About seven years ago, when I was living in a yurt in the woods, in southwest France, I did some tutorials on my YouTube channel. The lighting isn’t great and I was struggling with a barely adequate camera. But I wanted to give something back to the You Tubes, by […]
solo piano
15 posts
On Saturday, I drove into central London for a wedding at the Foundling Museum, in Brunswick Square. (It took days to try and register my French-registered car for the congestion charge and I’m still not sure I was successful. I figure they’ll find me if they want some money. I […]
Moving to the UK was easy, but not without stress points. I’ve moved countries before — a few times — but France was home for the last 15 years. The country is familiar, obviously, but changing absolutely everything around you has quite an impact. And launching a new business — […]
On Saturday, I headed south, to play for Charlotte and Sam, during the wedding feast part of the day. It was hot, when I arrived, as you might be able to feel from this image… I don’t normally play during dinner, and I’d been a bit worried about this for […]
On Saturday, I drove about 20 minutes away for the wedding of Harriet and Leo at Chateau le Tour. Rain had been threatening this long-awaited day for a couple of weeks. And it was still spitting during the morning, as I set my keyboard up for the wedding ceremony. Bravely, […]
On Saturday, I went east for a wedding at Chateau du Doux. I’m now setting up a bit earlier than I did at the start of the season, which gives me a bit more time to socialise and settle in. It also means, even when I’m not scheduled to play, […]
On Sunday, I drove through the rain (again – which wasn’t falling only on the plain) to Chateau de la Couronne. Matt and Emma (my first Olympian bride!) had waited so long for this day that they were joined by their new baby! And Reggie, the most well-behaved (and photogenic) […]
After Friday’s gig, I was expecting a couple of weeks’ rest. We’re not normally this busy, this early in the season, but… Covid. The weddings from 2020 were pushed into 2021, which were then pushed into 2022. Not a huge surprise, I’m sure you’ll agree, and very welcome after two […]
On Wednesday evening, I played piano at a private party at the Chateau de Rouffillac. What a spectacularly beautiful place! Here’s the outside (these photos don’t do it justice – the ones on their website are far better): And here’s the courtyard with fountain. Still in awe of this place: […]
Is the Nord Electro 6 the perfect keyboard? A few years ago, I found a Nord Electro 4 in a music shop. The most perfect keyboard I’d seen at that point, I bought it and my love affair with Nord keyboards began. Almost perfect Although many of the sounds on […]
I went to see the new James Bond last Sunday and was pleased to hear a Louis Armstrong song that I was playing, a few years ago. So I’m revising that to fit for the next video… Here’s one I made earlier today. It’s a good discipline, having to record […]
A few clients have asked me about my solo piano set list, recently. I’ve been avoiding this, because my music pile has looked like this for months (taken earlier this morning): Following some prompting from a hairstylist and make up artist, I waded through the pile just now. And here […]
Last weekend (nearly up to date with the blog now), I had two weddings in one day. The first was a lunchtime affair back at Château de Lacoste, about 45 minutes east of where I live. The chapel is very small, as you can see from this photograph… So I […]
Last Christmas Eve, I played for a family party in a nearby chateau. A couple of weeks ago, I was invited back for the last night of a work-related event. The baby grand in the lounge had just been tuned… I took a self portrait to show I’m not bluffing—but […]
I played at Le Barrage hotel and restaurant in Mauzac a couple of years ago. (Mother’s Day, if memory serves.) A couple of weeks ago (I’m catching up with missing blog posts today), I was invited back to play for the birthday party of Amanda, the owner. She’d asked me […]