NEWS & EVENTS
This page includes both forthcoming and past events, as well as recent interviews. It also provides information about publications, compositions, and workshops. You will find details on adjudicating, presentations, reviews, as well as holiday and celebratory posts.
International Women’s Day 2019: The Pianist as Composer
To celebrate International Women’s Day, I want to share this lovely performance of one of my piano pieces, recorded by American pianist and writer Rhonda Rizzo. Rhonda lives in Wisconsin. She has made several CD recordings, and has just written and published her first novel, The Waco Variations. She chose to record Inflections which is…
Five New Year Tips to Seriously Improve Your Piano Playing in 2019
Happy New Year! It’s January 1st 2019 and I hope you have all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s Eve. At the start of any new year, we make resolutions, create new goals, or perhaps re-evaluate or reflect on existing goals. It’s the perfect time to revisit our hobbies, or investigate new ones. Many…
Happy Holidays
As another year draws to a close, I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog and, if you are a piano student or teacher, have found it beneficial and of interest. Here are my top six blog posts of the year – several are perennially popular and have appeared on my Christmas ‘favourites’ list many…
Finchcocks: A Piano Course with a Difference
Last Friday evening I disembarked from my train at Paddock Wood station in Kent (UK), and enjoyed a meandering car journey through what appeared to be a never-ending warren of country lanes. Eventually, we turned on to a long, narrow private road, which peregrinated around various fields before revealing, in the distance, a large, palatial…
No Words Necessary: 12 Piano Pieces
No Words Necessary marks my debut as a Schott Music composer and it consists of a selection of twelve piano pieces for intermediate level, or for students of approximately Grades 3 – 7 standard of the ABRSM, Trinity College London, or London College of Music exams. I wrote the pieces earlier this year during my…
Piano teaching in Asia 2018
I have just returned from another enjoyable and successful book tour. This tour was the busiest yet with visits to four countries and multiple cities; Singapore, Malaysia (Melaka and Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta and Surabaya), and Hong Kong. On this trip I was fortunate to have company: I gave teaching workshops alongside colleagues Samantha Ward,…
A Far Eastern Book Tour
Book tours are fun. They could be referred to as the ‘pinnacle’ of the whole writing journey. By this time, the books are safely published. The writer can now speak about the process through those rose-tinted glasses. This week I leave for my third book tour over the past year, retracing my steps in the…
PIANO WEEK: What happens on a piano course?
Piano courses are becoming increasingly popular and it’s not hard to see why. They afford students the opportunity to meet like-minded new friends, enjoy excellent tuition, fine food, and a mini ‘holiday’. If the course happens to be situated in a beautiful place, so much the better. For the last two weeks I have been…
New Piano Courses at Finchcocks
I’m very fortunate to love my work and one particularly enjoyable aspect is the opportunity to direct piano courses and workshops. I’m writing this post whilst relaxing in my accommodation in Shropshire. It’s just a few miles from the Welsh border where I’m working for two weeks at PIANO WEEK. It’s an international piano festival…
Jackdaws Piano Course 2019
The Jackdaws Music Educational Trust instrumental and vocal courses are open for booking today. The 2018/19 programme offers more variety than ever, so there is sure to be something for everyone. The course venue, an attractive house in Somerset, near Frome, contains excellent facilities, including a Steinway Model B piano, and several practice rooms. If you…
A Tippett Study Day at the City Literary Institute
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Sir Michael Tippett’s death (1905 – 1998). The British composer’s life spans almost the entire Twentieth century. His music was often ranked alongside that of Sir Benjamin Britten. The pair were considered the leading British composers of the day and of the Twentieth century. Tippett’s talent developed slowly….
Playing to Your Strengths
I haven’t written many guest posts over the past six years, which is the length of time that I have been running this blog. There’s no particular reason for this, but when the renowned writer, author, journalist, and presenter, Jessica Duchen, kindly invited me to pen a post for her excellent blog, it was an…