Mike started playing the violin around the age of five. Five years later he was awarded a specialist music scholarship to attend Wells Cathedral School where he had the opportunity to immerse himself in chamber music and orchestral playing. Whilst at Wells, he won the Waterstones Young Musician of the Year competition. Mike continued his musical education at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studied the violin with Professor Mark Knight. At the Guildhall, Mike developed a wide range of interests in the field of music, particularly in Music Technology, which led to him working in the Electronic Music department at Guildhall before going on to gain a master’s degree in Music Technology at the University of York. Mike has developed an exciting and varied career teaching the violin and Music Technology, as well as freelancing as a violinist in orchestras, bands and various chamber music formations. In his teaching he enjoys making use of and promoting the use of technology. He is the founder and developer of www.scalesace.com, an interactive website that helps students learn their scales as well as www.stringsace.com which offers a growing variety of online resources for students. Furthermore, he has had several of his early grade compositions published in the London College of Music’s practical violin exam syllabus.
