It’s always pleasing to meet people who play the piano as adults (I am of course referring to amateur pianists as opposed to professionals who play for a living). Some have played all their life; some return to the piano

Most of us tend to focus on the things that didn’t go so well in a performance – the misplaced notes, the smudged runs, the memory slips. Analysing why these things happened and exploring solutions to problems or finding ways

Every year, around the time of the start of the BBC Proms, that wonderful 2-month long festival of music, the thorny issue of when to applaud rears its head. In fact, the debate over the appropriateness of applause is ongoing,

It’s one of the great romantic images, isn’t it? The solo performer, alone on an empty stage, faced with that huge black beast of a full-size concert grand piano, armed with nothing but his or her memory and willing, well-trained

Think of a series of riffs on an idea, in a variety of styles, moods, rhythm and tempi, and you have the basic framework for a Theme and Variations. As the initial theme is presented in a different way, so

As musicians we can and should call upon our imaginations to enable us to create the myriad sounds we desire from our instrument, and to communicate the story or image of the music to the audience. The first teacher I

As a concertgoer in Hong Kong and avid listener of contemporary music, I am sometimes disappointed with the programmes of orchestras in Hong Kong. Mahler, Strauss, Wagner… These names, which are part of the so-called “core repertoire” of orchestras, can

One of the secondary pleasures of going to live music in concert is “audience watching”. Different artists and repertoire attract different audiences, and I love observing audience behaviour before, during and after a concert. The ritual of concert going and