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Welcome. ⁀*⦁∙. .⦁*●•°
You have discovered my real website, hubified.
Where ideas are free to roam and I can make mistakes
and create weird stuff.
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│Quick Links: │
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----> Music Tuition----> Blog----> Leeds Improvisers Orchestra----> Contact----> A Simple Meditation Timer
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│About Me: │
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I am a musician based in Leeds, UK.
I play the piano professionally and teach a host of wonderful students.
If you are interested in music lessons, email me here ↗
I am also developing several video games with my friend Jake Nicolaides.
I live with my partner Issy and our cat Pansy cat.
My hobbies include making art, meditation, trips to Northumberland, indie-web,
attempting to harness my nostalgia and eating curry.
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│What I'm up to: │
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Current music projects: Mu Quintet, Ancient Infinity Orchestra, Yard Nule
Currently studying: Japanese, Japanese calligraphy, jazz piano
Currently developing: TV Dungeon (PC), Spirit Lens (VR)
Current obsessions: Japanese, making a pure website, practising music.
Currently listening to: Sonny Clark - Sonny Clark TrioCurrently playing: ポケットモンスター 金 (Pokémon Gold)
Currently watching: Any movie I can use my free ticket on. Classic Simpsons on CRT.
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│Upcoming Concerts: │
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31st Mar 2026 w/Ben Powling Quartet - Domino Club, Leeds
4th Apr 2026 w/Ancient Infinity Orchestra - ElbPhilharmonie Hamburg, Germany
8th Apr 2026 w/Mu Quintet - Cardigan Arms, Leeds
16th Apr 2026 w/Ancient Infinity Orchestra - 100 Club, London
23rd Apr 2026 w/Seki Lynch & Co - Footprints Sheffield
9th May 2026 w/Demon Barbers - Folk on the Pier - Cromer
13th May 2026 w/Ancient Infinity Orchestra - Jazz @ Lescar, Sheffield
14th May 2026 w/Ben Powling - Matt & Phredds, Manchester
23rd May 2026 w/Ancient Infinity Orchestra - Leeds Jazz Festival
26th May 2026 w/Ancient Infinity Orchestra - Manchester Jazz Festival
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│Latest blog post: │
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Monday 2nd March 2026 *new*
Quick update to say that my piece 'plants' is now live on the site.
I'm really liking just laying everything out together- it helps me to
see the whole picture of the things I'm making and how they might inform
one another. It's quite motivating and very satisfying.
Some works wont fit on the homepage obviously and they might need to have
their own little satellite pages if necessary. Let's see.
Today, did more japanese with Teruki.
Went to the greasy spoon diner, 'Ugly Mugs'.
Practised and taught - ate some delicious leftover curry and
some chocolate cake kindly made by Issy's mum.
Issy's parents have been up visiting which was lovely and Pansy-cat turned 1!
パンジー猫、お誕生日おめでとう!
(Rainbow text generated at https://charlesstover.github.io/rainbow-text/
----> View all blog posts
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│Quietweb: │
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The web has been given over to capitalism and the attention economy.
This changes how we would naturally interact and what we might naturally create.
How we would engage with knowledge, art and humanity.
The web was once an escape from these evils and I believe it can be again.
We have forgotten this feeling.
After I began calling this notion the quietweb, I discovered that there are whole
communities devoted to the idea of taking the ideals of web 1.0 forwards.
You can read more about it here- and much more succinctly put than I could muster:
'The Web Restoration Project'
If this resonates with you, please get in touch and we can chat about it and if you don't
currently have the skills to make a website, I will try to help out!
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│Piano Practise: │
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I'll never forget being in music school and one of the tutors (who I respected greatly)
happened to overhear me practising in the next room.
When I went for my lesson, he asked if it was me practising in the other room.
I answered yes (naïvely hoping for a compliment).
He said without hesitation "That was the worst 20 minutes of practise I have ever heard."
"You could have easily spent a whole hour on any one of those things you rushed through".
Despite the embarrassment, it is one of the most helpful things anyone has ever said to me.
And it has taken me the past ten years to really address it.
In the past I was burdened with all kinds of psychological, consequently physical issues
relating to music and the practice of music.
I now love practising music and look forward to it every day.
I focus on settling my mind and making my fingers and body feel happy and flexible.
As of 2026 this is my current practice:
I do my technical work in three keys per day and then move up to the next three the following day.
Eg. C,Db,D on day one and Eb,E,F on day two.
[Scales 30 Mins ] 1/4 Notes at 40BPM and never above 80.
Major, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor
Working through unusual fingerings (g 1-2, 1-3, 3-4-5 etc.)
Hands separately (LH down, RH up) then contrary motion.
Barry Harris' 7th arpeggio then pivot through major and minor scales.
[Chords 30 Mins]
Working through Lennie Tristanos chord lists, which I retrieved from Ed Paolantonio.
I am attempting to memorise these left hand formations thoroughly and get them into my playing.
I also take chordal figures that I like from recordings, usually McCoy Tyner or Herbie Hancock
and spend time absorbing them in the three keys I'm working on that day.
[Tunes 30 Mins]
Learning standards melody only with metronome. Left hand then right hand then unison.
Using metronome and bumbping it up in small increments.
Then I will do an exercise given to me by Michael Kanan, the great NYC pianist:
Play the left hand-chords to a tune on beat one of each bar until you are truly comfortable with that.
Play chord one bar, improvise a line one bar etc. So you are grounded to the pulse.
Then play the chords every two beats.
Then play the chords every one beat.
[Listening 30 Mins]
This comes from the Lennie Tristano school via Ed Paolantonio.
Picking a great example from the recorded history that really resonates with you.
I pick the best players I can think of and find my favourite solo.
I isolate the solo and save the mp3 to my mp3 player.
I listen to the solo until I know it inside out (you never truly do!)
I listen to it again and again and again.
when I think I can start to sing it.
I listen again.
Then I attempt to sing it.
This is a simple and enjoyable way of immersing yourself in the music.
It is doable even when you don't feel like playing or practising.
That is the gist of my current 2 hours per day practise.
If I have extra time I will work on free improvisation, classical repertoire & sight reading.
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│Meditation: │
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I try to practise meditation every day but, naturally, this does not always happen.
In which case I try to bring the same quality of awareness to various creative pursuits and
(with much more resistance...) the mundane everyday tasks intrinsic to our lives.
Meditation is easily one of the most transformative practices I have ever adopted. Start now.
The method that works for me is as follows:
1) Sit down with a timer- I made one here ↗
2) Close your eyes or soften your gaze and keep it steady.
3) Let your body breathe, it is very good at doing this on its own.
4) Count 11111,22222,33333,44444,55555 to ten and back.
5) If you get distracted, smile and start again.
6) After a while the mind will settle and there will be a tangible shift towards 'spaciousness'.
7) Carry on this method and anytime you are distracted, don't worry just bring it back to the counting.
This method is borrowed from my time with Shaila Catherine's book 'Focused and Fearless'.
It is entirely simple and has brought countless astonishing and beautiful experiences as well as,
I believe, permanently moving my life onto a more meaningful and positive trajectory.
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│Plants (2025) │
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This set of plants were created as a quick creative warm up over 30 days.
