Helen Stanley BAMus CTABRSM
Helen is a well established and respected Bristol based musician. She is a professional pianist, a 'keys' and synth player, a singer songwriter, a composer, an arranger and a musical director.
Helen has been a professional music educator and piano teacher for over 20 years. She holds various music college teaching posts and is passionate about her private piano teaching practice for all ages and abilities.
Helen began playing the piano at the age of 5, taking formal lessons aged 8. After working up the 8 grades of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music classical performance exams as a pupil of Sylvia Bowden LRAM, she went on to study music; first at higher education, completing the Pre-Professional Music Course (2 A level qualifications) as a pupil of the late Mark Ray GRNCM (where she also completed the 8 grades of the ABRSM theoretical exams and grade 8 on the french horn) then at degree-level at Dartington College of Arts, where she majored in composition as a student of Frank Denyer and was awarded a BA Mus in composition. She was also awarded the Certificate of Teaching by the ABRSM in 2008. Now after a long break from formal tuition Helen has returned to study for a performance DipABRSM as a student of Helen Reid's at Bristol University.
When she's not teaching Helen juggles a busy schedule of freelance writing, rehearsing, performing and recording either as a solo artist or for a variety of professional musical collaborations. Helen believes her teaching is kept fresh and is constantly influenced by her professional work with these artistic partnerships.
Helen regularly performs solo, as a band member or as an accompanist. She is a core band member of international heavy weight rockers Crippled Black Phoenix, with whom she regularly writes, records and tours across the U.K. and Europe with. She is the singer-songwriter and musical director behind cinematic post goth band The Sounds Of Ursa, keyboardist and backing singer for Bristol based pop-noir act The Emily Breeze band, one quarter of the legendary 60's instrumental surf rock band The Rumble-O's and lead vocalist and synthress for psychedelic prog-meisters Asteroid Deluxe.
Past acts have included fronting Bristol psych-art trip-hoppers Pressplay, vintage keys for jazz duo Cafè Elektric, trumpet for latin funkers Mofunk, joining forces with folk artist Martin Callingham and many more guest performances or sessions including The Moonflowers,
Goan Dogs, Episonic and Shōun Shōun.
Helen is a professional composer and arranger and has contracts and commissions with Pusher LLP, EMI, Sony Music and Basement 74 working within the film and TV industry. She is also busy arranging and scoring personal projects.
Helen has a passionate involvment with community music projects as well as professional ones and has sung and arranged for a Bristol community choir Angel's Banned and performed with Bristol and Paris based community project The Greatness of the Magificance Fantasy Orchestra who have many prestigious shows a year. Helen is a committee member for the Fantasy Orchestra.
Lastly Helen runs her own rehearsal and recording studio in Bristol.