He studied 1971–75 at the Royal Academy of Music, London, under Clarence Myerscough for violin and Winifred Copperwheat for viola.
[2] During his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, his viola teacher Winifred Copperwheat made him aware of problems with the published editions of the six suites for unaccompanied cello commonly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach.
[1] After research of his own, Jarvis has controversially postulated, using handwriting analysis heuristics, that the suites were composed by Bach's wife Anna Magdalena.
[4][5] Other academics such as Stephen Rose have responded that, while Anna Magdalena may have contributed to the labours on his manuscripts, "there is not enough evidence to show that she single-handedly composed the Cello Suites.
"[5] Jarvis was awarded a PhD from Charles Darwin University based on his research,[6] and presented his findings at an October 2008 meeting of the International Symposium on the Forensic Sciences in Melbourne.