Teaching

"....I would like to express my gratitude to Chris Best, my composition tutor, for his encouragement and support.... His inspirational tutorials and enlightened seminars have been of a great value for my personal development as a young aspiring composer...."
(Kateryna Padlyevs’Ka June 2009)

Mentoring and Tutoring

Chris can deliver a wide range of workshops and lectures in composition related activity covering all age groups from Year 12 upwards, either as one-off events or as a sequential package. He is also available for private composition coaching, mentoring or consultation work, including help with score/part-writing, questions of orchestration, notation, layout etc. For availability and rates, or to discuss your ideas and needs, please get in touch. REQUEST CV

Background

Chris has over twenty years' experience of education work. In 1998 he became senior lecturer, and subsequently Reader in Music Composition at Dartington College of Arts. In September 2010 he re-located to the Tremough campus of University College Falmouth in Cornwall. Before moving to the south west, he designed and ran the country's first BA Degree course in composition at Coventry University. He has twice been Artistic Director (music) of the Composers/ Choreographers Exchange at the South Bank in London and has gone on to conduct similar workshops in Spain, Holland and Sweden. He also co-directed the Music and Dance Exchange (m&de) at Dartington College with internationally acclaimed choreographer Emilyn Claid.

"....I believe that at its heart, education is about sharing experience and empowering others to find their artistic strengths, not about imparting pearls of wisdom to a passive audience...."

Lecturing

As a former ‘Reader in Music Composition’ at Dartington College of Arts and now Senior Lecturer and Head of Music at University College Falmouth, Chris has given tutorials and seminars in contemporary composition practice, lectures in many aspects of new music and extensive performance coaching. He also has a number of MA and Research students under his supervision.

Chris identifies close connections between his teaching and creative work. Over the years many of his compositions have been either written for students and colleagues, or performed by them. He has consistently drawn upon the college's wealth of unusual instruments (always a gold-mine for the composer) including a range of Ghanaian drums and percussion and a Balinese Gamelan orchestra. He also encourages students to design and build their own instruments, often exploring non-standard tunings or playing methods.

Workshops

Having participated in the ‘Composers and Choreographers Exchange’ at the South Bank Centre in 1996, Chris went on to become its artistic director (music) for two years and from there continued similar work in Madrid. Between 2005 and 2007 he worked alongside the choreographer Emilyn Claid, running the annual Music and Dance Exchange at Dartington College.