters of improvised music and jazz. The course was by far one of the most challenging things I've ever done, but I gained a wealth of knowledge and experience here that I will value forever.

 

I now teach music full-time and I believe that through my own experiences I have gained the tools needed to encourage and help develop and guide any person wishing to explore the world of music.