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Joe with Terry Oldfield and Soraya Saraswati at the end of the concert.

Specially composed for the occasion, Joe’s song Shine On is premiered at the concert by Leila Aarden.

World Peace Day concert in Marbella, Spain, 29 September 2018

Towards the end of 2018, Joe moved to County Cork in Ireland with his partner, Sharon, where he produced his first solo guitar album, compiled from a selection of live recordings made in Spain. Simply Guitar is a double album featuring Spanish, Latin-American, jazz and popular music available from jm-music in CD format or as an audio download. (Click here for track information, sample excerpts and purchase details.)

From left: David Russell, Joe McGowan and Mike McGeary

1989-1999

Since 1988, Joe had been attending classical guitar workshops and festivals in Inverness, Cambridge, Leicester and Dingwall, and it was here that he made the acquaintance of world-class performers and some of the UK's most respected

When Joe began taking guitar lessons from a local music teacher in 1982, he had no ambition to pursue the undertaking beyond a hobby. Having been captivated by the sound of the classical guitar since early childhood, and later by the music of Mike Oldfield, at the time he only wanted to explore finger style guitar and the evocative qualities of the instrument. His natural abilities appeared to lie in Art & Design and therefore Joe intended to pursue a career in that field. However, from his first guitar lesson he was completely absorbed and over the next few years quickly progressed whilst giving priority to his other academic studies.

1982-1989

in Art & Design and therefore it was assumed his career

was destined to be in this field.

However, from the first guitar lesson Joe was completely

absorbed and, practicing addictively, over the next few

years he quickly progressed whilst giving priority to his

other academic studies.

Joe with Nikita Koshkin prior to the Russian guitarist/composer's first UK concert in 1992

guitar teachers. A director of these festivals was the late Chris Kilvington, a composer, teacher and reviews editor for Classical Guitar magazine. Having previously accepted a few concert reviews submitted by Joe, Chris gave the young student his first taste of professional writing by inviting him to become an official reviewer for the magazine in 1991 - a position Joe held until 1999.

A year after obtaining his first guitar teaching diploma (the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM)), in 1992 Joe successfully auditioned for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow (now the Royal Conservatoire Scotland), taking a BA degree course in musical studies, with guitar as first study and composition second. His guitar tutors were Philip Thorne, Selina Madeley and Allan Neave, and for composition Tom Wilson, John Maxwell Geddes, Gordon McPherson and James MacMillan.

It was not until 1986, under the tutelage of Anne Chaurand, that Joe's interest went beyond that of a hobby and he began working towards Associated Board grade certificates in classical guitar and music theory. At the time he was also in full-time education studying for a diploma in Art & Design, but even before receiving this qualification in July 1989, Joe realised where his true passion lay.

For Joe, composition had become another area of creative interest that equalled that of the guitar, and during his years at the academy he wrote music in a wide range of styles, including accompanied and unaccompanied vocal works; several solo and ensemble pieces for various instruments; a string quartet and orchestral and electro-acoustic music.

A year after obtaining his first guitar teaching diploma (the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM)), in 1992 Joe successfully auditioned for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow (now the Royal Conservatoire Scotland), taking a BA degree course in musical studies with guitar as first study and composition second. His guitar tutors were Philip Thorne, Selina Madeley and Allan Neave, and for composition Tom Wilson, John Maxwell Geddes, Gordon McPherson and James MacMillan.

Runner-up commendation award in the Bank of Scotland tercentenary national composing competition, 1995

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The Guardian review of the composers' concert at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, 1994

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The first two movements of his electro-acoustic symphony, ‘Legend of the Bell’, were premiered at the academy in 1994 at a student composers' concert (review below), and in 1995 his piece for unaccompanied male voice choir, 'Echoes of Scotland’, won the runner-up commendation award in a national composing competition celebrating the Bank of Scotland's tercentenary year.

In 1988, he enrolled for a degree course in music, philosophy and art history with the Open University and by September 1989 - shortly after obtaining a grade 8 certificate in classical guitar performance - was teaching his first guitar students.

By the time Joe completed his degree in 1995 (taking the option to graduate from Glasgow University), he had also obtained his second guitar teaching diploma, the LTCL, from Trinity College, London. Another year of post-graduate composing study at the academy followed in 1996 - when he also graduated with a BA Honours degree from the Open University - after which he was offered a position as guitar instructor for South Lanarkshire Council, teaching in a number of local authority schools.

Crossing the Boundaries An album of guitar duets Joe McGowan & Cameron Angus

13. Vincent (McLean)

11. Romance (Anon.)

1. Desired (Juan Martin)

2. The girl from Ipanema (Jobim)

3. Wave (Jobim)

4. Felicidade (Jobim)

5. Tico tico no fuba (Abreu)

6. Meditation (Jobim)

7. Antonio’s song (Jobim)

8. Sonata no.84 (Soler)

9. Zarabande (Granados)

15. Spanish portrait (Cross Culture)

12. Cavatina (Myers)

14. Blasianas canariennes no.2 & no.3 (Sanchez)

10. Samba do aviao (Jobim)

Running time: 62.26 mins.

Simply Guitar A double album of solo guitar music performed by Joe McGowan

Simply Guitar excerpts

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1. Concierto de Aranjuez theme (Rodrigo)*

3. Moon River (Mercer)

4. The Rose (McBroom)

5. Samba de Orfeo (Bonfa & Maria)

6. Gymnopedie no.1 (Satie)

7. Bulerias (Calatayud)

8. Cavatina (Myers)

9. Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Waler, Brooks & Razaf)*

10. Make You Feel my Love (Adele)*

11. Manha de Carnaval (Bonfa)

12. Imagine (Lennon)

13. Malaguena (trad.)*

2. Summertime (Gershwin)*

Album art: Joe McGowan

* Arranged by Joe McGowan

Running time 69 mins.

14. Moliendo Cafe (Blanco & Perroni)

16. Lagrima (Tarrega)

17. Agua de Beber (Jobim)

18. Stairway to Heaven (Page & Plant)*

19. Castillana (Allegria) (Trad.)*

20. Layla (Clapton)*

21. Spanish Romance (Anon)

22. Bridge Over Troubled Water (Paul Simon)*

23. Classical Gas (Mason Williams)

24. How Deep is Your Love (Gibb Brothers)

25. Vals (Calatayud)

15. Hey Jude (Lennon & McCartney)

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Bio

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Bio

In 2015 he started Your Music Mentor.com, an online tuition and mentoring service catering for beginner to advanced musicians, exam and school students, professionals and teachers.

Visit the website at: www.yourmusicmentor.com

Visit the website at: www.jm-education.com

2016 was the year Joe launched jm-education, his online education platform offering supplementary material and free resources for students and teachers of National 5 and Higher Music, and his books for these Scottish secondary school courses (see Writing).

2010 - 2018

In February 2010, Joe moved to the region of Manilva on the south coast of Spain where he taught music both privately and in International schools, and was regularly engaged to perform solo classical guitar music at numerous venues from Malaga to Gibraltar.

2000 - 2010

Upon his return to Scotland in 2000, as well as giving private music tuition Joe accepted a teaching post at the Graham Laurie School of Music in Paisley. In the following years he also turned more seriously to writing, when his output would include novel-length fiction and short stories, children's poetry and academic texts, and in 2005 his first education book, How to pass Standard Grade Music, was published by Hodder Gibson. This award-winning book was the first of several Joe would write for the school music curriculum (see Writing for details).

1999-2010

At the end of 1998 Joe formed a guitar duet with Cameron Angus (also a former student of the RSAMD) and in January 1999 duo Cross Culture spent a year performing on the Canary island, Lanzarote. In addition to playing duets from the guitar repertoire, they wrote many of their own arrangements of popular songs and works by Albeniz, Granados,

Rodrigo and Jobim, some of which appear on their album, Crossing the Boundaries, which the duo recorded towards the end of their time in Lanzarote. In addition to Spanish, classical, Latin-American and popular music, this album includes Cross Culture’s own composition, Spanish Portrait. Click here for track information, a sample video and purchase details.

2018-Present

In September 2018 Joe became involved with the World Peace day concert in Marbella for which he composed the peace song, Shine On. Special guest performers at the concert were his friends Terry Oldfield and Soraya Saraswati.

It was here in 2019 that Joe organised the Irish leg of a European concert tour given by Terry Oldfield and his wife, Soraya. The couple performed in an intimate theatre in Charleville, County Cork; a venue that is the refurbished school once attended by Terry’s mum, Maureen. Appropriately titled Return to Celtic Roots, the concert also occurred in the year that Maureen Oldfield would have been 100 years old!

‘Return to Celtic Roots’ tour with Terry Oldfield and Soraya Saraswati in Cork, Ireland, October 2019.

Joe with Terry Oldfield outside the house in Cork where Terry’s mum, Maureen, had grown up in the 1920’s.

Joe with Terry Oldfield and Soraya prior to the ‘Return to Celtic Roots’ concert at the Schoolyard Theatre, Charleville, Co. Cork on 3rd October 2019.

In April 2020, in the early stages of the Covid 19 pandemic, Terry Oldfield asked Joe if he would co-write his memoirs with him. The project took about a year to complete, and in June 2022, Only Now, The Terry Oldfield Story was published. (see Writing for details).

To mark the book launch, Joe and Terry also composed a song together bearing the same title …

… and then celebrated the release of both with a Guinness in Cork City, Ireland.

For the next two years Joe held this post and another as part-time lecturer in music and computer graphics at Langside College, Glasgow, a job which allowed him to utilise his skills in both music and art & design to the maximum as he was now teaching diploma level students.

Joe with partner Sharon O’Riordan

Music Resource Books

Created in 2022-23 and published by jm-education via amazon KDP, Joe has released 21 music resource books to cater for musicians, composers, tutors and students of all abilities.

To mark his own mum’s 80th birthday, and acknowledge the Irish connection in his family, Joe composed a song titled I Gconai sa Bhaile (Always Home) around the same time.

The song speaks of the importance of home - whether that is most associated with a place, a person, or a deeper, more individual spiritual connection - and that, ultimately, all journeys eventually lead us home.