These are my favourite albums at the moment, should you be wondering… I guess they suggest I like slightly folky guitarists, a bit of arty rock and a bit of jazz. Which seems about right actually.
Laura Marling: Semper Femina
John Coltrane: A Love Supreme
Field Music: Open Here
British Sea Power: Let the Dancers Inherit the Party
Michael Kiwanuka: Love and Hate
Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left
PJ Harvey: The Hope Six Demolition Project
Lee Morgan: The Sidewinder
I’ll be appearing at the Wimbledon Synagogue on May 13 alongside the excellent Sarit Aloni and the Shirat-Hayam choir as part of an evening of Ladino music.
I’ll be duetting with Sarit and playing some solo numbers. It’s beautiful music, if you’re in the area come along.
Here’s the poster:
There’s been quite a lot of musical stuff going on…
At the end of June I played guitar at a South American music evening with the Larkhill Choral Society. I accompanied the choir on several songs, plus duetting with the brilliant soprano Sarit Aloni on songs by Villa Lobos and Garcia Lorca amongst others, and performing various favourite solo pieces by Antonio Lauro and Agustin Barrios Mangore.
There are a couple of reviews on the Larks’ website and videos from several of the choir’s performances. I’m also hopeful of getting video of my duets with Sarit and solos at some point, but here is one example from the choral pieces, a song called El Gaban.
Then I went to WOMAD — highlight for me was probably Officina Zoe, from Italy, I’d never heard of them before but they were amazing. I saw their midnight performace on the Siam stage while it absolutely lashed down outside, rather than this daytime one, but you get the idea, they kind of trance out on 2 chords and its mesmerising. Great dancing too. If anyone fancies starting a band doing this in the Wiltshire area email me!
And last week I was up in the Brecon Beacons watching loads of great bands at Green Man — British Sea Power, PJ Harvey, Lambchop, Michael Kiwanuka, Field Music and Julian Cope were all brilliant.
A former student who now has a radio show played one of my Antonio Lauro performances on her show on Radio Nope yesterday I believe, I’m still tracking down the podcast…
Coming up I’m playing a Spanish guitar set at a carehome as part of a virtual cruise for the residents.
And I’m on 2 tracks on my mate Andy’s album coming out in December.
So it’s all go. I’ll try to get moreclips and links on here as they come up. Meanwhile if you want to hire me to play your wedding / etc or you’re interested in lessons do get in touch!
Happy New Year! If you’re interested in guitar lessons email me, because I’m looking at taking on 1 or 2 new students. I live in central Salisbury but can come to you if that suits, and I’ll get you playing the music you want to play.
I’ve now got a profile on Soundcloud where you can listen to some of my recordings — just some fairly old South American guitar recordings at the moment — along with some lo-fi phone recordings of the accompanying part from a few duets, so that a student can play along doing the melody part. I’ve put up Faure’s Pavane, the Beatles Here, There and Everywhere, and Empty Chairs and Empty Tables from Les Miserables in this format.
It’s all at https://soundcloud.com/simon-sheffield
I’ve been teaching the guitar in and around Salisbury since 2011, and before that I taught in London for about 8 years. I teach classical guitar and rock / pop / folk on both acoustic and electric, as well as bass, ukulele, and related areas like singing, music reading, music theory and basic keyboards.
I try to get everyone playing the music they like, right away, so I cover quite a varied range of musical styles every week. Here are some of the things I’ve been helping people master of late:
Writing’s on the Wall by Sam Smith
Sounds of Silence by Disturbed
Take the Box by Amy Winehouse
Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin
Cavatina by Stanley Myers
Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes
Starman by David Bowie
If there is something you’d like to play I’ll work it out for you and we can work on it. But I also often recommend people work on a grade syllabus for classical guitar, or acoustic pop and folk, or electric rock, and I have an excellent record of passes with merit and distinction among my students.
I have public liability insurance and enhanced DBS clearance, and have taken child protection training. I am a member of the Registry of Guitar Tutors and a Wiltshire Music Connect associate provider of instrumental education. I passed all of the ABRSM guitar exams back in the 80s, and have since performed in bands, orchestras in musical theatre, and as a soloist.
Do email me if there is anything you’re wondering about and I’ll be happy to help!
My excellent Year 6 guitar student and I worked out a few festive tunes at the weekend and I did some nice little lo-fi recordings on my phone. Here’s our Silent Night (via MySpace).
Merry Christmas!
I’m now an official Associate Provider of instrumental tuition with Wiltshire Music Connect, the music education hub for Wiltshire.
That means I’ve demonstrated the skills and experience the hub is looking for in the county’s instrumental tutors, as well as having an up to date DBS check and child protection training.
I had to apply and be interviewed for Associate status as you would for any other job. The interview included giving a demonstration of an aspect of my teaching, so I showed the panel a few things that school children have been asking to learn in lessons recently: songs by Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and The Vamps.
I’m really chuffed to join the WMC team!
You can see my profile on their site here.
If you are looking for guitar lessons in the Salisbury area in 2016 do email me at simonsheffield@googlemail.com — I will be very happy to answer any questions.
Even if you are a complete beginner with no musical experience, I get people playing the music they love, whether that’s classical guitar — I’m a fully trained classical guitarist, see here for details — or rock, folk, pop, jazz. (Frankly we should probably have a go at the lot, you never know what you might enjoy!)
I charge the standard rates recommended by Wiltshire Music Connect and the Musician’s Union which tends to be about £30 per hour but if you are available during school hours I can give you a discount.
I also teach bass, ukulele, music theory, and basic keyboards.
If you would like to buy your loved one a guitar lesson or 2 for Christmas, I can give you a guitar lesson voucher. Drop me an email.
Simon Sheffield: guitarist and teacher 
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