Sam Girling

Sam Girling has taught theory and musicianship with the PNJA since the beginning of 2016. Originally from the United Kingdom, Sam studied percussion and timpani at the Trinity College of Music, London, and then completed his Masters degree at Royal Holloway University of London. In early 2014 he moved to New Zealand to start a PhD at the University of Auckland under the supervision of Allan Badley, researching unconventional uses of percussion in the late eighteenth century.

He has lectured on a variety of music theory and history topics at the University of Auckland and is currently working on a postdoctoral project with Nancy November that looks at string quartets by lesser-known composers that were contemporaries of Beethoven. Sam regularly gives pre-concert talks for the Auckland Philharmonia and also recently gave a guest lecture on Alpine folk instruments in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Sam also teaches percussion and drum kit at Sacred Heart School and Kohimarama School. As a percussionist he has played with the Auckland Philharmonia, the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, the orchestra of the English National Ballet and at the Orkney Folk Festival in Scotland.