Simon Eastwood - Guitar & Theory Tutor

Simon Eastwood - Guitar and Theory Tutor
email Simon: guitar@raroamusic.org.nz

Simon Eastwood is our Guitar & Theory tutor.

 As a child Simon was something of a musical butterfly, moving from violin to piano to guitar before finally settling for a time on bass guitar and clarinet. During high school, he lived something of a double life, playing electric bass in Rock and Jazz groups, while also playing clarinet in the school orchestra. Eventually, in his final year at high school, Simon picked up the double bass. At first he focused mainly on Jazz, as was natural for a bass guitar player, but after playing with the school's string orchestra Simon decided he would learn how to use a bow properly and got his first Classical Bass lessons from Victoria Jones. The following year Simon began studies in double bass at the Victoria University School of Music, despite having had his first lessons with Victoria only three months before his audition.

 During this time Simon developed a passion for teaching, and began teaching bass guitar and taking children's swimming classes on Saturday mornings. He also began to pursue an interest in composition and eventually completed a double major in Performance Double Bass and Composition with honours in Composition at the New Zealand School of Music in 2007. He has had compositions performed by a range of well known performers, including Dutch percussionist Arnold Marinissen and the New Zealand String Quartet. In 2005 Simon won first place in the NZSM composer’s competition with /Tempest/ for amplified clarinet, double bass, and piano. In 2007 Simon was given the Jenny McLeod Orchestral Composition Award, and as a prize was commissioned to write his first work for full orchestra, /Aurum/, which was premiered by the NZSM Orchestra in October that year.

 As a bass player, Simon has been in the National Youth Orchestra every year since 2004. He still plays bass guitar in a rock band called Moonlight Flit with two of his best friends from high school, they will soon be finishing their first album called the /Road to the Outside /(buy it!) and he still enjoys the occasional gig with a Jazz group, or even the odd 1920's dance band, or just about anything else for that matter.

SIMON EASTWOOD