Copyright © Joe McGowan 2020
Original photographs Copyright © Joe McGowan 2019
It was not until 2000, on his return to the UK, that Joe turned to writing more seriously. He wrote a number of articles (some on alternative learning methods) for various magazines including the Readers' Digest, and also began experimenting with short stories. In 2001 his supernatural tale, ‘A Day to Remember’, was published by New Fiction in a book of collected short stories titled Serendipity. Inspired by this, Joe continued writing in the short story and poetry genres and in the years that followed had more stories and a few poems published in other collections; these include ‘Castle by Candlelight’, ‘Sacrifice’ and ‘The Witches’.
Joe began writing professionally in 1991 when he was asked to become a reviewer for Classical Guitar magazine at the invitation of the late Chris Kilvington, the magazine's reviews editor at the time.
He held this position until 1999 when he went to work in Lanzarote where he taught music and performed in the guitar duo Cross Culture.
On his return to the UK the following year, Joe began to take his writing a bit more seriously and produced a number of education-
Testimonials for ‘How to Pass Standard Grade Music’
The Times Education Supplement (TES) Scotland and Saltire Society Academic Book of the Year Award, 2005
This award was given to the author and publisher of the academic book deemed most original or noteworthy by the panel of judges who included education professionals.
Two separate reviews of ‘How to Pass Standard Grade Music‘ were printed in the Times Education Supplement in 2005 where the book's value as a music resource is acknowledged.
‘At last music students have a Standard Grade textbook giving detailed knowledge of the exam requirements, with some great music excerpts on the accompanying CD.’
The book is praised for being '...a valuable resource that could be used independently of teachers' and '...a lively interactive experience.'
'... Here is [a book] that is taking it all the way to being used independently and has audio material to bring it to life.'
The suitability of the text for students working on their own is also noted:
‘…ideal as part of an individualised study plan or for home revision.’
And the reviewer's summation was justified by the book's popularity, reflected in sales throughout the duration of the Standard Grade exams:
'...an excellent extra resource for anyone studying Standard Grade music.'
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Around the same period -
The result was ‘Get Motivated’, a book in eight chapters covering topics including Study and Exam Revision Techniques, Health & Fitness, Accepting Others and Occupation Choices.
The book attracted the attention of an educational publisher who suggested that if a similar text could be written to accommodate the school PSHE curriculum it would make an attractive publishing project for them.
'Castle by Candlelight'
from Pathway to the Unknown
'Sacrifice'
from Beyond the Staircase
'The Witches'
from Just for Kids
Joe obliged with a new book, ‘Personal Solutions for Everyone’, but, unhappy with certain contractual aspects, he decided to solicit the book to some other publishers. Among these, crucially, was Hodder Gibson (an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton) who, whilst having no requirement for a PSHE book at the time, were sufficiently impressed by Joe's book and qualifications to invite him to write a proposal for the music component of a new series of books they would be producing for the Scottish Standard Grade and Higher courses.
The proposal was accepted, and work began on ‘How to Pass Standard Grade Music’.
The success of ‘How to Pass Standard Grade Music’ led to two subsequent book commissions from Hodder Gibson for the Higher Music qualification: ‘How to Pass Higher Music’ (2006) and ‘How to Pass High Music Listening’ (2008).
This was a fortuitous turn of events for both author and publisher since, although the two previous books had to be set aside for the time being, ‘How to Pass Standard Grade Music’ would become a top-
These books represent a considerable creative undertaking as Joe not only wrote their content but also composed original music for some of the exercises and composing workshops, in addition to compiling the 60 minute CDs which accompany each book. He even had some input in the graphic content of every book!
To cater for the changes to the music curriculum that were introduced in 2011, Joe was commissioned to write a new textbook, ‘How to Pass National 5 Music’, followed later by a second edition of this title in 2018.
‘The jm-
Collectively, Joe’s music books cover all the requirements for both the National 5 and Higher courses in the Scottish secondary school music curriculum.
The jm-
2020 jm-
'A Day to Remember'
from Serendipity
Only Now: The Terry Oldfield Story. Memoirs of a Musician, Fisherman and Free-
Only Now, The Terry Oldfield Story is a multi-
Along the way we are treated to previously undisclosed material about the Oldfield family and the birth of Tubular Bells from an entirely new and intimate perspective, as well as anecdotes around Terry’s friendship with Richard Branson, Leonard Cohen, David Attenborough and Bernard Cribbins.
As he relives the memories, we join the middle sibling of the famous Oldfield trio on the world travel and deep spiritual enquiry of his twenties, experiencing the bliss of living simply on a beach in Bhali as well as the tension of spending the night on a dark railway platform at the outbreak of the India-
Only Now: The Terry Oldfield Story
2022 Lemniscate
ASIN: B0B2LV6B46
ASIN: B0B2HWMK33
ASIN: B0B2HYL5W4
Music Resource Books
Music Manuscript Paper Books with Treble and Bass Clefs (6 or 10 staves per page
Music Manuscript Paper Books
(6, 10, 12 or 14 staves per page)
Music Tab Paper Books for 4, 5 and 6-
Music Staff & Tab Paper Books for 4, 5 and 6-
Chord Box & Fretboard Grid Books for 4, 5 and 6-
Published by jm-
Tenacity, courage and teaching himself to play the flute will see Terry finally achieve his ambition of becoming a successful composer, writing scores for nearly a hundred film and TV productions, including the BAFTA nominated Kingdom of the Ice Bear and EMMY nominated Land of the Tiger and Twilight of the Dreamtime.
Further dramatic events along the way – including a stress-
‘Just finished your book, all of it -
— Sir Richard Branson
In April 2020, when most of the world was in the first of two extended lockdowns in response to the Covid 19 pandemic, Terry Oldfield asked Joe if he would co-