David Harrison’s CV

Education:

Guildhall School of Music & Drama
1992-1993
Post-graduate Diploma in Jazz and Studio Music

Oxford Brookes University
1989-1992
BA (hons) First Class Honours: Music with German

Work:

Music Sales
2004-2008
Education Editor

SAE Institute
1999-2004
Lecturer: History of Music; Music Production

City University
1998-2003
Lecturer: Jazz History

City Literary Institute
1993-present
Tutor: Folk & Pop Guitar
(also, at various times, Saxophone; Clarinet; Music Technology; Jazz Studies)

Personal Statement:

I have been involved in music education since I was at school—in the sixth form I was teaching saxophone and guitar, and through my travels and studies I’ve always taught: first as a means to an end, and eventually as a vocation. I’ve held various positions over the years from running jazz improv workshops at Oxford University to lecturing in Music History at SAE.

In 2003, mainly due to my work at the City Literary Institute, where I have now taught guitar for almost two decades, I was approached to write a guitar tutor for Collins. As the book progressed I began to take on various editorial roles: I liaised with the designer, organised the photoshoot, recorded the accompanying CD, engraved the music, researched the copyrights… I got a taste for project management and the editorial process. The book appeared in 2004 and has now sold over 60,000 copies.

Through the Collins book, in 2004 I was invited to join the Music Sales editorial team. Music Sales had recently bought Boston, an old American publishing company with one title of note: A Tune A Day. My specific role was to relaunch the series. I had learnt on the A Tune A Day series as a child, and had taught with the books as an adult, and had always harboured a nagging ambition to get my teeth into the series and bring it up to date. In 2005 the first books in the A New Tune A Day series appeared, and over the next three years I produced a total of 42 titles. A New Tune A Day is now the biggest-selling music tutor series worldwide.

Alongside A New Tune A Day I produced flash cards, guitar repertoire books, DVDs and various other educational publications. In 2008 I left Music Sales to set up a video production company, specifically to create video content for Music Sales’ online operation, sheetmusicdirect. To date, I have produced over 150 video lessons for guitar and ukulele, many of which are also available as DVDs. I’ve also produced a number of ukulele songbooks and other tutorial materials.

Here’s an example (you’ll need a password for copyright reasons):

I also run a small recording studio from my home, and make websites for clients, like this one.

I live in the East End of London with my photographer wife and our son, where I run the successful Dalston Community Orchestra.