pianist, composer, teacher, grief companion

News

Shortlisted for the Art of Piano Teaching Awards

Two of my projects have been nominated in the Best Digital Resource category at the 2025 Art of Piano Teaching Awards.

Piano Creativity is a site for piano teachers who want to use more improvisation and creativity in their piano lessons.

Piano Chords in All Keys is a set of two digital books co-written with Ruth Alberici. These help students to quickly understand chords in a practical, visual way.

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Rise & Fall (with Simeon Walker)

My new single is a collaboration. Simeon Walker have known each other for getting close to a decade now. I love his music and really value his friendship, so I'm really delighted that we worked together on this piece.

My simple harmony is enhanced by Sim's melodic interjections, a nice metaphor for the many conversations about music and life that we've shared.

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TopMusicMag

This month’s edition of TopMusicMag is all about teaching creativity, and features a helpful guide to finding time for creativity in piano lessons written by me!

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New track: The Foehn Wind

My new track The Foehn Wind is out now. This swirling, unpredictable composition takes its name from the hot, dry wind that flows down from mountains. As I was writing it, I was thinking of balmy evenings drinking wine on a sun-baked terrace, looking out towards mountain ranges standing tall in the distance.

It has some unusual chord progressions and is in both 6/8 and 3/4 time. Sheet music is available!

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D.E.H. — Elegy for Donna

My new elegy is written for my friend Donna, who we called Doon. She died suddenly and unexpectedly a couple of years ago and it really shook me up. In this post I explain the composition process, talk about what I loved about my about my wonderful friend, and explore grief more generally. The full piece is available wherever you stream music — click here.

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Enkindled Spring — out now!

My new single, Enkindled Spring, is out now! It’s about the feeling of life returning to the Earth after a long winter and is named for D H Lawrence’s poem of the same name (click “read more” to find out more). You can stream it here.

This is one of my liveliest pieces that I've released recently and it switches between A dorian and F# minor, in what I think is one of the coolest modulations I've ever written. It's great fun to play! Sheet music is available.

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new single Blue Mountain, out now

My new single, Blue Mountain, came out yesterday on Nordic Euphony Records.

Inspired by the lovely blue ink painting by Anna Salzmann (above) and the feeling of coming spring, it's a piece that I've been saving for the right time.

With spring now just around the corner (there are some gorgeous crocuses blooming on our street) it feels like that time has come!

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Elegy for Jane — We Made The Snow Fly Upwards

This is Will and his Mum Jane. Jane passed away a few years ago. Their relationship was filled with laughter, travel and music. Will felt very, very loved. Losing her to a brutal cancer was a profound loss that he still feels.

I’ve been talking to bereaved people about their loved ones and composing Elegies to honour them. “We Made The Snow Fly Upwards — Elegy for Jane” is out now. You can stream it and download it by clicking here.

The artwork was created for Jane and Will by Colin Slee. Thank you to Colin for allowing us to use it, it really means a lot.

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Introducing the Elegies project

Grief is something that will affect us all at some point, but it remains quite a taboo topic.

That’s a real shame because it makes bereaved people feel isolated, just at the moment when they may need the most support.

This creates a harmful cycle: because we don’t talk to people who are grieving about their grief, we are left badly prepared to deal with our own grief when it happens.

My project Elegies challenges this damaging taboo.

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