I have got so used to everything being online-only that I was very surprised when an Actual Thing turned up in the post to commemorate the Presto Music Award 2021 for my book The Piano. It’s a nice little sculpture of the blue Presto Music ‘arrows’ logo. I knew about the award before Christmas, I […]

The Financial Times has been publishing its ‘Books of 2021’, category by category across recent days, and now they have arrived at Classical Music. I’m proud to see that my piano book is one of their Books of 2021. This is the link, but unless you’re a subscriber it seems to lead only to a […]

The autumn season of Strictly Come Dancing is under way and this year the judges seem inclined to give us a bit more insight into what they are looking for. I have enjoyed learning more about posture, weight, inside edges, head position, arm extensions, ‘spotting’ ( a technique to stop yourself getting giddy when spinning), […]

I’m playing through the whole volume of Mozart sonatas again. The other day I came to the B flat Sonata K333. This has difficult associations for me because I learned it for one of those endless exams one always seems to be taking in teenage years – I can’t now remember if it was for […]

A friend of mine has been musing on this question: How many other professionals are subjected to continual public assessment the way musicians are? For a long time, musicians have put up with being publicly reviewed because good reviews can bring them quickly to the attention of ‘movers and shakers’ around the world. At least, […]