I am a musician and computer scientist living in Newcastle, Australia.
I studied music at the Australian Institute of Music and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before undertaking my postgrad studies at Macquarie University and the University of Technology in Sydney. I have a PhD in computational musicology which explored the application of machine learning models to questions of musicology. As part of that project I created a symbolic music search engine called Stelusa, which allows nuanced searching across large scale orchestral scores. I have written all kinds of music software over the last couple of decades (all kinds of other software too) using languages such as C, C++, Java, Haskell, R and Python.
I also have extensive experience teaching at university as well as privately. I have taught on lots of different music courses in the areas of musicology, harmony and analysis, jazz improvisation, music history and ensemble performance. From time to time I have also taught on courses in computer science and data science.
Around 2012 I jumped out of the music space for a while, heading into roles with more of a purely data science focus. I worked for about a decade in health data. During this time I delivered health related analytics and AI projects, architected enterprise-level data solutions at scale, and ran large technical teams. My most recent role has been as Chief Data Officer of the Cancer Institute NSW. It has been an amazing, rewarding, and exciting ride. But in recent years I have increasingly felt the call to come back into the music. I am really happy to be back.
It has been great to find time again for prioritising music in my life. To be able to teach music and write about it, and share the resources from a lifetime of study. I have started to find more time to compose, and delve more deeply into the nature of sound and sound synthesis. Many of the articles you will find on this site relate to all of those interests.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about the move back into music has been finding time to play music with other people which is always so rewarding and what it is all about. We are in a time when, more than ever before, playing music with others is underpinned by supportive and inclusive culture. This is as it should be, respecting the different ways people come to have music in their life and helping them on the journey.
In 2024 I started working on a first album. I am recording this with Sally Jamila, an Aotearoa/NZ based artist, and we are hoping to release this in 2025. Sally and I studied music together as teenagers and have been wanting to make this happen ever since. To reconnect with my creative partner in music and in life has been an absolute joy, and we are really excited for the album release and our upcoming live performances.
I think that is pretty much everything. I like to swim at the beach every morning. I have two beautiful children. I feel I should do more yoga. Sometimes I think I might like to get a dog.
It has been great to find time again for prioritising music in my life. To be able to teach music and write about it, and share the resources from a lifetime of study. I have started to find more time to compose, and delve more deeply into the nature of sound and sound synthesis. Many of the articles you will find on this site relate to all of those interests.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about the move back into music has been finding time to play music with other people which is always so rewarding and what it is all about. We are in a time when, more than ever before, playing music with others is underpinned by supportive and inclusive culture. This is as it should be, respecting the different ways people come to have music in their life and helping them on the journey.
In 2024 I started working on a first album. I am recording this with Sally Jamila, an Aotearoa/NZ based artist, and we are hoping to release this in 2025. Sally and I studied music together as teenagers and have been wanting to make this happen ever since. To reconnect with my creative partner in music and in life has been an absolute joy, and we are really excited for the album release and our upcoming live performances.
I think that is pretty much everything. I like to swim at the beach every morning. I have two beautiful children. I feel I should do more yoga. Sometimes I think I might like to get a dog.