As an educator, Samuel has been teaching piano, music theory, analysis, music history, performance, arranging, and jazz for over ten years. He is professional pianist (in both the classical and jazz fields) a composer, arranger, and music academic. Samuel is currently completing his PhD in Music history at the Sydney Conservatorium, on the life and Music of Maestro Tommy Tycho (you can read more here).

Samuel studied piano with Stephanie McCallum and Christine Logan and has been a performer for over 15 years. He performed with Jacana Ensemble in Musica Viva’s In School’s programs, and has worked as a recitalist, accompanist, jazz pianist, and in the areas of cabaret and music theatre.

As well as teaching in his private studio at Mosman, Samuel lectures in music arranging and harmony at Western Sydney University and has taught A History of Film Music, Music Journalism, Advanced Analysis and Music Fundamentals within the University of Sydney Music Department, where he has also guest taught in contemporary music, performance and ensemble performance.

Samuel studied piano with Stephanie McCallum and Dr. Christine Logan, and during this time developed both an expressive and analytical approach to learning music. In that sense, Samuel doesn’t just teach students to read music and notes, but he teaches them how the music works, how the piece functions beyond the notes, therefore giving the students a holistic understanding of the music.

In piano lessons Samuel uses the Contemporary Piano Method which employs interval reading from the very first lesson. This takes the fuss out of learning note names and the students are better able to read shapes and patterns with an awareness of the keyboard geography, rather than learning isolated notes which often causes stress and confusion. Samuel has undertaken many professional development workshops with the author of the Contemporary Piano Method and worked as her music assistant for many years, giving him great insight into this effective learning method.

As well as learning this method, the students undertake technical work that gives them a strong foundation and set of skills at the keyboard which they will keep for life. Beyond learning pieces, students also compose, improvise and create their own music using the variety of skills that they learn through their study of the piano, theory, and aural. Students also perform duets in each lesson and work with other students playing piano duets to enhance their ensemble and communicative skills.

www.samuelcottell.com