Have you noticed before how much music is used in films, television programs and adverts? If you were to mute the sound and watch these things with only subtitles you’d have a very different experience. Scary films aren’t so scary without the tense music that accompany them, and romance scenes aren’t as tender without the mushy orchestra sounds in the background. That’s because…

Many students ask me why scales are so important. It’s always hard to know where to begin when I answer because there are SO many reasons why scales should be your best friend!

Some of the best performers in the world have dedicated thousands of hours of practice working on scales alone. So why are scales so good for us? Let’s do a quick…

A few weeks back, we looked at female composers, reflecting on how music history, like most histories, is dominated by male figures. We discussed the compositions of pianist and composer Clara Schumann, who stepped back from her musical career to champion her husband’s work (the composer Robert Schumann).

Have you ever heard of the phrase “behind every great man is a great woman”? The…

We can all be guilty of procrastinating and wasting time. We might doodle, spend too much time on our phones or iPads, or watch television. But how does a genius procrastinate? They compose a funny piece of course!

When the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns was supposed to be working on his very serious third symphony, he took a break to compose Carnival of the…

Have you ever wondered what makes a piece distinctively Russian? Or distinctively Spanish, or Hungarian, or American?

Up until the 19th century Western Classical music had largely been dictated by musical standards set in German, French and Italian traditions.

However, in the mid-late 1800s, there was a nationalist movement in music across Europe and Russia, and composers began to look closer to home for musical…

A few weeks ago, we heard Rosie play Bach’s Prelude in C major. Did you know that this is the first of a collection of 48 pieces called The Well-Tempered Clavier?

The Well-Tempered Clavier is a collection of two sets of preludes and fugues written in all 24 major and minor keys, giving us a total of 48 pieces. It is…

Dear Students,

As well as being a solo instrument, the piano can also be an accompanying instrument. There is a lot of music written for solo instruments (such as flute, violin, cello etc.) and solo voice with piano accompaniment.

Piano accompaniment is very different from solo playing, requiring a lot of skills.

In order to be an effective accompanist we must be able to:

• Listen well and…