Duncan Lorien is a well-known recording artist, composer and educator, who spends his life helping others benefit from his research and discoveries to learn music quickly and easily. Born in 1954 in London, England, he studied classical piano from the age of 4 years, and was Deputy Head chorister at the Royal School of Church Music at Addington Palace in London for many years. Duncan started to read volume 1 of the Encyclopedia Brittanica when he was 6 years old and had finished volume 24 before his seventh year. He often reads 3 or 4 books each day and started to teach piano and singing at the age of just 8 years old to both children and adults.
By the end of his eighth year he was teaching an average of 35 students each week and, through word of mouth, that number increased to 165 students each week by the time he was 14. However, Duncan realized that teaching privately would never allow him to share his methodology with enough people to meet public demand and he was inspired to embark on his own research into the evolution of Western music and found out that any student attending a school in Ancient Greece would have been expected to play a minimum of 2 or 3 instruments as part of their education. Duncan became fascinated with how a subject that was originally considered so simple had introduced so many complexities. He studied French horn and cello in addition to piano and guitar, trained in opera, musical theatre and studied drama for many years.
At teacher training college he found the traditional approach to music far too serious and unnecessarily complex and began what was to become, eventually, 20 years of research into music, history, theology and education.
When asked, Duncan estimates he has studied approximately 19,000 books relating to his research on music and has read literally dozens of musical dictionaries from cover to cover as well as the curriculum from many music colleges. This depth of research was only possible because of his ability to read at a far greater speed than most people resulting in the release of The Understanding of Music Seminar™ in 1991 followed by The Understanding of Reading & Playing Music Seminar™ in 1995, which he designed to simplify the reading of Western musical notation. Duncan released The Understanding of Songwriting Seminar™ in 1998 for graduates of the Understanding of Music Seminar™ and, due to public demand for his unique singing techniques, in 2007 he created Understanding the Basics of Singing Seminar™ for anyone who was interested in understanding how to sing really well in a short amount of time.
Duncan has worked as a recording artist, songwriter and producer with BMG Publishing, EMI Records, Polygram, PRT Records, Chappell, Carlin, Intersong, Ocean Disque and ARC Records. His publishing and recording deals resulted in the successful albums with guitarist Martin Daley; “Architects of Time” and “Dreams of the Yes Men.” Both albums were play-listed on top radio stations and reached number one in the U.K. new age charts, charting regularly above albums by Enya, Yanni, Rick Wakeman, Tangerine Dream and Andy Summers of The Police. The first album “Architects of Time,” number one in 1989, was still in the top six new age charting albums in 1992, three years later! “Dreams of the Yes Men,” released in 1992, went to number one the first week of its release. Duncan writes and performs in many styles including rock, jazz, blues and classical. In March 2003 he released a rock instrumental album “One Life at a Time.”
Duncan has worked as a session musician with many famous artists but rarely names those people in interviews since he feels that “name-dropping” often overwhelms potential students, allowing them to think his methodology would be too advanced for them, which could not be further from the truth!
The Understanding of Music Company™ was founded in response to the demand for Duncan’s technology from thousands of people all over the world and for 30 years he averaged 130,000 miles each year to five continents bringing his simple, powerful system in seminars and workshops to Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States of America, Venezuela and Vietnam.
When the pandemic made international travel difficult and, in many cases impossible, Duncan spent 3 years developing online versions of all 4 seminars for audio-visual presentation creating thousands of slides, videos and diagrams, using an overhead camera for keyboard and close-up cameras for guitar. Since 2022 Duncan has delivered the LIVE online version of all his seminars in several different timezones with live translation into other languages so that people can now achieve their musical dreams from their own homes. Graduates state these LIVE online versions produce even better results than the original in-person seminars! Duncan explains that is because he now gets to interact personally with each attendee ensuring their maximum understanding and progress throughout the seminars. Duncan has also created lesson programs to follow each seminar ensuring an exponential increase of the abilities gained.
His revolutionary approach to playing, reading and composing has helped renowned rock, jazz and classical musicians, teachers and college instructors plus thousands of total beginners to reach new heights of creativity! Over 42,000 graduates of the Understanding of Music Seminars™ can confirm that Duncan is still passionate and enthusiastic about helping as many people as possible experience the joy and simplicity that he has found in music.
Music Samples
Album:
One Life at a Time
Drive it to the Edge:
Marblehead:
The American Dream:
Summer Daze:
Album:
Dreams of the Yes Man
Dreams of the Yes Man:
Album:
Architects of Time
Bermuda:
He has worked as a recording artist, songwriter and producer with BMG Publishing, EMI Records, Polygram, PRT Records, Chappell, Carlin, Intersong, Ocean Disque and ARC Records. His publishing and recording deals resulted in the successful albums with guitarist Martin Daley; "Architects of Time" and "Dreams of the Yes Men." Both albums were playlisted on top radio stations and reached number one in the U.K. new age charts, charting above albums by Enya, Yanni, Rick Wakeman, Tangerine Dream and Andy Summers of The Police. The first album "Architects of Time," number one in 1989, was still in the top six new age charting albums in 1992, three years later! "Dreams of the Yes Men," released in 1992, went to number one the first week of its release. Duncan writes and performs many musical styles including rock, jazz, blues and classical and in March 2003 released a new rock instrumental album "One Life at a time."
The Understanding of Music Company™ was founded in response to the demand for Duncan's technology from hundreds of people all over the world and he currently averages 150,000 miles each year traveling around the world to five continents to bring his simple and powerful system to as many people as possible.
His revolutionary approach to playing, reading and composing has helped renowned rock, jazz and classical musicians, college instructors and teachers plus hundreds of total beginners to reach new heights of creativity! Through the Understanding of Music Seminars, Duncan wants everyone to experience the joy and simplicity of music.
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