Introducing Our YouTube Video Channel
Over the past few months we’ve been making a number of our videos from the Online Academy available on our YouTube channel. This channel now features a growing collection of…
Senza Pedale
I wonder how many of you have embarked on Dry January, perhaps as a New Year's resolution? The idea is that by abstaining from alcohol for a month you reset…
Pedalling Problems and Possibilities
I often find I have quibbles with pedal markings printed in the score. Chief among them is that these markings do not - nor can they ever expect to -…
Look, No Feet!
People think in terms of pianists' fingers - not their feet - but a direct line of communication from our ear to our right foot is an absolute necessity and…
John Broadwood and the Evolution of the Piano
When I was a student I was ignorant about early pianos, dismissing the sound as honky-tonk. This was until I attended lectures by my harpsichord teacher-to-be, Ruth Dyson, who opened…
The Dance of the Dampers
The subtleties of the right pedal are extremely hard to pin down. I can show a student what I am doing with my hands, fingers and arm to produce a…
On Touch (Part Two)
My second article on touch has just been published by Pianist Magazine. When I was first commissioned to write a series of three articles on touch, dealing with legato and staccato in the…
The Fantasie-Impromptu: Some Ideas (Part Three)
Further to my first two posts, a reader has written in asking how to avoid the problem of fatigue in the RH in the forte passages from bar 13, and at the…
On Touch (Part One)
I was recently asked by Pianist Magazine to write a series of three articles on touch, which turned out to be more challenging than I had anticipated. The second article…
Practising on Tour
I have been away for the past three weeks on a concert and teaching tour of Singapore and Australia, the focus of my work there was three performances of Bach's…