Haresnape School of Music

08/06/2026

Lunch was on the house at the cathedral café and there was loads…

07/06/2026

My turn to play.

Come and hear the organ at Newcastle Cathedral, 13:05 - 13:50 on 8th June.

The Cathedral organ accompanies daily choral services and takes centre stage in our weekly Monday lunchtime Organ Recital Series.

29/04/2026

Pupils applying for The Duke Of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) at Bronze, Silver or Gold levels can use their piano playing in the skills section, with or without exams. I have acted as assessor for many candidates over the years.

18/04/2026

Sim. is short for simile, which means ‘in a similar manner’. It often appears near the beginning of a piece to direct the performer to continue playing a passage in the same style as the previous bars, with the same articulation, phrasing, pedalling etc. It avoids repetitive markings and keeps the score clean.

09/04/2026

I was out playing for a service, noticed a cat hair on the keys and immediately recognised it as one of Spot’s. It was like part of him had come with me to show support. Aw.

04/04/2026

Wanted: the next generation of piano tuners 🎹

Alan from South Brent is on the lookout for an assistant - with the long-term aim of handing over his workshop.

Find out more: https://bbc.in/4rV4cRN

01/04/2026

Easter Holidays

2nd April - 20th April

Enjoy the break. Lessons available on selected days.

Image from freepik.com

24/03/2026

And I thought I was bad.

This legendary composer counted every single coffee bean.
Out loud, and in front of his guests...

Ludwig van Beethoven, composer of the Ninth Symphony, the Moonlight Sonata, and approximately one thousand pieces of music that still make people cry 200 years later, refused to let anyone else make his morning coffee.

Not because he was a control freak. Well. Also, because he was a total control freak. But specifically because he had a rule: exactly 60 beans per cup. No more, no less. And he counted them himself, one by one, every single morning.

His biographer Anton Schindler documented it in 1840: "He allowed sixty beans for each cup, and lest his measure should mislead him to the amount of a bean or two, he made it a rule to count over the sixty for each cup, especially when he had visitors."

He had a cook and employed housekeepers. He had the staff, but he still counted the beans himself.

Modern coffee science says 60 beans weigh roughly 8 grams, which is almost exactly the dose in a Nespresso pod. The man who composed the Fifth Symphony accidentally invented the perfect espresso ratio in 1810 by counting beans like a man who had completely lost the plot.

His doctor eventually banned him from coffee. Beethoven ignored this completely and kept drinking it until the very end.

-Donnie

eatshistory.com

24/03/2026

Dolce

Italian for sweet or soft/gentle.

E.g. ‘p’ means to play quietly whereas ‘p dolce’ means to play quietly with a tender, sweet/gentle quality. It’s usually interpreted as requiring a lighter touch and a warmer tone.

09/03/2026

Anna Lapwood

There’s been an increase in the number of adults seeking organ lessons in recent years. I attribute this to the popularisation of the organ in social media thanks to the contributions made by Anna Lapwood and her contemporaries.

facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063678665391

Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%2820240823%29_Anna_Lapwood_03.jpg