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20
Sept
The former Pannel postie now playing piano professionally
A young postman has left his job delivering mail to pursue his love of piano playing.
Dan Williams used to work for Royal Mail, doing deliveries around Pannal and Burn Bridge as a student, but gave up the job once he graduated.
The 27-year-old is now working full time as a professional pianist and piano teacher, after training at Leeds Conservatoire.
Mr Williams said:
There were a few reasons for leaving my job at Royal Mail. It was a good job, but it’s changing nationwide, which is making the job harder. There’s more workload for no extra pay, they’re just trying to get more out of the workforce.
They don’t take into account the soul of the job, the community side, they’re just ticking off boxes – prioritising parcels as it makes more money than letters. From what I hear from old colleagues there are mountains of mail sitting around.
I don’t blame the managers, they want their bonuses and are under pressure from people at the top. But it’s run by a bunch of idiots who don’t know how the job works.
The pay wasn’t good, and I thought if I’m going to struggle I might as well struggle doing something I love.
He enjoys playing jazz and popular music.
Mr Williams also shared his frustration that newer starters get a lower hourly wage than those that have been in the job a few years, due to new contracts.
The pianist now spends his days offering music lessons at Yorkshire Music School, and is this week due to start at The Music Bank in Knaresborough.
Having studied jazz, Mr Williams uses less traditional teaching methods with children, ensuring they grow a love of the piano as well as develop transferrable skills.
He said:
It’s more than just doing grades and playing from muscle memory, you need the knowledge else children won’t retain it. I try not to overcomplicate things – you can’t take the life out of it.
As well as teaching, Mr Williams is hoping to do some more playing for the public, including at weddings and locations around the area.
He said:
I play on Christmas Day and New Year's Day at the Hilton Majestic. I probably play for around five and a half hours on Christmas Day and four and a half on New Year's Day, in the Carter Lounge. It’s lovely.
It would be nice to get more frequent jobs like these. I’ve contacted Bettys to see if I could work with them, but it’s all about getting your foot in the door. We’ll see.
For now, Mr Williams is just happy to be doing something he loves – and sleeping better.
He is looking to get more one-to-one private lessons booked in, and is especially appealing to people in the Harrogate area – both adults and children – who want to learn to play in personalised lessons.
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