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Jamie O'Neill - Drums, Guitar

Jamie is the owner and director of Galway Music Academy.

He is a Drummer, Guitarist and Mandolin player with over 25 years live performance experience in Australia and Ireland. He has been teaching music for 11 years both privately and in music schools in Australia and Ireland. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from La Trobe University in Melbourne and was awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship to undertake PhD research in Anthropology in Ireland in 2007.  Since arriving in Galway he has established himself as a professional music teacher and in-demand drummer while continuing his PhD research on ‘Local Music-making and Well Being in Ireland’ on a part-time basis.

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INSTRUMENTS: Drums, Guitar, Mandolin

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PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE: Jamie has performed extensively in Ireland since arriving in 2007, including appearances on The Late Late Show and The View, numerous Radio slots on Today FM, RTE, Phantom  and Galway Bay FM. He has played a number of large festivals with various bands, including Electric Picnic 2009-2016, Volvo Ocean Race, Sligo Live and Body and Soul.

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TEACHING EXPERIENCE: 2005 - current. Jamie has been teaching beginners to intermediate guitar since 2005, when he began giving lessons at Pleasant Street Primary School in Ballarat, Victoria. In 2008 he began teaching drums and guitar in Ireland at Cloughanover Music School near Headford, Co. Galway. The school is renowned for it's highly successful school concerts, which have helped to develop the flourishing music culture in the Headford area. In 2012 Jamie finished teaching at Cloughanover to open Galway Rehearsal Studios, which he still owns and manages.  

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As a postgraduate music researcher and director of Galway Music Academy, Jamie believes passionately that a life lived musically can be a happy and fulfilling one.  He is interested in and motivated by the universal presence of music in all human cultures, and his ambition is that Galway Music Academy will continue on to nurture the skills of our many talented and dedicated students for generations to come.      

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