Composer // Producer // Pianist // Drummer - Experienced Professional & Music Technology Graduate teaching: - Music Production (Logic Pro) - Piano (Song Performance & Composition) - Drumming (Djembe)

Find out more about Stefanos

• 1) When did you first develop a passion for music and your favourite instrument?

  Wow we're going back to then, ok. I was young. As young as I can remember anyway. My parents had a diverse vinyl and cd collection and would often play music in the home or on trips in the car. A few names off the top of my head ~ Johnny Cash, Cat Stevens, Enya, Stevie Wonder, and a whole host of classical music to boot. I developed a relationship with the family upright piano as soon as I was tall enough to sit at it comfortably. Probably around 5 or 6 years old. I would try to replicate melodies I'd stored in memory from the music I was exposed to. I also developed a joy in making up my own patterns and melodies on the keys. Then, I believe, was the birth of my love for the instrument.

• 2) Is there a particular type of music or artist that you listen to on a loop without it driving you crazy?

  That's tricky. I love music from so many genres. Funk, Soul, Disco, Garage, Hip-Hop, Drum & Bass, to name a few. I think anything listened to for long enough would drive me crazy ha. In the realm of classical though, or solo piano to distil it down further, I can listen to Ludovico Einaudi, Yann Tiersen, Chopin, and Philip Glass for pretty long periods at a time. I guess I've chosen this style because being vocal free it's less distracting so I can listen in the background while working or carrying out most other tasks.

• 3) Explain to us the most difficult or riveting course you could personally give to a student of music.

  I think it would be a course in composition. Mainly because a lot of students I teach, and even other hobbyists and teachers, surprisingly find the idea of writing their own music a little daunting or alien to them. For me composition has been one of the most fun and rewarding things about learning to play the piano. My pieces are always evolving as my life progresses and my relationship with the piano expands.

• 4) What do you think is the most complicated instrument to master and why?

  I'm going to say the guitar, because I never learned to play it and I kinda wish I had ha. I guess there's still time. No, but I have actually heard from a lot of people that it is in fact the piano, although it's difficult for me to agree as it's the only tuned instrument I've learned to play. I'm also a percussionist and drummer by heart, so the piano being a percussion instrument itself, and a tuned percussion instrument at that, we were always going to be a good match. It all comes down to commitment at the end of the day. Gotta put in the time, like any discipline.

• 5) What are your keys to success?

  I'll excuse the pun here...ha. Set realistic goals. Celebrate your wins, however small. Practice slowly. Slower! Persevere. Learn songs you love. Have fun. And on that note...

• 6) Name three musicians you dream of meeting in your favourite bar in the early hours of the morning. Explain why.

  Gosh good question. I think quite a few are sadly no longer with us, but if it's musicians that still walk this earth as of 8th June 2024, then John Williams ~ greatest film composer of all time. Michael Giaccino ~ composed the 'Married Life' theme from Disney Pixar's 'UP' and countless others...yes I love movie soundtracks. I'd love to compose for film one day. And let's throw in someone different for good measure. Stevie Wonder ~ seems like he'd be incredibly fun to jam with. He also wrote one of my favourite albums of all time 'Songs In The Key Of Life'

• 7) Provide a valuable anecdote related to music or your days at music school.

  Through persevering with playing the piano and composing my own pieces, I have been asked on occasion to perform these at friends weddings, and have had them requested to be used for various friends workshops. Such a blessing. Moral of the story ~ keep going. Opportunities will present themselves that you weren't even chasing.

• 8) What are the little touches that make you a Superprof in music?

  At this point, I believe its my experience that makes me a Superprof ha, never called myself that before! Not only my experience as a tutor and musician, but as a student of music and life myself. I am very patient, understanding, honest, relatable, critical, to-the-point, positive and outgoing. That's enough )