Keyboard and percussion tutors

Jeremy studied at the Welsh College of Music and Drama. He subsequently pursued a career as pianist and choral conductor, including a period as Director of Music at Emmanuel Church, Loughborough, and performed regularly overseas, including recitals in Uruguay, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. In 1997 he was invited to join the instrumental teaching staff at the University of Nottingham.

As a freelance musician he now divides his time between performing as soloist and accompanist, teaching, and, for the past seven years, examining at all levels for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Recent examining tours have taken him to Bahrain, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

BA (Open University), ARCM, LWCMD (Welsh College of Music and Drama)

Brenda May is a graduate of the Royal College of Music in London, where she also won a scholarship to study piano performance. Her tutors included Hilda Klein and Harold Craxton.

After graduation she pursued a wide ranging career as a chamber music specialist, accompanist and teacher. She is a long serving member of the Music Department at Nottingham University and has many years of experience in coaching pianists for diplomas, recitals, music college auditions and concerto performances. Many of her pupils have won national competitions and have pursued careers in music as performers, teachers and examiners.

She has a particular interest in working with trainee piano teachers, for whom she acts as mentor and advisor. Brenda’s expertise ranges from the historical performance practices of baroque and early classical composers through to the contemporary repertoire. She holds regular performance classes for students to promote self-confidence and enhance platform presentation.

GRSM, LRAM, ARCM

Matt Ratcliffe is an accomplished jazz pianist with a strong and individual style of his own. A professional musician with some 20 years experience of performing and gigging across the UK and abroad, Matt is able to play in a variety of styles and contexts.

Matt studied jazz piano and composition at Birmingham Conservatoire under the tuition of Liam Noble, Hans Koller, Mike Williams, Pete Saberton, John Taylor and many other great teachers. He was particularly grateful to have been accepted into a series of Big Band concerts with the excellent jazz composer Mike Gibbs and was also tutored by artist in residence at the time the Bassist Dave Holland.

Since studying, Matt has gone on to work with some of the UK’s finest jazz musicians and has played many of the country's most famous jazz clubs, festivals, concerts and studios, including the 606 Club, Matt and Phred’s, Mostly Jazz Festival Birmingham, Manchester Jazz Festival and Cheltenham Jazz Festival.

Matt enjoys working as a performing musician, dividing his time between gigging, teaching, recording and developing projects as both an educator and pianist.

Matt also works as a piano teacher, specialising in improvisation, jazz piano and composition, but happy to work with all abilities and levels, in basic piano technique, sight reading and performance..

Contact email: mattratcliffe47@gmail.com

Please note that Music Department facilities can only be used for lessons by members of the University of Nottingham. While some of the tutors do offer tuition to members of the public, these are private arrangements and University facilities cannot be used. 

John Keys has been Director of Music at St Mary's Church, Nottingham since 1984, and has fostered a flourishing musical life in the Church, as well as following an independent career as a solo organist, continuo player, accompanist and conductor.

John Keys has played in France, Norway, Germany, Italy, Holland, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Gibraltar, Ukraine, Switzerland and Australia, as well as widely in the British Isles. He has appeared as organist, accompanist, continuo player and conductor on Radio Suisse Romande, Télévision de La Suisse Romande, Netherlands Radio, Radio France and for the BBC.

MA (Oxon), LRAM, ARCM, Hon FGCM 1re Prix de Virtuosité (Conservatoire de Genève)

Email Address: stmarysmusic@innotts.co.uk

PhD, LRSM, ARCO

Peter Siepmann is Organist and Director of Music at St Peter's Church in Nottingham. Alongside his church work, he teaches academic music and organ at Repton School and Foremarke Hall (Repton Prep School).

Dr Siepmann maintains a busy schedule of freelance activities as a conductor, accompanist and continuo player. He is Musical Director of the Mansfield Choral Society and works regularly with the Nottingham Bach Choir and University of Nottingham Chorus.

He sits on the regional committee of the Royal Schools of Church Music and is President-Elect of the Nottingham and District Society of Organists. Peter Siepmann is an Associate of the Royal College of Organists and holds the Licentiate diploma of the ABRSM, for whom he is also a grade panel examiner.

Andrew Wood is a professional musician based in Nottingham. Working across a range of genres, Andrew has established himself as one of the most in-demand drummers in the East Midlands. Born in 1991, Andrew is now an experienced performer having had the pleasure of working with jazz groups of every size, orchestras, musical theatre pit bands, wind bands, brass bands and soul bands.

Since graduating from Leeds College of Music (BA Jazz Performance) in 2013, Andrew has enjoyed a successful freelance career which has seen him perform at venues ranging from intimate jazz clubs to the Royal Albert Hall.  Andrew's current musical focus is directed towards a celebration of the music of George Gershwin with the Andrew Wood Trio (filmed in the Djanogly Recital Hall at UoN). He is also a member of the Ben Martin Quartet and dedicated to developing the Nottingham roots jazz scene.

Outside of jazz, Andrew is involved with session recording and touring as a freelance musician with other artists such as Harleighblu and Scorzayzee. As an educator, Andrew teaches drum kit privately from his home studio in Nottingham, the Ockbrook School in Derby and also at  University of Nottingham.

Andrew teaches as part of the performance course at UoN, but also provides private tuition on drum kit and percussion, whether this be working towards graded material, performances or professional development.

Specialist areas of study include improvisation, jazz independence, sight reading, odd meters and technique. 

Contact email: andrew@andrewwoodjazz.co.uk

Please note that Music Department facilities can only be used for lessons by members of the University of Nottingham. While some of the tutors do offer tuition to members of the public, these are private arrangements and University facilities cannot be used. 

MA Music, Grad Dip

Richard has been a professional percussionist for over 25 years and has worked for many leading UK orchestras and brass bands including the British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, National Festival Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, East of England Orchestra, Yorkshire Chamber Orchestra, Black Dyke Mills Brass Band (principal), Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band (principal), Jayess Queensbury Brass Band, and under the batons of conductors including; Sir Neville Marriner CH CBE, Ron Goodwin, Paul Daniel CBE, John Anderson, Major Peter Parkes and Professor James Watson. He was touring percussionist for both Joe Longthorne MBE and Peter Grant for many years and also has worked with artists including Englebert Humperdinck, Danny La Rue and Lesley Garrett CBE.

Born in Lincoln, Richard later studied a music degree at Leeds College of Music where he was awarded the George Deane Memorial Prize for Timpani in 1993 and the CLCM Prize for Tuned Percussion in 1994. After settling in Leeds Richard embarked on a varied musical career amongst many UK orchestras and brass bands, gaining the prize of, ‘Best Percussionist’ at the 1996 Isle of Man Brass Band Festival and the recording of many BBC productions and commercial recordings with Black Dyke Mills Brass Band, including the acclaimed, ‘The Music of Peter Graham’ album released on Doyen Records in 1997.

Richard has performed at many of the UK’s leading concert halls including the London Barbican Centre, Manchester Bridgewater Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Bristol Colston Hall, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, Gateshead The Sage, Cardiff St. David’s Hall, Leicester De Montfort Hall and Liverpool Philharmonic Hall amongst many others.  He has recorded live albums and DVD’s for Joe Longthorne MBE including; ‘Joe Longthorne Live at the London Palladium’, ‘Joe Longthorne Sings to the Gods, Live from the Kourion Amphitheater, Cyprus’, ‘Joe Longthorne Live at the 02 Indigo, London’, recorded session work for TV & radio and has performed in over 40 countries worldwide including numerous touring theatre productions and UK pantomimes.

Richard gained endorsements with Premier Percussion, UK in 2007 and Majestic Percussion, Holland in 2008 and is currently too an international graded music examiner. He gained an MA masters degree in music from the University of Lincoln in 2021 for which he designed an in-depth multi-percussion educational resource aimed to aid the modern day all-round learning percussionist. Richard continues to teach many aspects of percussion playing to professional standard for the modern day percussionist and is also a composer, arranger and pianist for numerous UK touring productions, educational resources and varying commercial activities.

BMus, MMus, PhD

Anne studied piano under Philip Jenkins and Fali Pavri at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she won numerous prizes for academic work and performance, including the prestigious Moray Piano Competition. As a freelance musician she has specialised in vocal accompaniment, performed extensively in Live Music Now concerts across the UK and in Germany, and competed and toured internationally alongside her piano duo partner Silviya Mihaylova. In 2017, she completed her PhD (researching the songs of the Swedish composer Ture Rangström) at University of Nottingham and went on to teach performance at the University of Sheffield until 2021. She now works at Beeston Free Church where she coordinates the music ministry.

Contact Email: anne.macgregor87@gmail.com

Rob works as a répétiteur, pianist and accompanist. He worked for 15 seasons with Mid Wales Opera and also as the Music Director of Northampton Festival Opera. In concert he has played for many singers including William Coleman, Howard Quilla Croft, Kamala Stroup and most recently Suzzie Vango for the Schubert Society of GB. For many years he was a member of Posaune Voce Trio with trombonist Ken Shifrin and soprano Claire Hollocks, performing many times in the United States, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Austria and with Czech mezzo Jana Wellingerova at the Janacek festival in Brno.

He is involved in several education projects, most notably those run by Ex Cathedra and as part of this he performed at the launch of One Young World in the presence of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Sir Bob Geldof. His work with them has taken him to China, Singapore, New Zealand and many times to Thailand. He is also the accompanist for Nottingham University and Chamber choirs and accompanies many student recitals.

Antony Clare is a teacher, performer and composer who was born and lives in Nottingham, UK.

He read music at York University and has subsequently combined piano and clarinet teaching with a range of performing activities, centring largely on collaborative music-making with professional musicians who are also his friends.  He works as an accompanist for recitals and exams on a regular basis.

Antony is one half of the duo SCAW (with Sarah Watts, bass clarinet/contra-bass clarinet), who have given many concerts and world premiere performances throughout the UK and abroad.  SCAW released their debut CD on the Clarinet Classics label in December 2008. Their second CD of contemporary British music was released in Spring 2013 on the Cuillin Sound label.

Antony is involved in promoting the activities of CoMA (Contemporary Music-making for All). He is coordinator of the East Midlands Ensemble. He has a deep commitment towards widening the available opportunities for non-professional musicians to compose and perform good quality contemporary music.

As a composer, Antony has (amongst other things) many pieces for one or more bass clarinets to his name. His music has been performed in the UK, Europe and the USA.

Contact Email: aclare@waitrose.com

Website: www.antonyclare.co.uk