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...
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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...
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...
In the Mozart exhibition in Salzburg I learned some new things about his sister, Nannerl. I knew that Nannerl played the piano too - partly because there's a famous painting of the two of them side by side at the piano, playing duets - but I hadn't realised that when...
I've just been to Salzburg to play a concert in the Mozarteum with the Gaudier Ensemble. Leaving London in spring weather, it was startling to find ourselves walking through the Mirabell Gardens a few hours later in heavy snow. How strange travel is! One minute you're...
Went to a jazz gig performed by a group called ‘Way Out West', a collective of about twenty jazz musicians who live in this part of London. Seven of them were there on the night, plus two singers out of the three who were advertised. They explained that ‘Way Out West'...
I went to the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House recently to hear a double bill of contemporary operas. Looking around the audience of several hundred, it struck me that I didn't recognise a single person, even though I've been going to concerts and playing...
Every year I feel I have to update my wardrobe of concert clothes, which is a pain because each season I have less and less of a clear idea of how I should look. But what I wear has always been noticed by people in the audience, who comment on it enough to make me...
Welcome to my blog. I thought I wanted a static website, but my website designer had other ideas. As I'm old enough to be his mother I tried to tell him not to be silly, but somehow I found myself agreeing to try a blog. I hope to give an insight into the world of a...