Jamie Briton : Associate Artist
Jamie Briton was born in Sydney on the 6th of September 1957. From 1964 until 1975, he attended Knox Grammar School. He did not study music at secondary level, as the subject had been axed as an elective.
Briton was drawn to drums and drumming from a very early age, yet did not take up playing until the relatively late age of eighteen. From 1976 until 1979 he was, narrowly in hindsight, dedicated to improvisational playing. Memories of reading music persisted due to early recorder lessons and a later period in his school's brass band.
In 1979, having dropped out of university to pursue a career/life in music, he undertook percussion studies under Jack Purdon at the NSW State Conservatorium. Here he remained until 1984, absorbing all of the diverse available influences.
Briton commenced composing in 1981. It was then a medium for self-expression, usually derived from improvisation. It was also a means to understand the juxtaposition of the myriad concepts with which he was being bombarded. To a degree, the same premise persists.
In 1982, Briton relocated to the Blue Mountains where he still resides. In the period up to the present day, he has been involved with most aspects of musical life - as a drummer, percussionist, composer, amateur conductor, community bandsman, jazz and rock musician, recitalist and orchestral player. All of these aspects inform his compositional credo, particularly with regard to unifying seemingly tangential concepts in order to create something unique.
Briton has been working as a percussion teacher, privately and in the school system, since 1987. He is currently percussion tutor at Mitchell Conservatorium, Bathurst N.S.W. He has directed student ensembles in workshops and performances of his music. His teaching Diaspora has extended to the Western Plains of NSW (Dubbo to Bourke) through his work with the Far Western Bands Association.
Briton writes "I'm a drummer. Intangible qualities in music, synaesthetically experienced, make its magic. I love to observe how seemingly tangential ideas intersect, to create something unique".
Biography provided by the composer — current to August 2006