SaMS staff

Who we are

SaMS has a staff of experienced musicians and teachers who lead the workshops and provide individual and group tuition. We are all experts within our musical speciality and have the skills and experience to guide and enthuse young musicians. You can read more details about us below.

The administrator of SaMS is Lewis Riley. He organises the workshops, lessons, concerts and other activities, as well as running jazz workshops. Please contact Lewis if you have any queries or would like further information about SaMS.

The activities of SaMS are guided by the SaMS Committee. The members include representatives of KEVICC music department, students, parents and tutors. They also provide volunteers to help with things like manning the reception desk and acting as stewards at concerts.

Workshop leaders and teachers

Follow the links below for more details about each tutor and their workshops and lessons.

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Tutor details

Louise Appleby Junior Folk Group, Senior Folk Group, Clarinet and Classical Guitar lessons

Louise Appleby was born locally and has been performing since the age of six when she became passionately involved with the classical guitar. At the age of eleven she took up the clarinet and played in a local jazz band. She furthered her studies after completing her music exams by studying for a BA in music at Dartington College of Arts in 1994. While there her musical interests were challenged and also broadened as she developed a strong interest for eastern European folk music and formed together with other graduates a five piece eastern European folk group Shavali.

After college she toured extensively in Britain, France, Holland, Belgium and Germany. She also became involved in a project in Norway directed by the director of theatre in Stockholm and toured for eight weeks with a circus there.

She has conducted workshops and masterclasses and given lectures about Bulgarian folk music after doing extensive research in the country itself; this forged links with the National Folk Academy in Kotel in eastern Bulgaria and Louise has now organised two tours of England and Scotland for a Bulgarian ensemble in collaboration with Shavali, which was supported by the Local Arts Council. The main aim of her organisation Eastern European Connections is to bring over professional musicians from eastern Europe and allow all members of society to experience this beautifully preserved tradition.

Louise performs also on classical guitar classical repertoire and Mediterranean and Spanish music for private and public events.

Louise has taught for many years now, and runs both the junior and senior folk groups at SaMS. She can be contacted on 07788 897884 or by email at louiseappleby@lycos.com

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Carol Ballenger ARCM, FRPS String Group, Violin lessons

Carol studied music at Dartington College of Arts, Converse College, SC, USA, The Royal College of Music, London and the Institut des Hautes Etudes Musicales, Montreux.

She was a member of the Royal Ballet and English National Ballet orchestras and also worked as a freelance violinist in London playing with various groups including the Academy of the BBC, Bournemouth Symphony, Richard Hickox and Max Jaffa Orchestras.

Her teaching experience include teaching the violin at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music, International Cello Centre, London Borough of Sutton, Hertfordshire County Council, Dartington Hall School, Exeter School, Exeter Cathedral School, KEVICC, Dartington Primary School. At SaMS she has a number of violin pupils and runs a string group.

Carol is also a landscape photographer and is a founder member of Arts Live who present live performances, exhibitions and workshops combining music, photography and poetry. Visit her website at www.artslive.org.uk. You can email her at carol.ballenger@artslive.org.uk.

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Kathryn Banks Tuned Percussion Ensemble, Percussion lessons

Kathryn was born in Cardiff. She started playing percussion at the age of 12 in the various South Glamorgan County Orchestras, Windbands and Jazz Ensemble before becoming a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. Aged 16 she was awarded an instrumental scholarship at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, before gaining a Bmus(Hons) degree at Birmingham Conservatoire.

During her career she has played in many musical fields both in the UK and abroad including orchestras and West End productions and freelanced with the Welsh National Opera, Orchestra of the Swan, BBC, Orchestra da Camera, Alasdair Malloy's special programmes for children and families and BBC Concert Orchestra's educational programme.

Her experience comes from teaching percussion and drum kit in various counties up and down the country to students of all ages from beginner to diploma level and also directs many percussion ensembles. Her skills and enthusiasm has inspired many young players who have gained places in prestigious music colleges and followed into the professional field.

Kathryn also conducts many workshops for children and professional teachers and has worked closely with children and adults with special needs.

Phill Eccleston Guitar lessons

Phill was born in Cheshire and brought up on a sheep farm on Dartmoor; he now avoids sheep as much as possible. He has been fascinated by music from an early age. He spent 17 years in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary during which time he taught himself to play the guitar and sing - Simon and Garfunkel being his favourites. In 1993 he left the service and took a music degree at Dartington College. He now teaches guitar and singing full-time at Stoodley Knowle Girls School in Torquay, at Ashburton Primary School, and to private students. You can email Phill at philleccleston@btinternet.com

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Marianne Harding

Sing & Play 1

Marianne lives in Totnes with her children, four chickens and two rabbits. SaMS workshops have been an inspiration to her children for the past nine years. She is very pleased to be the tutor for Sing and Play and have the opportunity to work with this fantastic age group to discover and develop their musical potential.

She also teaches Drama at Totnes School of Dance and music at Victoria Education Centre and Sports College in Poole.

Keith Jones

Piano and Electric Keyboard lessons

Keith is a well-respected local keyboard teacher and performer.

Jane Lopresti

Choir, Junk Band, Sing & Play 2

Jane was born and brought up in London. Before moving to Devon she lived in Bristol for 12 years where she taught piano, ran music workshops in schools and community centres and worked as music director for a theatre company. Having become increasingly interested in world music Jane came to Devon in 1989 to do a degree course in music at Dartington College of Arts. Here she studied, among other things, jazz soprano saxophone, African drumming and Gamelan.

Since graduating from Dartington in 1992 Jane has had two children (Molly, aged 10 and Tilda, aged 5) who, for a while, took over from the music. Jane now works mainly for SaMS both on a Saturday morning and during the week doing outreach work in local primary schools. She is also a member of the salsa band Siga la Salsa playing timbales, soprano sax and doing vocal harmonies.

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Sam Massey Wind Band, Theory Grades 1 - 4, Brass lessons

Sam was born locally and went to school at KEVICC. He took up the trumpet at the age of 11 and now plays to a high standard. He is currently taking a BA in Music at the University of Bristol and studying trumpet with Dean Wright, principal trumpet of the Welsh National Opera Orchestra. As well as his work at SaMS he teaches brass privately and in a number of local schools. He combines this with work for Eigenlabs, a local electronic musical instrument development company, and performing in a wide range of ensembles.

Catherine Quinlan Flute, recorder and saxophone lessons, Theory Grade 5

Catherine was born and educated in Essex. She played in local orchestras including the Essex Symphony Orchestra and, for 6 years, in the Essex Youth orchestra, and taught flute at a Saturday music school. After graduating in Music and History from the University of Kent she continued teaching. She took up the clarinet, quickly gaining Grade 8, then branched out onto the saxophone. Having married and moved to Devon she now has 4 sons and teaches both at home and in local schools.

She takes the chance to play whenever possible - regularly playing with Spectrum Concert Windband (of which she is also deputy conductor), piccolo with Torbay Symphony Orchestra as well playing for various musical productions. She plays in a saxophone quartet and enjoys arranging music for them.

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Lewis Riley Junior Jazz, Senior Jazz Band

Born in Lancashire, Lewis studied at Dartington College of Arts and Rolle College, Exmouth. After teaching at a school in the Midlands, he became head of music at Dartington Hall School before its closure in 1987. Since then he has pursued a freelance career, mainly as a teacher of jazz, in group workshops and for individual piano students, working in schools, colleges and arts centres. He has also led, performed in, and composed for, various Devon-based jazz groups, ranging from trios to a 14-piece big band. In 1992 he completed the BPhil (Ed) Creative Arts in Education degree at the University of Exeter.

As well as being administrator for SaMS, and running the junior and senior jazz groups, he teaches individuals at home and is an Associate Lecturer at Dartington College of Arts.

Lewis was a founder member of the Totnes Jazz Collective, which promotes local musicians and encourages new work. In 1998 he produced a book Starting to Improvise Jazz Piano published by Boosey and Hawkes, now sadly out of print. From 1997 until 2000 he worked for Dartington Arts, programming concerts for the Great Hall.

One-off projects have included working as a PRS composer-in-residence at three schools in West Cornwall (1996-7) and two National Lottery funded projects taking the 14-piece Totnes Jazz Collective Big Band into local schools for workshops and performances. His latest project is running a nine-piece band The Mother People, which includes his daughter Harriet on vibes and marimba, playing the music of Frank Zappa.

You can visit Lewis's website at www.lewisriley.co.uk.

Peter Scott JaM1, JaM2, JaM3

Peter has many year's experience in running starter music courses for younger children.

Steve Verge

Accoustic Guitar Group, Electric Guitar Group, Guitar lessons

Steve is an experienced local musician. He is a member of a number of local folk bands and plays violin, mandoline and banjo as well as guitar. He has taught guitar and other instruments for many years.

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