Richard awarded BEM in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List
THE hard work and dedication of Kirkcaldy jazz musician Richard Michael has been recognised in Her Majesty the Queen’s birthday honours.
Richard has been given a British Empire Medal for his services to music education, having spent more than 30 years teaching students in Fife.
The 62-year-old was a music teacher at Beath High School in Cowdenbeath for 31 years before he retired five years ago.
He is now a visiting professor for St Andrews University and a broadcaster on Radio Scotland’s Jazz House.
But among many in Fife, Richard may possibly be best known for his role as director of Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra.
It’s a position which he has held for 36 years.
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Jazz Beginnings
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‘Beginning the Blues’
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Congrats Richard Michael
from LondonJazz (nominated Best Publication in Parliamentary Jazz Awards)
HARK. Richard Michael, jazz educator, inspirer of the Youth Jazz Orchestra of the Kingdom of Fife, former schoolteacher, possessor of the infectious smile above…. has just won a Bank of Scotland Herald Angel Award for his Edinburgh Fringe Show “The History of Jazz Piano.”
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Peter Noke E-MusicMaestro.com, says…..
At last, an online jazz teaching resource which really hits the spot ! Would be jazzers do not want to wade through endless text and chord theory before playing their first note of jazz. They want to get playing straight away. Simply laid out, this clear and well thought through practical resource demonstrates just how easy it is to get started, and to learn the theory along the way, in the hands of the right teacher.
Lessons are presented in bite sized chunks with clear and simple exercises which can be worked on immediately. By integrating scale and chord based work from the outset it is possible to get up and running in a short space of time and can be accessed from any level of prior piano playing experience. Progression is logical and well paced, the video material demonstrations easy to follow with excellent visual and audio detail.
Richard Michael’s ability to make something appear so accessible, something which immediately sets the student at ease and to which they are likely to return is borne from many years of experience in the classroom, an infectious sense of enthusiasm for everything he does and supreme musicianship.
At only £2.50 per weekly lesson you’ll not find any better.
Peter Noke – Feb 2011