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 […]

Recently I’ve heard or coached a number of amateur pianists whose playing I haven’t heard for 18 months, or before All This started. I had been afraid that everyone’s playing would have fallen apart, but actually my impression was that lockdown has enhanced rather than degraded the skills of the people I’ve been listening to. […]

Update: if you’ve been trying to subscribe to my blog in the last day or two and have encountered problems, please note that the link is now working properly. I’ve just been writing to my subscribers to tell them that new blog posts, delivered to them by email, now look different because they come via […]

I’ve been watching the Euro 2020 football matches on TV – to the surprise of some of my friends. But I find that things are always interesting once you start to know a bit about them, and as there is so much coverage of the championship, it makes sense to take an interest. As I […]

At the weekend a bunch of us, all pianists, got together to be sociable and  listen to one another play some live music. One of us had realised that the layout of her house offered the opportunity for us to obey current rules while still enjoying some piano music. Her piano was near the French […]