Vingt-et-un is a card game in which you have to collect twenty-one points. Here’s a quick summary of the rules: I hope you’ll have a go at this age-old gambling game! I grew up on it! And now the reason we’re diving into “vingt-et-un” today: old-fashioned metronomes are the answer. Old-fashioned metronomes, those lovely pyramid-shaped …
Hello everyone! You will probably have seen a couple of my “Humoresque” blog posts by now. They are intended to be both Humorous and Helpful! I hope they’re hitting the spot. However, I don’t have email addresses for all my pupils, in particular those under the age of eighteen. If your child is one of …
Many of you will know that I write novels – Medieval Fantasy Adventures. This is just one genre of fiction, and there are many others. We all have our favourites, but one of the on-trend genres right now is called “Enemies to Lovers”. The “enemies to lovers” trope describes a romantic narrative where two characters who …
Sight-reading means playing a piece of music for the first time. In an exam situation, your sight-reading test is meant to be a performance: don’t stop, don’t go back, get from start to finish in one go, and if you can, add dynamics and play musically! In real life, sight-reading isn’t a test at all. …
Hello everyone, this is just to let you know that I will be posting on a blog on the Rippling Keys website from next week. The overarching name for the blog is “Humoresque”, which means a light-hearted piece of music, usually short and lively. It may be fanciful and humorous, apparently! Probably the best-known humoresque …
A Humoresque is a genre of Romantic music, characterised by pieces with fanciful humour in the sense of mood rather than wit. (Wikipedia, accessed 09: 50 2nd April 2025)
Congratulations to Abigail, my adult piano student in China, who took part in Piano Day 2025 with enthusiasm, skill, musicianship and great energy! Shen Wai International School in Nanshan, Shenzhen, held a “Pianothon” to celebrate Piano Day. This day of continuous piano playing was a fund raiser for the Captivate Charity, based in China. Abigail …
Did you know that a piano has 88 keys? Did you know that the 88th day of the year is marked as Piano Day? Did you know that this year is the 10th Anniversary of Piano Day? Well, you do now! This year, Piano Day falls on Saturday 29th March. There are many events taking …
This is just a reminder to check dates of Rippling Keys Music terms and holidays. These don’t always correspond with school terms, which vary in any case across the country (and across the world!) So please do look out for these, and check regularly for updates too. All updates will be posted on the News …
Just to let you all know that the Free Music catalogue has been updated today. If you haven’t yet chosen anything, please do have a look. Thank you. If you didn’t get this message before, and perhaps you don’t know what I’m talking about(!), please see the post called “Free Music”, a bit below this …