Aura Lee is done. You played it. Some of you played it with your eyes closed. 😌 So now it's your turn to choose what's next. Four songs on the table. Two slow and pretty, two that are pure fun. 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 — the one that makes a room go quiet. Simple enough to learn in a week, beautiful enough to keep playing for years. 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗗 — the wedding one. Eight chords that repeat forever, which means once you have them, you have them. This is one of those popular pieces adults tell me they wish they could play. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿 — ragtime. Bouncy, cheeky, impossible to play without smiling. If you want something that sounds like you're showing off, this is it. 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝗻 — yes, that one. Loud, fast, ridiculous. Your neighbours will know exactly what you're doing. Same setup as always. Falling keys video, simplified arrangement, backing track, and we take it apart together in the classroom. Vote below. Voting closes 𝟯𝟬 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁, then I get to work. P.S. If you want a different format, or perhaps another workshop.. please let me know in the comments below. 😀

Sunday walk.. blue skies.. And then this fella just standing there like he owned the paddock. Highland cow. All fringe, no rush. He looked at me, decided I wasn't interesting, and went back to doing absolutely nothing. Honestly, goals. (I love cows by the way. Don't know why.) I've been in production mode for weeks now — filming, editing, building. So getting out of the house with no laptop and no plan was the best thing I've done all month. I came back with more energy than I've had in ages, and I didn't do anything clever to earn it. Which brings me to the actual question.. What do you do on a Sunday that has nothing to do with piano? The thing that resets you. Walk, garden, cook, nap, sport, absolutely nothing at all? Tell me below. I'm collecting ideas 👀

Two takes of the same eight measures of Aura Lee. 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀, 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗿𝗵𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗺, 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼. Version A is choppy. Every note sits there as its own separate sound with nothing connecting it to the next one. 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗕 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. Nothing changed except how I connected the notes. That's 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘰, and it's the difference between playing the right notes and playing music. This is the kind of thing we work on in Studio. Practice Room gets you the notes and the rhythm. Studio is where we go after the sound. 🎶 The full run-through is in Studio if you want to work through it. ✨

I made lasagne for the first time last night and I need to publicly apologise to every restaurant I have ever side-eyed for their lasagne prices. Things nobody warned me about: 1. The meat sauce takes FOREVER. Not because it's hard, but because you have to sit there and let it cook down until it stops being soup. I kept thinking "surely that's enough now." 2. I made the mornay sauce from scratch. Butter, flour, milk, whisking like my life depended on it. 3. The cheese. THE CHEESE. I went through so much cheese that I had to stop and have a quiet moment about it. 4. Then you layer it all up and it disappears into one dish and the food disappears faster than I can say hemidemisemiquaver. Anyway. Charge whatever you want, restaurants. I get it now. What are you guys cooking or having over the weekend? 🍕 🍟 🍔 🍅 🍜

Lovely members! Just did a quick video of me recording this for our studio members. Guess the song? And also... is this something you would want to learn?