'To play the piano is to live, everything else is just waiting'
Gyorgy Cziffra
Here I am - this is me now....Hello! Thanks for visiting my Piano profile!..
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My New Piano Teaching Practice will be up and running hopefully around Autumn 2009. In the meantime, I'm studying Music Performance at Sheffield University and hope to take some more Diplomas next year in readiness for teaching after my house move.
100% Exam success rate. ABRSM Exam Syllabus taught alongside more Popular Songs/Pieces for fun. No point learning anything if you don't enjoy it! It isn't all hard relentless slog towards exams but it is strongly recommended that these are worked towards and taken.
Me at the Savoy. It was a lovely Piano to play - called a Gottrien Steinweg
Musicians and Celebrities that I have met or known
Cynthia Lyons
My piano teacher for many years. She was the teacher who taught me to perform the piano, how to teach the piano and how to get the best out of a pupil. She was really lovely and capable of a performing career herself, but chose to teach as she loved that more. I credit Cynthia as having the most positive influence on my playing during my teenage years. She coached me for Concerto Performances, Competitions, Exams and Music College entry auditions. ( I had finished Grades 1 to 8 at 12 years old). My teaching methods are very similar to Cynthia's and this is one of the reasons why I have had a 100% success rate for ABRSM Examinations in the past.
- Fanny WatermanÂ
- Phyllis Sellick
A prolific Concert Pianist herself and tutor/mentor who taught me the art of performance for a year at The Royal College of Music, London in the early 1980's.
- Jeremy Davies
 I went to have a course of Piano Performance mentoring around 1996 at The London College of Music & Media based at Thames Valley University. Jeremy is a prolific performer himself and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. He is now Head of Keyboard Studies at The Junior Music School at The LCM.Adam White BMus, MAAdam is a musician and Programme Coordinator for Music and Creative Media at The University of Sheffield. I am currently working towards the Certificate in Music and Creative Media for enjoyment and to keep in touch with the constantly changing musical world. However, I 'retired' from performing 8 years ago to raise my family and then found I was suffering from Performance Anxiety and found it very difficult to play in public or for exams. I went on a Music Performance Course run by Adam and in 12 weeks, I was able to miraculously not only play at a Recital without nerves, I actually enjoyed it! I'm now doing this again 3 years later because the syllabus has changed and is much more challenging. After that I'm hoping to have the courage to do another diploma.
- Omar Shariff
Charlton HestonÂ
Charton Heston - Planet of the Apes star and Dynasty (Remember?) was also a Classical Shakespearian Actor and was playing....Henry the 4th at the Savoy Theatre. He came into the Hotel's Thames Foyer sometimes for afternoon tea.....and sat watching and listening to my playing intently in one of the quiet corners and smiled and applauded...What a gentleman he was..... I was very upset to hear he'd passed away recently
Charles Dance
I was asked to appear in a Drama production by Anglia TV called Golden Eye. Not the James Bond Film that came out much later (In your dreams, Kamla!)This was a Drama about Ian Fleming who wrote the James Bond books and Charles Dance was playing Ian Fleming. I was asked to be the Cocktail Pianist in a sultry bar. It was filmed at Mortens in Berkely Square in London. I was done up in 1940's clothes and make-up and had the most fantastic day!The Bee Gees
I played for the Bee Gees once at the Landmark Hotel in the Winter Garden.Noel Gallagher - Oasis
I played in the Dining Room at the Landmark Hotel as well. When Noel Gallagher came in for Dinner, he asked me to play Strawberry Fields by the Beatles - I actually played a load of Beatles for him beause he was so polite and charming, flashed me a huge twinkly smile.....Me at the Selfridge Hotel New Years Eve 1998.
Alec Baldwin - Actor then married to Kim Basinger
Again in the Dining Room at the Landmark Hotel as well. I can't remember what his request was, but he was lovely too - very softly spoken, but I didn't say very much - was too mesmerised by the brightest blue eyes I've ever seen.Beverley Callard - Plays Liz McDonald in Coronation Street
I was playing to an empty restaurant quite early in the evening and I distinctly heard a very familiar voice, being an avid Corrie Fan then - Poor Liz had booked a table but it wasn't on the list and I could see that the waiter hadn't a clue who she was and she was so charming about it! She sent me a lovely note to thank me for playing too. In real life she's nothing like Liz McDonald, she's a very refined well spoken lady, quite a tiny frame - my height, and as I recall far prettier than Corrie allows her to be.I've also played for ..Cliff Richard....Bros...Jonothan Ross....John Alderton......Pauline Collins.....Adam Faith....Gloria Hunniford......Judith Chalmers.....Patrick McNee....Gavin Hunt......The Christians...... ironic really - I live in High Green where the Arctic Monkeys hail from and I've never bumped into them at the local Nisa!....and a very nice gentleman at the Savoy who sent me a bottle of Bolly Champagne just about every week for a year!
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