Biography
Patrick was born in Sidcup, North West Kent in 1987. The first signs of his precociousness and individuality were his long blonde hair, big eyes, and enormous amounts of energy.
Patrick attended St Margaret’s Primary School in Plumstead, South London and, like many primary children, his first instrument was the recorder. He joined the school recorder group but was later hunted by a serious local recorder group and took part in many weekly meetings, moving from "London’s Burning" straight to arrangements of Bach and Stanford.
His next instrument of choice was voice and he was trained twice a week by a long standing friend and tutor, Simon Hiller at St Mark with St Margaret’s Church in Plumstead, at just 6 years of age.
At the age of seven, Patrick began to study the piano and it became a busy affair having to go from piano lessons straight to a cubs meeting, and later the scouts. Patrick moved from one piano tutor to another but could not find the right music to play, demanding jazz and blues and a lot less "old-fashioned" piano music. Patrick’s individuality resurfaced when he decided to put his piano lessons and scout meetings to one side because he felt that his ambitions inevitably were to lie with the harp. This has not stopped him from playing the piano, which he still regularly uses as a composition tool.
He started lessons on the harp at the age of ten with the Bexley Music Centre and was involved in many local concerts to prepare him for bigger things to come. His major influence at this time was the work of Harpo Marx, the well-known light comedy film actor and part of the "Marx Brothers" group in the 1930s and 40s. Patrick's optimism and humour was similar to Harpo's but he quickly realised that the harp was a very serious part of his life.
Patrick started secondary school at BETHS Grammar School in Bexley. By coincidence, his next music teacher there was a close family friend, orchestral conductor and a part of his church choir.
During the early stages of his harp tutoring Patrick kept his singing up to a high standard and was a member of the Royal School of Church Music National Choir for 8 years until the age of 14. By this time he had joined the Bexley Youth Choir, a part of the Bexley Music Centre. He has toured with the youth choir for 9 years travelling around the United Kingdom as far afield as Dumfries in Scotland and Cornwall in the south.
Patrick’s musical education took a big step in 2002 when he gained a music scholarship into the highly established Trinity College of Music in Greenwich. Here he had the benefit of harp, harp and flute and harp ensemble lessons along with musicianship classes, not to mention playing the bass guitar in the Trinity College Youth Jazz Band. He took his Music A levels at the College and chose to take Music Technology at secondary school. His experience in large ensemble includes the Haydn Symphony Orchestra, Bexley Youth Orchestra and more recently the University of Surrey Orchestra.
Patrick began composing on the harp specifically away from his normal compositional instruments such as the piano and choral work. Patrick entered a London school competition at the Tate Modern in central London with his harp composition "Aspire." This was Patrick’s first taste of his future life with the harp and he has gone on to compose and improvise with the harp on many occasions, in major concerts, weddings and other special events.
In 2004 Patrick was tested for a mild form of dyslexia, a condition affecting language functions and which can impair sentence and essay construction. He worked with an old friend and English tutor, Jean Taylor, and through his second year of A levels managed to pull his first year English Literature grade up two grades to a high B. Not only did Jean educate Patrick in the practice of writing but also helped Patrick control his over-dramatic and excited nature. Jean and Patrick remain friends and together study books and plays such as "The Dubliners," "The Canterbury Tales" and regularly form play readings and meetings.
In 2005, Patrick was accepted at the University of Surrey and has successfully completed his first two years in the subject of Music and Computer Sound Design. This choice has meant Patrick can extend his practise not only in musical performance but also his sound recording and engineering skills. He has built a recording studio for his own interest and records weekly to studio standards on his harp, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, bass guitar, recorders, piano and voice.
After finishing his University course Patrick is determined to move to full time harp playing and teaching, performing at weddings and other special events over a wide area. His ambitions have remained strong and his University experience has enabled him to see that he can fight for his own future and answer his calling to teaching young, old and enabled students on the harp, to perform in public and to record other instrumentalists.
