Music – language more than artefact

As a child, I discovered the magic of music and how it followed simple principles to tell magical stories. However, I was thrust into the world of classical piano. Its competitive, pressurised environment felt quite alien: presenting music as a technically correct, tastefully-interpreted performance sits at odds with music as a spontaneous outpouring, or a trip into a magical place, which was how I experienced it. Although I did well, pretending to fit into that world, I never felt at home. It took me a long time to break away from these early influences, but now I share my music in my own way.

I experience music not as an external thing, product or finished performance, but as a language that I use to help me explore deep, complex feelings, to process them. I do it for myself, to make sense of life. And sharing it is an act of communication. I like to think that the stories I tell, whether in my own pieces and improvisations or in classical repertoire, are little personal glimpses into the mysteries of life. Whilst the music I play can sound very polished, my approach is quite raw and unrehearsed. Music for me is musing on inner feelings.

What my music is for

I love the way music has the power to lift us out of our everyday experience, to carry us into a fantasy realm. A have a friend whole called me the music pusher and I quite like that! My musical style is informed by quite a broad a range of influences which combine to create a personal voice. I like to invoke inner adventures or trips into the inner realms of consciousness, whicj might sounds a little grand but really it's the opposite—there's a childlike exuberance about it. I created this website as a space to share my music and and provide some context about how I use it. It's my invitation for people to come with me and visit the inner worlds that it explores.

Music speaks feelings

I’m more interested in what music reveals than any preconceived idea of genre. But a lot of music within the classical solo piano tradition does fascinate me. If I allow myself to be free from any sense of the elitism or pretentious mannerism that can sometimes appear in classical music, and just play with natural, storytelling, I can find a particular kind of intensity: a glimpse into the heart of pure light, or into the darkest abyss. And as it unfolds within a flexible, unfettered poetic groove, I really enjoy how the musical journey can take me over as it unfolds in a way that is candid, natural, easy to follow, and full of childlike awe and wonder. I love the music to become a deep inward exploration, at times almost like a mystical or psychedelic experience.

Access to a magical realm

I think music can take us through a kind of doorway or over a threshold into an experience that is more vivid and more magical than the everyday one. I marvel at how it can transform even the darkest feelings into sheer beauty, whilst joy can become vast and all-encompassing, whilst every shade between the two can glow and shimmer with meaning.  I'm so intrigued by the complexity of feeling that it can express: rather than working out a definitive interpretation that I stick to, I like to allow the music to speak of feelings in ways that can be surprising, as they layer upon themselves, creating strange often bittersweet multiplicity.

I’m particularly interested in the way it creates a kind of lucid dream state. Held by the music’s strong but supple structure, I can be very flexible and free to fly high or plumb the depths. My hope is to be intelligible so that the listener might follow the unfolding journey intently, and the music may bring them solace and catharsis. I believe music can unlock things long buried – powerful feelings – whether singular or collective. It helps us become inwardly unfiltered, and perhaps even a little wild.