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Who or what inspired you to take up the piano and composing, and make it your career? 

I salute my late mother for insisting that I continue with my piano studies despite my pre-Grade 1 tantrums. Once I’d got through the tricky first stage, there was no stopping me. As an adult, I decided to make music my career after three years studying marketing. This time without music showed me that my life would be barren without it. I had a eureka moment, signed up for a music degree at Southampton University and never looked back.

Who or what were the most important influences on your playing/composing? 

My father showed me that I could make anything from anything, and not to put up barriers in the creative process. This idea of creativity was inherent in my upbringing and has given me freedom in my songwriting to get across unique emotions and ideas in a powerful way. I have always been hooked on the craft of songwriting, using the millions of notes and words in my head and weaving them together. The process is much like conceiving and giving birth to a new life, spiritual and mechanical at the same time.

I was fortunate to be taught the piano by composer Debbi Parks. Debbi encouraged my creativity and I often played her my ideas in my lessons, learning the piano without pressure. Debbi has been a great source of inspiration to me and has also guided my career. We are both ISTD ballet pianists (Debbi wrote some of the ISTD music) and also improvise for the Royal Opera House’s ‘Chance to Dance’ education programme!

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far? 

Balancing family life with creativity is always a challenge but my children are very grounding and balance is a good thing. Like most artists, I find it hard to self promote. I don’t have an agent and whilst I enjoy the freedom that brings, my ‘shy writer’ side is filled with dread when I have some new music to market.

Which performances/compositions/recordings are you most proud of?  

I am very proud of my 2012 album, ‘My Garden’. The title song was written about my children and I dedicated the album to them. I was delighted when Code: Marla remixed two of my songs and it’s amazing to hear piano based songs with beats and bass. I particularly love The Big Freeze remix. This song means a lot to me as it is about my recovery after a head-on car crash I had three years ago.

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in? 

I don’t perform extensively but every few months I sing at the Grey Lady in Tunbridge Wells. It’s a wonderful place and I have met many inspirational musicians there. The music scene in Tunbridge Wells is thriving and Paul Dunton has played a huge part in this, providing musicians like me with the opportunity to perform in a magical setting.

Favourite pieces to perform? Listen to? 

I love playing Debussy and the second Arabesque is my signature piece. Bach’s Preludes and Fugues are intriguing, beautiful and highly addictive. I have recently discovered a strange connection to the music of Shostakovich and am looking forward to trying out some of his piano works (any suggestions?). I listen to a wide range of music, from electronic, to classical, to folk. It’s all music!

Who are your favourite musicians? 

My favourite songwriters are Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy) and Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) and Trent Reznor. PJ Harvey, Tori Amos and Kate Bush have influenced me greatly and I see them as women of musical integrity and emotional depth. I am also in awe of any musician who is self taught and has learnt everything by ear. Such musicians seem to have great musical insight and intuition as well as incredible determination.

What is your most memorable concert experience? 

A charity piano recital I did to help me towards doing my diploma in 2011. As an unseasoned Classical performer I was well out of my comfort zone but I gained much from the experience. I find the phrase ‘no pain, no gain’ is very true of Classical piano but joy of a great performance (even to yourself in your own living room) is exhilarating.

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians? 

Be authentic, have integrity, listen, don’t compare yourself to others, don’t rush. Remember why you love music.

What are you working on at the moment? 

A song for a wedding; I love commissions!

Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time? 

An Ivor Novello would be nice! I plan to have to have several more albums under my belt. I hope to continue and grow my work as a ballet pianist and also develop my work in music education as a music practitioner and piano teacher.

Piano-wise, I aim to become adept in Blues piano and also nail a few of the Chopin Études, the last of which will probably take the most time!

Frances Yonge is a songwriter, pianist, singer and improviser. She is also a creative musician for Royal Opera House Education and music practitioner.

Frances’ album My Garden is available now. Listen to sample tracks:

See more at: www.francesyonge.co.uk

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Download the free Sheet Music Direct App from iTunes

Many of us are lucky enough to own an iPad, and these devices are increasingly being used by musicians instead carrying around lots of heavy books of music. There is a great new free app from Sheet Music Direct which gives you access to thousands of scores of classical, jazz and pop music.

Whether you buy sheet music using the iPad app or directly from Sheet Music Direct‘s website, your library will be in sync everywhere — including all your previous purchases.

You can rehearse your scores by slowing down playback, using the in-built metronome or muting other parts so you can feel like part of the band.

If you who work with singers, or want to sing along with a piece you are playing, you can transpose scores to a different key, change instrument or note size — and, of course, you can revert back to your original settings anytime.

Sheet Music Direct are media partners of the South London Concert Series

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pianist Helen Burford
pianist Helen Burford

While the famous south London parakeets squawked in the trees of Bushy Park outside, inside Bushy House, home to the National Physical Laboratory’s Musical Society, Brighton-based pianist Helen Burford gave a lunchtime recital of great imagination and musical colour, demonstrating the full tonal, percussive and emotional range the piano can offer.

Now in its 63rd season, the NPL Musical Society hosts regular concerts throughout the year featuring a varied range of artists, both established and up-and-coming, and provides useful performance experience for young musicians in conservatoires and music colleges who are preparing for end of year, or final recitals. (Indeed, my own piano teacher played at the NPL when she was a young woman.) The venue boasts a rather stately 1911 Steinway, and the audience is supportive, friendly and interested.

Helen trained at Birmingham Conservatoire, the University of Sussex and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and has studied with a number of renowned teachers, including Heather Slade-Lipkin, Peter Feuchtwanger and Stephen Gutman. A champion of British and American new music, her NPL concert reflected her passion for this repertoire, with an eclectic programme of works by contemporary composers, including Martin Butler and David Rakowski.

Chick Corea’s ‘Three Improvisations’ offered a gentle entrée to the programme. The first and third pieces in the triptych, Where have I known you before and Where have I loved you before, were played with a wistful, sensuous sensitivity, while the middle movement was a lively, toe-tapping dance.

I have heard Helen perform Somei Satoh’s ‘Incantation II’ several times, and each time it has been slightly different, and always highly absorbing. The work, which has never been published, relies on the minimalist technique of prolonging a single unit of sound, while creating the sensation of a ‘rhythmic limbo’, a sense of stasis that is characteristically Japanese (cf the music of Toru Takemitsu). The music makes full use of the piano’s resonant qualities, creating a remarkable bloom of sound, which suggests a variety of instruments including cello, horn, bells, harp, drums. Building slowly from a simple opening, this music is hypnotic and meditative, and Helen’s controlled and intense performance made this an extraordinary and unusual musical experience.

Following this with a sonata by Scarlatti was inspired, for it highlighted not only the mannered elegance of the Baroque but also how revolutionary Scarlatti was, in his daring use of dissonance and unusual harmonies. It was performed with a lyrical simplicity.

The next work, a piece by composer Ester Mägi, named after an instrument called a kannel, a kind of plucked zither or psaltery, recalled the folk music of Mägi’s native Estonia with stamping off-beats and haunting melodies, to which Helen brought great colour, sensitive dynamic shading, and rhythmic vitality.

From the folk idioms of eastern Europe to the industrial western city in Martin Butler’s ‘Rumba Machine’, a celebratory fanfare-like piece, which suggests swiftly turning cogs and wheels of machines and the blaring sirens and honking horns of the city over a compelling rumba beat. This, together with David Rakowski’s witty Étude ‘A Gliss is Just a Gliss’, a study on glissandi, was played with an extrovert elan, bringing to a close a most enjoyable and refreshingly original lunchtime recital.

Helen will be performing a similar programme at the launch of the South London Concert Series on 29th November 2013 at the 1901 Arts Club. Further details here slcs1901.wordpress.com. Tickets southlondonconcerts@gmail.com

https://soundcloud.com/cross-eyedpianist/three-piano-improvisations

NPL Musical Society concerts take place in the Scientific Museum, Bushy House, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington TW11 0LW. Tickets £3 on the door.

Upcoming concerts this season include: 23 October – Joseph Tong, piano; 1 November – Madelaine Jones, piano; 11 November – Alice Pinto, piano; 22 November – Kathron Sturrock, piano. Further details Stephen.Lea@npl.co.uk