Alan has been studying and performing Indian classical music for over fifty years.  Having commenced his career as classical guitarist and frustrated at that time by the constraints of repertoire, he travelled to India to learn Hindustani music & its sophisticated system of improvisation, with the specific intent of enriching his own compositions. In 1968 he attended the Maihar College where he had talim on sitar and sarod from Ustad Allaudin Khan, (father of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and teacher of Pandit Ravi Shankar). Here too Alan imbibed the rudiments of vocal technique and percussion .

In Allauddin Khan's final years Alan moved to Bengal where he studied daily with Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra, the eminent sarod maestro of the Shajahanpur Rampur Gharana. Maitra's incisive, logical and generous approach to teaching was refreshing and a potent influence on Alan's learning.  After Maitra's death Alan received musical guidance from many eminent Indian musicians, including Kashinath Mukerjee, Bimal Mukerjee, Prabud Chatterjee, VG Jog and most recently, Pandit Arvind Parikh's unfettered sharing of the Etwar Gharana of Ustads Imdad Khan, Enayat Khan and Vilayat Khan. Each of these influences have given Alan a rich foundation on which to build his own evolving style.

Over the years Alan has enjoyed considerable success as composer for documentary film and dance, including commissions from Australian Dance Theatre, Sydney Dance Company, Australian Moving Society, Ballet Rambert (UK), Nederlands Dans Theatre and Den Norske Opera. A number of his compositions and works have been performed in the UK, Europe and USA. Each of these compositions reflect elements of North Indian classical music.

 Alan has devoted much time and energy to active dissemination of Indian classical music via an extensive program of teaching and performance. He has lectured in Indian music at universities in all states of Australia as well as teaching Ethno-Musicology and Twentieth Century Composition at the University of New England.  He has also written and presented an ABC Radio National series on Indian Classical Music.

Over his lifetime Alan has performed extensively in India, including performances in Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kerala, Baroda, Pune and Delhi. He presented his personal insights into teaching Indian music to westerners at the International Ethno-musicological conference ‘Indian Music & The West’  in Mumbai.   He has experimented widely with musicians from various genres, including western classical and jazz with specific collaborations with guitar, bass, oboe, cor anglais, saxophone, French harpsichord, Japanese koto, shakuhachi and Middle eastern oud and kanun. In recent years Alan has been a regular and generous contributor to a number of Indian community events and festivals , including Indian music and dance fusion performances.  He continues to study, to teach, to perform, to compose and to paint and still likes to  regularly journey to the subcontinent  !