I was doing some teaching at Oxford University the other day, and we were discussing the challenges of making a good entrance on to the concert platform when giving a recital as part of your exams. I was discoursing on the need for calm or confidence, and trying to recommend various thoughts and mind-games that […]

Here I am talking with a talented young pianist at the very enjoyable masterclass I gave at Bowdoin College in Maine a few days ago. It was enjoyable partly because of the students and partly because of the audience, which included some townsfolk not used to coming to such events. One of them said to […]

Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground, who died this week, famously said (tongue in cheek, I suppose) that when you’re composing a song, ‘one chord is fine, two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you’re into jazz’. I had that quote in my mind last night as I listened to the concert marking the […]

I’m off to Cerne Abbas in Dorset for another of the lovely chamber music festivals run very successfully each year by the Gaudier Ensemble. Concerts are on 8-11 August inclusive. As far as I know, most concerts are sold out, but if you live nearby it’s always worth asking, as there are sometimes ‘returns’. Last […]

I’m coming towards the end of my week in Fiesole, a week of baking heat during which I have realised that much of the music we’ve been studying must have been written in a cooler climate. In this kind of intense heat we can hardly face playing, or even hearing, some of the more energetic […]