Helen is a well established and respected Bristol, U.K. based musician. She is a highly skilled pianist, a 'keys' and synth player, a composer, a singer-songwriter, an orchestrator/arranger, a musical director/producer and a music educator.

She juggles a busy schedule of freelance composing, rehearsing, performing and recording for a variety of professional musical projects and a number of successful film music publishers.

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Helen is a core band member of international heavy weight rockers Crippled Black Phoenix, with whom she regularly writes, records and tours across the U.K. and Europe with. She is the singer-songwriter and musical director/producer behind the cinematic folk project The Sounds Of Ursa, keyboardist and backing singer for Bristol based pop-noir act The Emily Breeze band, one quarter of the legendary 60's instrumental surf rock band The Rumble-Os! and lead vocalist and synthress for psychedelic prog-meisters Asteroid Deluxe. 

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Past acts have included song-writing, recording and fronting Bristol psych-art trip-hoppers Pressplay, playing vintage keys for jazz duo Cafè Elektric, trumpet for latin funkers Mofunk, writing and recording keys, trumpet and backing vocals for folk artist Martin Callingham and many more guest performances and sessions including for The Moonflowers, Goan Dogs, Episonic and Shōun Shōun.

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​Helen has a passionate involvment with community music projects as well as professional ones and has sung and arranged for a Bristol community choir Angel's Banned and performed with Bristol and Paris based community project The Greatness of the Magificance Fantasy Orchestra, who have many prestigious shows a year.

 

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Helen is a professional composer, arranger and producer. She has contracts and regular commissions with Pusher LLP, EMI, Sony Music, Juice Music and Basement 74 working within the film and TV industry. She has scored and arranged a variety of works for small to large musical groups, ensembles, string and brass sections and full choir. Helen is always busy arranging and scoring personal projects.

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Helen has a large extensively equipped rehearsal and recording studio at Mivart Artists Studios in Easton, Bristol in partnership with

recording and mixing engineer Tom Wilding http://www.wildingsounds.co.uk  and also has a modestly equipped home studio including her Steinway baby grand piano, her Wurlitzer electric piano, a collection of professional microphones and preamps. Helen also has a wealth of experience composing, recording audio and producing using Pro-Tools and Logic

Helen has among many other instruments and equipment a Nord Grand stage piano, a Nord Electro 6D, her rare analogue synth - Octave Plateau Kitten II, a Korg Minilogue XD, Yamaha DB12 speakers and a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp for live performances.

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Helen has been a professional music educator and piano teacher for over 20 years. She holds various music college teaching posts including BIMM Institute and is passionate about her private piano teaching practice for all ages and abilities. https://www.bristol-piano-lessons.co.uk.

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Helen began playing the piano at the age of 5, taking formal lessons aged 8. After working up the 8 grades of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) classical performance exams as a pupil of Sylvia Bowden LRAM, she went on to study music; first at higher education, completing the Pre-Professional Music Course (2 A level qualifications) as a pupil of the late Mark Ray (where she also completed the 8 grades of the ABRSM theoretical exams and grade 8 on the french horn) then at degree-level at Dartington College of Arts, where she majored in composition as a student of Frank Denyer and was awarded a BA Mus in composition. She was also awarded the Certificate of Teaching by the ABRSM in 2008. Now after a long break from formal tuition Helen has returned to study for a DipABRSM

on the piano as a student of Helen Reid's at Bristol University.

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