Nathan Portlock, Music Teacher OIS
We are delighted to welcome Nathan Portlock to OIS. Nathan will join us as Music Teacher. As the grandson of an Anglo-Indian luthier and headmaster, explorations into sound were encouraged from an early age.
Nathan grew up in the English countryside and read Ancient History at the University of Wales where he also led the Live Music Society. Following his undergraduate degree, he retrained in Community Music and began working specifically with students with emotional, cognitive and physical impairments before completing a post- grad in Music & Special Needs education at the University of Roehampton. He began his career as a UK Secondary classroom teacher in 2014 and comes to us directly from his role as a Primary music specialist at St Paul’s school in Barcelona.
Over the last 15 years Nathan has also run his own production studio and composed a variety of original music for moving image, some of which has been featured on adverts in the UK, New Zealand and Canada. He’s performed on many stages (most notably at the London Barbican) and on several live and studio records as a drummer and backing vocalist (BBC Radio 6 Music). As an acoustic guitarist and singer he continues to write and perform his own original material live. From our music lessons we can expect an open ear to all student, staff and parental ideas, as well as an active focus on the following:
Ukulele and guitar , Circle singing, Composing to video, Band work, Songwriting, Improvisation, Hand drumming and percussion, Digital recording and production.
“I’m delighted to join the team here at Optimist. Having already met many of the wonderful pupils and staff, I know that there’s a huge amount of talent and creative energy at this unique and exciting school. There’s musical magic here and I can’t wait to start!”