Alan plays acoustic guitars on A Certain Loss, and he arranged strings and flute, and played piano on The Wishing Tree
Alan is a Haddington lad and, after leaving Knox Academy, studied Music at the then Napier College and Huddersfield Polytechnic. Both are now universities though this is more coincidence than evidence of some kind of academic Midas touch.
Following these five joyous years of study, Alan taught for 36 years in East Lothian and Midlothian.
During those years, other musical pursuits included agency work, a dance band, a guitar quartet, weddings, working men’s clubs, (that’s me cancelled…) and library music studio work with Ian Anderson in North Berwick.
Gratitude is everything and Alan would like to thank:
Guitar teachers – Bob Hounslow, Phillip Thorne, Roger Quin and David Taplin;
Music teachers – George Robertson and Fergus Malcolm
College lecturers – especially Anna and Neil Butterworth, Philip Sawyer, Margaret Murray McLeod, Brian Rudder, Peter Claire, Ron Newton and Richard Steinitz.
Since retiring in 2018 Alan has graduated in Arabic from Al-Maktoum College.
