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Lecturer Profiles Higher Diploma in Arts in Music Education
Rory Pierce M.Mus., B.Mus.
Rory is Course Director for the Higher Diploma in Arts in Music Education. He is a graduate of The Royal Academy of Music, London. For the past 10 years he has been working as a composer in Film, TV, Theatre and Dance. He has also performed as a multi-instrumentalist in numerous bands and ensembles such as The Divine Comedy & Cuillin Music. He is particularly interested in the area where technology and acoustic instruments meet, and his music is often a 50/50 mix of computer generated samples and live players. He has also been teaching composition, technology, cello & piano in various music schools since graduating.
Kay O’Sullivan M.A., M.Ed., B.A., B.Mus.
Kay is Course Director for the Higher Diploma in Arts in Music Education. She has over twenty years experience in music education, firstly at the Cork School of Music, later as founder of Cork City Music College and more recently as Curriculum Development Manager for the Leinster School of Music & Drama. She has served on the National Executive of the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras and of the Irish Association of Music Schools. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies at King's College London.
Dr Jan M.A. de Vries, PhD, MSc.
Dr Jan de VriesDr Jan de Vries, is a psychology lecturer, musician and music teacher. He received his undergraduate degree in psychology and MSc in Utrecht, the Netherlands and moved to Ireland in 1994 to do his PhD on Stress Management in performers which he completed in 2000. He has taught at a number of universities and colleges in Ireland, the UK, most countries in Western Europe, and the USA. He was also involved in peace work at the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation in C. Wicklow. At present he is based in Trinity College Dublin and works as a consultant and part-time lecturer for Griffith College. As a musician and recording artist he worked in the Netherlands, Belgian, Germany, Ireland and the USA. He taught Jazz piano and piano as a second instrument in the full time Professional Musicians Course in Newpark Music Centre in Blackrock, Co. Dublin when it was first launched in 1997.
Andy Keogh
Andy is currently Senior Production manager in the Abbey Theatre. He has worked in the production department in the Abbey since 2005 and during this time he has managed over 30 productions both in Ireland and abroad. He has also facilitated international companies and festivals staging productions in the Abbey.
A specific focus of Andy's time has been spent on developing and refining production processes and methods of communication as well as developing relationships with strategic industry partners.
This has followed a 6 year period when Andy was a freelance Production manager and technician engaged by many of Ireland's leading Theatre, Opera and Dance companies with a particular emphasis on touring Productions.
Andy began his involvement with Theatre by initially studying Performance in Liberties CDVEC (1994 - 1996) followed by acting with such companies as Loose Cannon Theatre company.
Gloria Mulhall B.Mus., L.T.C.L., H.Dip.Ed.
Gloria has been a teacher and examiner with the Leinster School of Music for 15 years. She holds an honours degree from Waterford Institute of Technology, a Higher Diploma in Education from Trinity College, Dublin and a Licentiate from Trinity College London. As a symphonic composer she has produced three albums under the name of ‘Rua’ and in 2007 had a world premiere performance in China of a work entitled ‘Dance with the Devil’. She currently holds the title of World Fleadh Composition Champion and in 2007 received an Art Achievement Award from the China International Folk Art Festival in Beijing. Her compositions feature in the film ‘Unborn but Forgotten’ and as theme music for Fugi FinePix in Korea. As a solo violinist and pianist she has performed at venues world-wide including Carnegie Hall, The Israeli Opera House in Tel-Aviv, with Carlos Nunez in France, in Shanghai and Beijing where she performed to audiences in excess of 5,000. She is currently working on her fourth album.
Rory Pierce M.Mus., B.Mus.
Kathryn Smith L.R.S.M. Professional Soprano
Kathryn Smith L.R.S.M.Kathryn Smith is one of Ireland’s most popular and versatile performers. She has performed principal roles extensively throughout Ireland, Europe and the world in musicals, operetta, opera and concert, including principal soprano roles at Carnegie Hall, New York. She has also recorded frequently with RTE Symphony & Concert Orchestras and was a regular guest on the popular radio show, ‘Theatre Nights’, where she broadcast a variety of musical genres including ‘Gershwin’, ‘Cole Porter’, ‘Noel Coward’ to name but a few. She is frequently invited to RTE Radio and TV to lend her expertise in shows such as ‘Ur a Star’. In recent years Kathryn was awarded the Margaret Burke Sheridan Award for her contribution to Singing in Ireland. Last year Kathryn started her own Singing and Theatre Academy in Meath. She has been teaching at The Leinster School of Music & Drama, Griffith College for 14 years.
Dr. Sarah Sinnamon, Ph.D., H.Dip.Psych, M.Mus., B.Mus.Perf.
Sarah Sinnamon is a psychologist and musician. She is a performance graduate of DIT Conservatory of Music & Drama, and an M.Mus. performance scholar of TCM, London. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician. In 1998, she was appointed assistant violin teacher to Hu Kun and Simon Fischer at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School for children with exceptional musical ability. Sarah went on to study Psychology in UCD, and was subsequently funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences to carry out research for her PhD on peak experience and optimal performance states in music performance. She has presented and published her research at conferences throughout Europe, including the PSI 2004, 9th ICMPC 2006 in Bologna and ICME, 2009 and in the Journal of Research in Music Education (April, 2012). Sarah is currently collaborating with sport psychologist Aidan Moran on research in performance psychology as well as lecturing in psychology of education at Griffith College Dublin.
Leinster School of Music & Drama Examiners and Teachers
Margaret Butler
On completion of her second level studies Margaret continued her musical training at The Leinster School of Music under Ms Winifred Rankin from 1972-74. She continued her studies in WRTC, and was awarded her teaching diploma in 1975 from the London College of Music. During this time she also studied organ under Mr Stanley Bowyer in the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, Waterford, instilling in her a love of Church music which she has actively pursued to this day having undertaken the position of organist in St Paul’s Church and is currently choir director in the Church of the Holy Family. Margaret has taught piano and theory in the music school at WIT and carried on an extensive private teaching practice. For the last six years she has been teaching piano in Our Lady of Mercy Primary and Secondary Schools in Waterford, where she has also founded a junior choir which has successfully entered and won in several competing categories around the country. Margaret has been an Examiner for The Leinster School of Music & Drama since 2002.
Íde McSweeney M.A. (Hons.) ATCL AIMLT
Íde is a First Class Honours graduate of the Drama & Theatre Studies Masters programme at UCC. Having trained and worked as a microbiologist, Íde completed her teaching studies with Trinity College London and set up her own Speech & Drama school in Cork where she has worked for the last 25 years. She had an active stage career both on an amateur and semi-professional basis, acting and directing, across a broad range of theatre, with a particular emphasis on Shakespeare, playing roles such as Cordelia, Ophelia, Duchess of York and, Maureen, from I Do Not Like Thee, Dr Fell. Currently, she manages her own drama school and examines for various academies. She lectures and conducts seminars at UCC on Drama for the B.A. programme. She is also a member of the assessment board for entrance to the Drama & Theatre Studies B.A. programme at UCC.
Caroline J. Quinn B.Ed. LLSMD M.Ed.(Open)
Caroline has nearly thirty years experience in the fields of Education both at primary and at third level. Having spent twenty yeras in the classroom, delivered in-service in Ireland, Austria and Luxembourg, Caroline worked for four years with the Primary Curriculum Support Programme, both as a trainer and as an adviser. She has also worked as a lecturer in Education in the area of Drama in Education in Colaiste Mhuire, Marino. She successfully completed the Masters in Education with the Open University studying areas of Professional Development, Curriculum and Assessment and researching the area of Inclusion. She is a graduate of the Leinster School of Music and Drama where she completed the Licentiate Diploma. Caroline has worked with children of all ages in the area of drama and ran the successful Thornhill School of Drama in Sligo for many years. She is now working as a Primary School Principal in Dublin and is still involved in in-service training in Education.
Sharon O’Doherty- MA (Hons)
Sharon studied for three years with the Marcel Marceau, at his school in Paris. After graduation she joined the mimodrame company Theatre de la Sphére, touring Europe extensively performing in such mimodrames as Les Memoire des Femmes and Immemorium. On her return to Ireland , she co-founded Mimodrame Theatre with Halina Froudist and Jack Walsh. Their work includes The Children of Lir and Sinking In You. Other mime credits include La Balancoire, (which she performed at the Palais Garnier in Paris at the request of Rudolph Nureyev), Mmmmm…..An Experience in Mime in Chicago, and The Fishermen, which she wrote and directed. In her performance career she has appeared in a variety of text and movement pieces in Ireland and Europe. She is currently a member of VeniziaInScena, a Commedia dell’Arte troupe based in Venice. Sharon also works as a director, movement choreographer and stage combat director. Sharon has taught mime for the last twenty three years with such organizations as the Cantieri International D’Arte, Montepulciano(Italy), The Royal Ballet Summer School, (Kent), Boston College Summer School for the Abbey Theatre (6years), Backstage Theatre in Education (Dublin and Galway), Inchicore College of Further Education and The Gaiety School of Acting.
Alan Leech
Alan Leech began his musical training in the brass band world. Upon arriving in UCC to start his B Mus he transferred to Voice and has 15 years experience of working as a professional singer both on the operatic stage and the concert platform. He has performed all over the world, from China through the Middle East to USA.
Alan is a full time singer with the National Chamber Choir of Ireland, for whom he also works as their Education Facilitator on a varied range of projects.He also facilitates for the Association of Irish Choirs and is the Tenor Coach for the Irish Youth Choir. Having set up his own Consultancy as "The Choral Doctor" he is much demand throughout the country as a facilitator for all types of choirs and vocal ensembles.
Alan has been teaching Voice at The Leinster School of Music & Drama and Mater Dei Intitute of Education, DCU, for a 6 years. Alan currently lectures future generations of singers and choral conductors in vocal and choral skills as well as Conducting. Alan is keenly enthusiastic about providing the necessary skills for future generations of teachers and conductors.
Lecturer Profiles
