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We would love to hear from former students to find out what you have been doing following your studies in Huddersfield.
Please download the word form if you would like to add you name to our Alumni Page; fill it in and email it back to Philippa Morgan for inclusion on the website. For more information on the University's alumni society please visit the Encore page.
| Student | Degree and Year Graduated |
|---|---|
| Angela Carney | BMus(Hons) (graduated 2004) |
| Julie Brown (née Ashworth) | BMus(Hons) (graduated 2004) |
| Michael Tupper | BMus(Hons) (graduated 2003) |
| Verity Baker | BMus(Hons) (2002), PGCE (2003) |
| Shawn Moore | BMus(Hons) 1998 - 2001 |
| Mark Bowden | BMus(Hons) graduated 2000 |
| Patrick Cutliffe | BMus(Hons) 1987-90 |
| Barry McGonagle | BMus(Hons) (1995-1998) |
| Gavin Sutherland | BMus(Hons) 1990-1993 |
| Ty Unwin | BMus(Hons) 1987-90 |
| Alan Coady | BA (Hons) Music 1982 |
| Myrna Shirley Michell (née Quinn) | BA (Hons) Music 1973 |
I chose Huddersfield for its location, in between Manchester, Leeds and York, which is great for nightlife and concert going. The department had a great reputation for performance, a well-resourced library, and friendly and knowledgeable staff. The majority of my credits in my 3rd year were in performance modules. My instrumental teacher was fantastic and an unbelievably experienced performer.
I really enjoyed performing with the Symphony Orchestra and Early Music Ensemble. It was really hard work at times but it made a refreshing change from staring at a computer screen writing essays. The personal rewards from these concerts were fantastic; they made you feel like a fully accomplished musician. The staff at Huddersfield are always willing to talk to you about anything. They genuinely do care about their students!
I am now a self-employed music teacher, mostly doing peripatetic work in junior schools, and I conduct a county junior string orchestra. My composition studies at Huddersfield prepared me well for arranging music for this orchestra to play, but the most profitable skills which I have transferred were those I learned from my performance modules. The musicology modules have prepared me for the hideous amount of organisation and paperwork my job requires! My degree has mostly taught me how to learn. I'd do anything to do it all again!
I wanted to study somewhere close to Oldham, so that I could live at home and commute to classes. I also chose Huddersfield because it had a good reputation for Music. I specialised in Musicology as I wanted to explore music by women composers, a subject that I first studied in the second year of my degree; musicology was challenging but very interesting. After graduation, I worked part-time in the NHS and part-time in the Oldham Music Centre. My degree gave me the opportunity to do work experience in my chosen field and therefore preparing me for peripatetic teaching. Graduation gave me a real sense of achievement; it proved that all the hard work and financial investment had paid off.
I heard about the course at Huddersfield from Ruth Cooper, a cornet player in my old youth band (Tewit Youth Band), and liked the idea of a course with an emphasis on performance that included brass band-related modules. I applied during my year out after A-levels, and got an unconditional offer. I majored in Performance (French Horn) but devoted most of my time to arranging and transcription. My Individual Project (mentored by Patric Standford) was re-orchestrating "Capriccio Espagnol" by Rimsky-Korsakov for wind orchestra.
Now I'm running my own music publishing and transcription company, performing with local and regional orchestras, and playing for the Huddersfield University Student Concert Band (which I set up). Performance lessons and playing for the Uni groups helped the horn playing, and my extensive time spent using Sibelius during the degree familiarised me with the program. The instrumentation course in year two, and the individual supervision of my final project, were invaluable to me in my choice of MHMcontent3.
My fondest memory of Huddersfield is of the Summer Showcase concert in June 2001, when Symphony Orchestra played Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony; it was an amazing concert. I had great pastoral support from my personal tutor and my French Horn tutor, helping me through some very difficult times. The concerts, and the social life, of the music department were all great fun.
I was encouraged to apply by someone from my school in Bournemouth who was already studying at Huddersfield; after a year out taking Music A-level, I was ready to move away from the south, and I liked the early music options available in the department. I specialised in musicology in year three, but still played my main instrument (oboe) a lot. I'm currently a woodwind and national curriculum peripatetic tutor for Education Leeds. I also teach privately and for a couple of schools in Kirklees and Calderdale. My partner and I own a franchise in Theatre Train, and I hold a couple of principal oboe seats; freelance oboe work trickles in slowly! I probably couldn't do what I do now without my degrees.and I would certainly not get paid as much for doing it.
The music department annual balls were fantastic! I was on the HUMSS committee in my final year. I loved university, and would like to think that I threw myself into everything it offered me, both musically and socially. I enjoyed the fact that the music department was almost 'stand alone', and there was a fantastic sense of camaraderie. I also appreciated the fact that I was able to have a go at most things, from medieval and renaissance music, to chamber music and conducting. I now play a range of instruments in local orchestras, choirs wind bands and chamber ensembles, including saxophone, oboe and viola and clarinet.
Shawn Moore graduated with a BMus (Hons) degree from the University in 2001, majoring in composition with Dr. Christopher Fox. He's currently undertaking his masters degree in composing film and television music at the London College of Music and Media (LCMM), studying with the concert composer Cecilia McDowall, and the film and television composer Simon Lambros. He was appointed the composition fellow for the 2003/04 academic year at the LCMM, during which time he worked in schools and colleges around West London helping to deliver mainly film based composition workshops. As part of the fellowship he also got to work with the BBC Concert Orchestra in a series of separate workshops. This culminated in a 'sound on film' concert at Hammersmith Town Hall where he had his music to the short animated film 'Ultrasonic Sound' premiered and recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra. While working with the BBC Concert Orchestra he also got to work with the Oscar winning composer Anne Dudley. His future ambition is to form his own ensemble that is part-rock and part-contemporary music and to seek films for this ensemble.
The undergraduate course at Huddersfield was very influential upon my career. The broad programme of study comprising performance, composition and musicology opened up my eyes to new musical horizons. I discovered composition through the inspirational teaching and progressive composition modules on the course. Huddersfield really is unlike any institution I’ve experienced in terms of its resolute commitment to the development of free composition as a core musical activity.
After leaving Huddersfield I completed a Master’s degree in composition at the Royal College of Music with Julian Anderson and made friends and important contacts who have become central to the different aspects of my career. I also trained to be a teacher at the Institute of Education and taught in a sixth form college for a few years alongside my PhD studies at Royal Holloway with Philip Cashian.
As more commissions started coming in I decided to leave formal teaching and work on a fully freelance basis. This was a quite a daunting prospect at the time but I’ve never looked back. Highlights this year have included being awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for Composition, which resulted in a commission for the Philharmonia Orchestra, and being appointed composer-in-residence at Handel House Museum.
My working life now is extremely varied. My commissions comprise instrumental, chamber and orchestral music as well as music for voice, dance and film. I’ve had performances by many leading performers and ensembles, from the BBC Symphony Orchestra to Linda Hirst, at the Huddersfield, Aldeburgh, Dartington and IF festivals and my music has been broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and Resonance fm.
I also run a group called the Camberwell Composer's Collective. Since the launch in April 2004 our regular concerts throughout the UK have featured new, genre-crossing works performed by some of the most exciting performers in the country. Our recent tour attracted favourable attention from the UK Press.
"..substance, bite and a refreshing desire to connect with an audience" The Times
"..something refreshing in the jaded landscape of new music" The Guardian
Despite giving up regular teaching I’m still heavily involved in education work. I teach composition at the Royal College of Music Junior Department and at Royal Holloway and I deliver a variety of outreach projects for various organisations. I’m currently working on new pieces for the Philharmonia, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Handel House and COMA, and I’ve just begun writing my first opera with support from Opera Circus and ROH2.
Patrick Cutliffe entered into the world of movies after graduating in 2001 with a degree in Music Technology. As Sound Editor at Ardmore Film Studios, he has worked on many films including some major Hollywood pictures. The hours are long but working on a film's production and seeing his name in the credits makes all the hard work worthwhile. Patrick believes that access to industry standard software and mixing desks, during his course, together with the experience he gained on placement, has opened a lot of doors for him. "I now want to increase my awareness of how films are produced and work my way up to become a Director."
Did you ever dream of being a popstar, practising in front of the mirror with your hairbrush? It became a reality for Barry McGonagle who got his 15 minutes of fame after featuring in the latest advert for the Halifax Bank (HBOS).
Barry, who graduated with BMus Music in 1998, is currently a fraud deterrent officer at HBOS in Belfast and first heard about the advert in a staff email. The company were looking for stars to front their new advert and had organised a competition for staff to audition. He entered as a bit of fun but soon found out the auditions were based on ITV's Popstars format and would be just as nerve-wracking. As Barry says, "We were told to prepare a song, "Just a Little" by Liberty X. The first rounds of auditions were held all over Britain. There were three days of auditions in Northern Ireland alone, which shows the level of interest created. In total 1600 people auditioned, which was reduced to 20 for the final audition stage in London."
The performance skills Barry gained from his degree must have paid off because soon after, he got the call to say he'd got down to the last 20. "When I got the call I could not believe it, I was jumping up and down like a lunatic! It took a little while to hit me properly, but after I settled down I realised how close I was to being involved in the final advertisement. At that stage I had no idea if they were looking for one, two, five or eight people so I was just happy to be there."
Barry joined the other finalists in London where they spent three days rehearsing at Pineapple Studios in Covent Garden with voice coach Pepi Lemer who has worked with Westlife and the Spice Girls and choreographer Litza who worked on the Bollywood trailers for the BBC. The final audition was held in front of a panel of judges, which included Howard, star of HBOS' previous ads, with none other than Dr Fox from Pop Idol chairing the panel. Performing and working with such professionals was overwhelming, so Barry was lost for words when he was chosen to appear in the final ad. The next few days gave him little chance to catch his breath as the final eight were whisked away to record the soundtrack and practise the dance routine before filming began.
The most exciting news was yet to be revealed - the advert would be filmed in Ramoji Film City near Hyderabad, India. Barry remembers, "It was an absolutely fabulous experience and something I will never forget. The advert was filmed over two weeks, so I got the chance to experience some of the fabulous culture in India. At the height of filming up to 450 people were involved. It was always a lot of fun but often very hard work, especially working in 40-degree heat."
The hard work soon paid off when the advert was finally released. "I invited lots of friends and family to my house to watch the first screening. I would be lying if I said I didn't have a tear in my eye whilst watching 12 weeks of, sometimes hard but always enjoyable, work pass in the most amazing 60 seconds of my life!" Since the advert Barry has had a huge response with people wanting to know how he got to be one of the X's, but what makes the experience even better is that it has been declared the company's most successful campaign ever.
In the new ad, Barry McGonagle sings to the Glenn Campbell classic 'Rhinestone Cowboy', which reached No.1 in the US Billboard charts in 1975.
Following the Halifax's fifth Search for a Star campaign, auditions were held at venues around the UK for the 1,600 Halifax & Bank of Scotland colleagues who applied. Barry was chosen after being invited to second auditions in London with six other colleagues. Barry worked with Fame Academy voice coach David Grant, and recorded the soundtrack for the ad at Angel Studios in London with the team from Jeff Wayne Music. The ad was directed by Andy Lambert, who has also directed TV ads for Guinness, Nike and Nokia.
Gavin Sutherland conducted the first performance of fellow Huddersfield graduate David Golightly's football inspired "Symphony No.1", played by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
Gavin studied conducting and piano and graduated with first class honours in Music in 1993. He was also awarded the Krucynski Prize for Piano and the Davidson Prize for Distinction Brought to the Institution.
"I have so many happy memories of Huddersfield - the great social scene, the marvellous and encouraging staff and the adaptability of the course," he said.
Gavin began working with Northern Ballet Theatre during his second year at Huddersfield and by 1995 had risen to become a staff conductor. In 1998 he left to go freelance in London. Whilst there he established a reputation as a ballet pianist and conductor working with, amongst others, English National Ballet, The Royal New Zealand Ballet and Atlanta Ballet. He also worked with Birmingham Royal Ballet with whose orchestra, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, he has recorded many CDs.
In addition to conducting David Golightly's Symphony No.1, Gavin has guest conducted many orchestras for both recordings and concert performances. These include the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Festival Orchestra and the Australian Pops Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a composer and arranger Gavin's work is regularly heard all over the world. Notable recent performances include a version of 'Giselle' for the Norwegian National Ballet, 'Little Women' a musical that first opened in London in 2000 and is currently being revived and a ballet based on Roald Dahl's 'Revolting Rhymes'.
Gavin's MHMcontent3 since graduation has been highly successful and rewarding, something he freely admits "could not have happened without Huddersfield."
Having completed his first BBC commission whilst still at university, Ty Unwin left academic life with a music degree from Huddersfield University in 1990 and a determination to avoid "proper" work and instead write music for a living. This stubbornness has paid dividends. He is now an established composer, specialising in writing music for media in a variety of idioms with recent commissions taking him around the world. Clients include BBC, Channel Four, Channel Five, ITV, TLC and Discovery.
As well as writing for TV he has written scores for several commercial videos and numerous orchestral works which have been performed throughout Europe. Recent CD releases have included recordings of a number of these classical works on "Big Steel Drum", the BBC soundtrack to "Vets in the Wild" and six tracks on Sony's triple platinum "Classic Chillout" Album series. He is currently writing / producing albums for Dina Carroll, New Model Army, Justin Sullivan and Joolz Gianni .
Since graduating from Huddersfield University (née Polytechnic) I have worked as a guitar instructor in East Lothian schools. In that time I have specialised in writing and arranging for guitar ensemble – some of which I would be delighted to donate to the university as a token of my lasting affection. Over the years I have followed developments in the department and always come away with the feeling that it would still be my number one choice were I leaving school now. In addition to teaching I enjoy playing and providing training in music software (www.alancoady.com) Since May 2006 I have kept an on-line blog on the work, reflections and connections involved in instrumental teaching .
My teachers at Huddersfield were Ronald Newton (piano) and Eugenie Everest (voice) along with Richard Steinitz in 20th century music, and - very useful for me later - 'German for singers!'
When I left, I should have done what many music students do nowdays, which would be to get further training and post-grad study in piano accompaniment. However, I got married and had children. Later I spotted the error and got back into music-making and teaching.
I learnt much by working in the local school and community, in opera groups, concert-groups, and in churches how to direct from the piano, how to put together a 'musical/opera', and how to arrange or compose music for the needs of the group and not expect amateurs to become Jesus College choir.
That reminds me - my years in Cambridge (1980 to 2005) also involved an MA in music performance from Anglia Ruskin University (piano, voice, directing) in 1998. By then I had a career in vocal accompaniment, punctuated by spells as a recital singer also. Interesting to have tuition from international teachers (Paul Hamburger, Robin Bowman, Joy Mammon, Esther Salaman and many others) from both angles, over a period of a dozen years.
Two years ago, I returned to my home patch of Lancashire, and now live in Rossendale, living a double life as church pastor (which includes music-workshop leading) whilst slowly re-emerging in classical music.
I still have ambitions - to always improve as a pianist, to find suitable musical partnerships (a piano trio has always eluded me), to acquire a fortepiano (or two) and to sing early music, jazz, whatever I like at the time.
Am I the only 'oldster' on this site? Hello to current staff and students, and anyone needing an experienced accompanist/coach with a linguistic slant, please say hello back to me.
