Which is the front of a church? At the weekend we had a disagreement about it. We were talking about somewhere we’d been on holiday. I referred to a certain road as ‘the one that goes past the back of the church’. Bob’s response puzzled me. From his description, he was clearly visualising the road [...]

The snow is causing all sorts of disruption. On Friday I went into town to meet someone who didn’t arrive because his flight from Austria was cancelled. On Saturday morning, I was supposed to be coaching a young German group, but their violinist was stuck in Germany because of the snow. They kept me informed [...]

Yesterday I heard on the news that a Liverpool University study had shown the power of literature to boost brain activity. ‘Classic texts’ such as Shakespeare and Wordsworth appear to catch the reader’s attention more than ordinary texts, triggering heightened awareness and periods of self-reflection which last longer than the moment of reading. I particularly [...]

Melvyn Bragg’s excellent Radio 4 Series on ‘culture’ has been a thought-provoking companion every morning this week. Various guests on the programme, talking about ‘high art’, have commented that older forms of music have been overtaken and overshadowed by the vast popularity of pop. While some speakers have advised that the treasury of classical music [...]

I always rather dread this time of year, when cold weather makes my hands feel stiff. Before sitting down to play the piano, I often have to run a basin of warm water and stand with my hands in the water for a few minutes. My piano stands next to an unused fireplace. No matter [...]