Michael Maxwell Steer is a composer and originator of a method of teaching music using coloured notes.
Head of 20th Century Studies at the Junior Royal College of Music until 1991, Michael Maxwell Steer is a successful composer with many tv scores to his credit. He had also held posts as a BBCr3 Producer and London Head of Music for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
When he moved to Wiltshire he devised a way of giving young musicians a first-hand experience of music, without the restrictions imposed by exams. He encouraged pupils to compose their tunes, and to bring music they themselves wanted to learn. With these as a basis he evolved with a sequence of pieces that worked to enthuse children and accelerate their progress. Then in 2001 the computer music programme Logic introduced coloured note heads. He colour coded his teaching of music to help a dyslexic pupil, and this resulted in an immediate doubling of his development. Recent experience with teaching a Downs pupil has shown that ColourMuse works just as well for learning-disability groups as regular beginners.
Maxwell is acting director of Cherubim Music Trust which provides the loan of high quality instruments to young musicians who would not otherwise be able to afford them. He also organises Nadder Music Café in Tisbury, Wiltshire, where he lives.