One of the most depressing sights of lockdown in Edinburgh – for me, anyway – was the sight of the Usher Hall being turned into a Covid test centre. I know that test centres are important. But it seemed a sad change of fortune for the first big concert hall I got to know. In […]

This week I did an interview about my book ‘The Piano’ with Andrew Ford, the knowledgeable host of ABC’s long-running ‘Music Show‘ in Australia. He has woven in archive clips of other pianists talking or playing favourite music, so it has become an pleasing mosaic of views on the piano’s wonderful repertoire. The whole thing […]

Last week I was thinking of writing a blog post about knitting. What is the connection between knitting and pianism, you may ask? Well, I had been reading about the 19th-century pianist Clara Schumann, who continued to tour and earn money for the family after her composer husband Robert had died. At that time it […]

This morning I heard a report about scientists who have made a list of recommendations for touring musicians to cut back on carbon emissions. Amongst other things it recommended that musicians should use instruments or equipment ‘held by the venue’. Good luck with that, symphony orchestras! When I had finished laughing at the phrase ‘artists […]

My readers will know that I hate people coughing in concerts. I don’t mean the sudden cough that the person can’t help and does their best to stifle – I mean the self-indulgent barking cough which rings out across the hall and seems to be targeted at specially quiet moments in the music. When you’re […]