Recent Highlights

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• 2024 Piano Portals featured on BBC Radio 3

• 2024 Sold out weekend course at Jackdaws Music Education Trust

• 2024 Lecturer and Performer at Scrutopia Summer School

• 2023, 2020: Speaker at UK Music and Drama Education Expo

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Background

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Stephen began studying piano aged 7 with Peter Sage-Passant in his home town of Frome, Somerset, England.

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At 11, he won a full scholarship to music school. In his early years, Stephen won the prize for the highest ABRSM music exam result in the country and reached the final of the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists. He would later withdraw from the televised stage of BBC Young Musicians because of injury.

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At 18, Stephen left school a shadow of his 11-year-old self, having struggled with recurring Repetitive Strain Injury, musculo-skeletal issues, plummeting confidence, a ceiling on technique and stage fright. 

 

Stephen took an academic Music A Level in place of a performance. He went on to read Music at Christ’s College, Cambridge.

 

The lively academic environment of Cambridge sparked the beginning of Stephen's journey towards confident performing and inspirational tutoring. Stephen travelled on a bursary to New York for piano tuition with Sophia Rosoff (1921 – 2017), who'd studied with and co-edited the essays of the greatest of all piano pioneers, Abby Whiteside (1881 – 1956).

 

Whiteside woke up one day and acknowledged with great humility that her most 'talented' students progressed whilst the others plateaued. She dedicated her life to uncovering fresh solutions that would empower all to play.

 

Following in Whiteside's footsteps, Stephen refined his own work over 25 further years. His honest, adult journey from frustration facility kickstarted over a decade of confident performing, learning to play by ear from scratch and a desire to share his approach with others.

 

Dissatisfied with received opinion, Stephen formulated a groundbreaking online school for fluent, expressive technique without excess tension called Piano Portals: Rethink Technique. It:

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• invites criticial thinking

• prioritises Abby Whiteside's 'emotional rhythm' - an authentic, flowing connection to music, in the moment

• dissolves technical difficulties through deepening self-awareness, not dogma or drills

• spotlights oft-neglected elements of able players’ techniques - Elephants in the Practice Room

• addresses whole-body coordination and mindset at all stages

• draws on varied musical genres and other fields such as sport, dance and martial arts​

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In his spare time, Stephen enjoys qigong, photography and walking.

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