• Keyboard Breakdown: LCMF 2013

    Just as I never expected to see a bicycle whizz past me at the Wigmore Hall at the recent Woodwose community opera (Kerry Andrew) I was equally surprised to see a harpsichord in a car park in Peckham. The London Contemporary Music Festival was something I only caught the end of really, attending only the…

  • Woodwose: Wigmore’s first opera

    I never thought I’d see a bicycle whizz by me in the Wigmore Hall but it immediately captured the scene for the opening of Woodwose; the first ever community opera at Wigmore Hall. What makes the project so exciting for me is that the community of 120 local children and adults – joined by the…

  • Opera “too difficult”?

    I read Susan Elkin’s piece for The Independent, ‘Why are educationists so afraid of cultural excellence?’ with much nodding of my head. I am particularly passionate about promoting living artists in my teaching – right from Year 4 upwards – and also ensuring pupils are engaging with as much music as they can, from a…

  • Developing listening

    I love working with other music teachers on INSET courses, and I had a particularly enjoyable day leading a course for a group of passionate teachers on Monday. Much of my course looks at approaches to starting compositions and the afternoon focused on perception skills. I had such a thought-provoking time in Berlin while on…

  • National Curriculum Draft

    It’s always exciting to read yet another education document, and the publication of the draft National Curriculum is rather hefty at over two hundred pages. Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and…

  • Ignite inspires at Wigmore Hall

    I’m all for collaborative composition; new music works best when it is a partnership between performer and composer that allows both parties to communicate confidently and faithfully. Ignite gave a short but compelling recital as part of Wigmore Hall’s Aperitif Series on Tuesday 4 June 2013 that demonstrated how successful this collaborative work can be.…

  • 50 Years of Minimalism @ Kings Place

    – already published on I Care if You Listen(.com) at http://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2011/11/50-years-of-minimalism-rock-n-rollers-kings-place-london/ – I felt fortunate to attend the final concert that formed part of a short series at Kings Place, London, called ’5o Years of Minimalism’. Igor Toronyi-Lalic curated the series and from what I saw and heard at the concert this was clearly something…

  • Forward and Up: The Alexander Technique

    Catching up with the various social media feeds recently I noticed Pedro de Alcantara had posted with pride a photo of the new edition of his Indirect Procedures. I first encountered the book as a student when I discover the technique through lessons offered at my students’ union. To say the technique had a massive…

  • London Sinfonietta: Renewal

    Published originally here for I Care If You Listen(.com) The London Sinfonietta continue to experiment with different approaches in their presentation of contemporary music, and they struck a winner with their Luke Bedford: In Portrait concert on 22 May 2013 at the Purcell Room of the Southbank Centre in London. Bedford is a young British…

  • Pitching it right: My first concert talk

    Vivace Chorus kindly invited me to introduce the programme at their ‘Best of British’ concert last Saturday; my first pre-concert talk. I’d received the scores a few weeks prior to the concert and was quickly reminded of my own experiences of singing similar repertoire as a child, and an adult. Reading that the concert was…