If you’re breaking into your career in the arts, our Skype Mentoring service is a must.
We bring you the opportunity to develop your skills and engage with professional arts practitioners through one-on-one sessions. From music journalism to audio production, composition to education, we want to help you expand your knowledge and approach the industry with confidence.
If you’re interested in learning more or starting your journey with our mentors, you can book a one hour session online. We’ll be in touch to organise your time and get you set up. You can also email editor@cutcommon.com for more info.
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STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Music journalism, feature writing, reviewing, and interview technique
Would you like to learn how to write and structure your feature? How to conduct an interview or craft a review? CutCommon editor Stephanie Eslake has experience in various genres of writing and has been published in newspapers and magazines across the nation. She also teaches an associate degree in writing, so if you’re an aspiring journalist, blogger, or work in broadcast journalism, these mentoring sessions are for you.
Stephanie Eslake won the City of Hobart Australia Day 2017 Young Citizen of the Year Award for her “community contribution by creating an online promotional and educational network for young Australian classical musicians”. She is also the inaugural 2017 Kill Your Darlings New Critic Award winner, a finalist in the 2017 Tasmanian Young Achiever Awards (semi-finalist in 2016), was shortlisted for the 2017 Kat Muscat Fellowship, and tutors writing as part of an Associate Degree at Foundry in which she also writes course content. Stephanie founded CutCommon in 2014, after attending the Australian Youth Orchestra Words About Music program. During her Bachelor degrees, she triple-majored in media, music, and sociology. She has been published in The Mercury, TasWeekend, SBS (Life), Limelight Magazine, The Music, ArtsHub (ArtsHub UK, ScreenHub), Aphra Magazine, The Courier Mail, The Daily Telegraph and RendezView, Adelaide Now, Young Opportunities Australia, Perth Now, The Herald Sun, and Warp Magazine – the latter of which she has also worked as subeditor. The award-winning writer co-founded Upbeat Monthly News for the University of Tasmania’s Conservatorium of Music, has written program notes for the Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, hosted features on Edge Radio 99.3 and ABC Classic FM, and worked in live broadcast production. In 2015, she spent time as acting editor and lead writer for The Mercury‘s music publication Pulse. The classical saxophonist tutors woodwind, worked as co-editor and publications mentor for Hobart City Council’s Platform youth arts and culture magazine, and is part of the Making Waves’ Making Conversation interview team. In the contemporary world, she’s interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry from Claire Bowditch to The Cat Empire and The Potbelleez.
CHRISTOPHER LEON
Music technology, audio engineering, and producing
Christopher specialises in music technology for musicians, performers, and anyone in the industry who is looking to learn how to record, mix, and master their music or liaise with professional sound engineers in the studio. Learn the ins and outs of music technology, producing, and audio engineering for yourself and your ensemble.
Tasmanian composer and music producer Christopher Leon runs CutCommon’s in-house mastering service. He has worked with leading young composers in giving their recordings a professional sound for distribution. Christopher graduated in 2013 with a major in Music Technology from the University of Tasmania. In 2011, he worked on the team producing the score for American feature film Christmas With The Dead, and in 2013 was responsible for scoring and recording a series of three TV commercials for the state government. In 2017, he was a semi-finalist in the Tasmanian Young Achiever of the Year Awards (arts); and in the performance community he played at the Light Up the Lane street festival, a booked-out music tech workshop and gig at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery as part of BeakerSt@TMAG, a Friday Nights Live concert at the Moonah Arts Centre, and a DJ set at the Platform magazine launch (Hobart City Council Youth Arts and Recreation Centre). Christopher has worked in live broadcast operation and co-hosted and produced radio show Eurohour, showcasing European music. Since picking up the guitar at age 12, Christopher has performed his own classical and Flamenco influenced guitar compositions across Tasmania and has swept through multiple genres on his way to electronic and orchestral music production. He now holds the position of production assistant with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. You can hear some of his contemporary music compositions on his website.
SCOTT MCINTYRE
Composition and music theory
Dr Scott McIntyre is an award-winning composer whose music has been performed and recorded in Australia and internationally. If you want to learn how to compose for string quartet, or how to fine-tune your music theory, learn with Scott.
Australian composer Scott McIntyre has a PhD from the University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music. He studied his Bachelor of Music at the University of Melbourne and received the Highest Commendation in the Paul Lowin Orchestral Award for his Symphony for Large Orchestra. His compositions have been performed across the world including festivals in South Korea and Tel Aviv. He recently composed award-winning works for Michael Kieran Harvey and has also had his music performed by Barrie Webb, Brigid Burke, major Australian symphony orchestras and ensembles.
LUCY RASH
Arts administration and careers
Chat with our industry specialist about how to forge your pathway to an arts administration career in Australia.
Lucy is a musician, writer, music administrator, and community arts advocate. Having completed her formative training in Art History, Sociology and Musicology, Lucy worked at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music managing community arts partnerships between the university, the Smith Family, and regional Victorian schools before joining the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s administration team in 2012. Captivated by an urge to mix an innate love of music with her interest in people, Lucy trained in arts administration and music journalism with the Australian Youth Orchestra before pursuing a career in orchestral administration and music education. Lucy is currently employed as Co-ordinator of The Pizzicato Effect, the MSO’s flagship community music program providing free instrumental tuition to children living in the City of Hume. An experienced multi-instrumentalist, Lucy also maintains an active role in the Australian music scene. She is a classically trained violinist, a member of alt-folk outfit Forest Falls, presents pre- and post-concert talks for the MSO, and her written work has bolstered many a band’s press kit. Very sneaky indeed!
MEGAN BURSLEM
Music education, learning, and confidence at university
Megan is passionate about developing confidence in students who are undertaking their university courses. Chat with Megan and you’ll learn how to learn. Structure and plan your practice routine, communicate with other musicians at university, and develop your musical voice. Megan also offers mentoring for those interested in becoming music educators.
Megan holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music with Honours, and a Master of Arts (Music Performance). Megan has also completed a Grad. Dip in Education and has lectured at Monash University in Musicology, and Music Criticism. She is undertaking a PhD in which she investigates teaching and learning in undergraduate musicology.
SAMUEL COTTELL
Music analysis
How do you analyse music with the aim of preparing lectures, presenting pre-concert talks, and publishing notes to appeal to a general audience? Learn with Samuel Cottell.
Samuel is a dynamic pianist, arranger, composer, music journalist and writer who has been described as a ‘walking music history book’ and ‘a really useful musician’. He studied piano with Dr. Christine Logan. As a journalist, Samuel is the Lead Writer at CutCommon and also writes for Fine Music Magazine, Jazz Australia, Australianjazz.net, and Jazz Standard. In 2015, he wrote an extended biographical article on the music of jazz arranger and composer Dave Panichi which was published via Music & Literature.org. He has interviewed iconic musicians including Kurt Elling, Time for 3 (Tf3), soprano Renee Fleming, cellist Steven Isserlis as well as Katie Noonan, Simon Tedeschi, Daniel Rojas and Richard Gill. Samuel also writes for Omega Ensemble and gives pre-concert talks for Grevillea Ensemble. Samuel has just completed writing liner notes for Divergence Jazz Orchestra’s upcoming CD Fake It Till’ You Make It. He writes program notes for Nexas Quartet and is undertaking a PhD in Musicology at Sydney Conservatorium where he is investigating the life and music of Tommy Tycho. Samuel is also an academic tutor in the Music Department of Sydney University teaching Extended Fundamentals and a Survey of Film Music.
NICHOLAS MARKS
Film scoring, orchestration and arrangement, and building your business as an independent artist
Learn how to write to picture with Nicholas, who was chosen by executives in Los Angeles to produce the new Village Roadshow Pictures theme. He’ll also teach you how to meld elements from different styles into new works, and if you’re doing it solo you can learn how to build your brand and profile as a sustainable artist.
Nicholas Marks is a film composer from Melbourne. Since studying at the Monash University Sir Zelman Cowan School of Music, his music has been screened at Tropfest, the Kah Bang International Film Festival, and featured in Love Your Sister starring Guy Pearce and Samuel Johnson. The latter screened nationally on Network 10. He was also selected to produce a new musical theme for Village Roadshow Pictures. He also composes for various Australian ensembles and his major project Hey Frankie.
THOMAS MISSON
Piano lessons, contemporary classical composition, and study advice for composer/performers
Learn piano via Skype with this Tasmanian composer/performer. He also mentors composition with a pre-tertiary and undergraduate focus, and gives advice to prospective double major students looking for strategies to keep all skills afloat when operating in a multidisciplinary capacity.
Hobart composer, pianist, and arranger Thomas Misson’s music has been featured on ABC Classic FM and his music played by the Tasmanian Discovery Orchestra. Since 2011, he has maintained regular accompanying and performing commitments with choirs all around Hobart, exams and auditions for conservatoriums and orchestral piano work alongside his Bachelors degree in composition.
Image Utahca via Flickr CC2.0.