Alexis Ffrench

That was the track Good Morning and it's performed by Alexis French on his new album called 24 for Sony Music Masterworks. I'm Erica Worth and welcome to this Pianist Podcast episode. I'll be speaking with Alexis about the album, about his thoughts on music in general and much more. Alexis, it's great to have you on the Pianist Podcast today.

Oh, amazing to be with you, Erica. Looking forward to this conversation so much. Oh, you're so welcome. Firstly, I think we should talk about your new album, which is called 24. If you could just tell me about the whole concept, maybe starting with the title. Absolutely. So 24 exactly as it's and it kind of does what it says on the tin. It's 24 pieces of music or 24 songs, each of which denote a particular time of the day.

And so it's an all day piano odyssey, Erica, designed to carry listeners through their day, cocooned in this sort of lush bed of piano lyricism. That's it in a nutshell. Plenty more I can tell you and I'm sure we'll get on to that. I like it. So what time of the day do you start? Is it getting out of bed? I mean, you know. Well, yeah. You know, that's the thing about the album.

Of course, everyone's day will start at completely different times. My day, I've been very bold. My day on the album starts at 5 a .m. And so I wrote a track for... 5 a .m in the morning but really to tell you about how the album came about yes it came about very very differently normally with my albums so you know things like evolution dreamland classical they usually start with a question that i pose to myself um and and the question hinges around what does the listener need from me right now and that question in many different sort of forms But for this album, it was a very different proposition, very different question that I asked myself, which was, who was I before the world told me who to

become, or before the world taught me how to behave? And in doing that, I collected a diary. So I have this diary that I write in every day. And I was tracing all the various times of the day and various compass points for these 24 compass points, each of which had various provocations and questions and quotes and memories from before.

And that is how I came to write the album. So each track has its own title, but it also represents... a wider question and i can maybe get into some of these questions a little bit later on but i had i had fun with it but it was also much more thought provoking than i than i ever expected it to be and i'm i'm so so proud of the results and and can't wait for people to hear it oh my goodness i'm intrigued and also i'm thinking is it one day or is it a day an hour of a day 10 years ago when something happened or is it six o 'clock five years ago when something happened i mean i don't know but i guess did you know what that that is that is so intuitive of you to to say that because that's exactly what the

album does in it traces events that happened at particular times and my diary for instance recounts the diary is not going to be available as as is normally the case for personal diaries uh but it recounts certain events you know i remember um um falling off a tree in a street called half moon street in bagshot falling off i just i know and i remember this premonition i had i was climbing up this tree very happily i was about 12 years old i hasten to have this i wasn't 29 at the time climbing up this this tree and i had this premonition that i was going to fall off and seconds later i did landed on my chest and um and i've never felt this is not recommended kids but i never felt as alive as I did in that moment. It was such a strange feeling.

And so one of the pieces on the album basically points to that moment. I think it's called In Flight. Yes. And it was just a moment where I just felt like my, almost like my soul would leave my body. And the strangers of moments, but also in many ways invigorating. They have titles, but they also mean different things to me. And there's a question, I think, that I've associated with In Flight. So as I said, there's questions associated with each track. And that one, I think, is about identity and about occupying past forms of yourself. I can't remember exactly the question, but I do remember it, pondering it very, very hard. Goodness. This sounds fascinating.

I mean, I have listened to quite a few of the tracks and there's quite a lot of different instruments there. Yeah, I recorded it in a place called Mirval Studios in Provence and I've recorded there once before. It is the studio owned by Brad Pitt and it is an extraordinary expanse of land. One feels very safe because it's surrounded by armed guards, I think. But it is the most incredible. So my wife came. She comes to all the best trips. She came. The dog didn't come to this one. But my wife and I went. And I started my days running up the mountains and then started recording. And I had an array of keyboard instruments and pianos. I had Steinway D. It was a beautiful organ that I found there. Moog, Upright Piano,

Yamaha, Upright Bersendorfer. Each of them are used on this album. And I had such fun, particularly returning to the organ again. I was a church organist in a previous life. So, yeah, it was a very, very intense experience, really immersive and also a very sort of human experience. I recorded it in a very different way. Normally I would have different phases in different locations, but everything was done there. The string orchestra that we brought in, the two sort of jazz musicians that we brought in, the two Thomases, as I called them. Very, very intense. But I absolutely loved it. Absolutely loved it. It sounds amazing. Now, Miraval is also well known for its rosé, isn't it? Yes, there was plenty of rosé on offer. I'm

not going to say plenty was consumed. The odd glass. But that's the other thing about Miraval's experience is it's just so... convivial and we have evenings with with um the food and the wine sitting around the kitchen table the chefs are extraordinary extraordinarily talented the food is incredible um and there's people just going about their work you know people tending to the land brad pitt has just installed a spa there you go oh That's a scoop for you, Erica. So one or two spars and cold plunges were involved.

And there's a farm as well. So you can, you know, the pet, the animal. Oh, it's so, it's so, so beautiful. So beautiful. Sounds idyllic. I mean, how many, how long did it take you to record this album? I recorded it over a 10 day stretch. Okay. various other things I was recording at that time as well. So it wasn't exclusively 24, but the hours are long and yeah, 10 days. Goodness.

And did he have in this studio, did they have all those instruments there? Like the ones you've just talked about, the Yamaha, the Yamaha Bosendorfer, the Steinway, or did you bring some of them in? The Bosendorfer upright lives there. Yeah. The Steinway D, we had to bring that in. The Heritage Organ lives there. The Moog lives there. I think I also played a Rhodes keyboard as well. So doing this live is going to be quite challenging, I think, to have all those instruments on the stage.

Of course, we are at the Palladium, April 27th, 2027. There we go, I got it in. And various other places in the UK and in Europe. But yeah, so we sort of... amazing we had to plan in advance to get the right instruments in and um the right instruments with the right kind of sonic properties um because as the producer of the album as well as the composer and the performer one has to of course do lots of lots of advanced planning um not not least musical stuff but logistical stuff as well and and getting into all of that but um you know i love i love all of it i love that sort of intersectional point of being the person holding the music not just performing these but holding the music and then delivering

to the to the labels the very last thing that one does amazing and in these concerts that you're giving in 2027 yeah they will they be will it be the whole 24 pieces that you'll be performing or will you be performing pieces from your other albums Yeah. So, well, for the Palladium, we are very much playing 24, not in its entirety, but certainly the standout, the standout pieces.

And but also performing, you know, popular classics for my for my for my canon, darling, if I can put it like that. I love it, I love it. But yes, so things like Bluebird and Dreamland and all those kind of albums, what people sort of expect to hear, but very much looking forward to playing the new material. I'm so glad. Now, of course, you are not the typical classical pianist. I've read that your style is classical soul. If you can maybe explain this, even me as a classical pianist, I'd love to know. Okay, so it's called Classical Soul simply because I called it Classical Soul. That's the first thing. I grew up in a very musical household. I'll give you the very short version of this. My parents, Jamaican parents,

came over to this country when they were about 16. Worked very, very hard. Dad went into the Air Force, where he was for many years. Mum was a nurse. But home was a place I remember for its food and its music. Jamaican cuisine. Lots of schoolwork before school, before I even went to school. Lots of maths and lots of discipline of reading, which is basically, I guess, my parents being very ambitious for their children, but also loads of music. Downstairs was like the record shop that had all the soul and the R &B.

Stevie Wonder, loads of Stevie Wonder, which is how I learned to play the piano at age four, playing a kitchen table and playing to Stevie Wonder. And I have perfect pitch, so playing and seeing the music, hearing the music and playing. And upstairs in my bedroom is where I used to have the classical floor of the record shop, so to speak, with Bach and Mozart and other composers.

So we had those... collision of genres, we say. That was very much a sort of embodiment of, domestic embodiment of classical soul. But it's more than that, it's about foundational DNA that runs through, and the lyricism that runs through soul, the lyricism that runs through a Chopin Nocturne, for instance. It represents far more than the genres itself. And when I left college and wanted to essentially be doing what I'm doing now. I remember I wrote all of these. I got these cards made up, Erica, at great expense. I just remember being so, so poor and getting these cards made up. I think it was late teens or maybe 20 years old. And I thought, this is it. I'm going to get cards made up. And they're going to say,

classical soul, music to move the world. I had a picture of the piano sitting on the moon. And then my contact details. And I thought, this is it. I'm going to send these out to all of these record companies and all these agents. The phone is just going to ring off the hook. It's just going to be so crazy. Of course, nothing happened. Not a peep from anybody, because that's not how it works. But for me, it was... It was much more important than that. It was a kind of full circle moment, which was completed, of course, when I released many years later, classical soul volume one on the album. So it means a lot.

It speaks of my heritage. It speaks of my father. It speaks of the ambition, the love they poured into us as children. And it also speaks of the gratitude that I have for the life that they've given me. Oh, you're such a positive person, Alexis. It's fantastic, really. Oh, thank you. Oh, no, it is. Yeah. Anyway, but, you know, and I know that a goal of yours is to bring music to an ever -increasing audience. And I think that's part of it, isn't it? You want people to feel what you feel, what it's given you. Well, you know, it's interesting. Quite often I get asked the question, Alexis, your aim is to...

is to break down the barriers and all this sort of... Honestly, you know, with the music that I write and I play and the shows that I have, you know, Apple Music, for instance, my show on Apple Music and Classic FM, I want to meet listeners and music fans where they are in their music appreciation journey. I want to meet them with all the curiosity and verve and love for music that they display. And I want to honour that in a way which doesn't patronise. And so for me, it's not about breaking down barriers.

It's because the... There are so many music lovers out there. People who have had the good fortune to have music in their lives from a very young age. Others who haven't and just simply know a good tune when they hear it. Or fans who might go to the football and recite, you know, full throttle football songs. You know, all of these lovers of music. I want to be able to be part of their story in the sense of... of providing them with with new access points for perhaps different music different um areas of music or different repertoire that they haven't come across um and that's what i love i'd love to share my passion for music whether that be classical or otherwise uh and i don't see a hierarchy in music

you know these artificial constructs um that we that you may have seen in in the record shops that i spoke of earlier from different floors r b hip -hop classical I think to a larger extent they've already been broken down, particularly because of the proliferation of music on DSPs. So the playlists that we now enjoy or people enjoy are no longer categorised, certainly in the main, by genre. And so you might find a classical piece of music juxtaposed with a piece of soul.

So it's a really exciting... I think the musical world is a really exciting place and I'm just really happy to be part of it. I mean, you obviously feel for schools all the way, way down because you're ambassador for Restore the Music. If you could explain that to the listeners. Yeah, I mean, it's one of the many charities that I've been involved with over the years, Restore the Music. They have a CEO, Polly. The CEO is absolutely incredible. And I've worked with them in the past and also with Sony Music's UK Social Justice Fund to bring transformative experiences to young people. Also worked with the Prince's Trust, as it was called then when I was involved with it. Obviously, as artistic director also of the

Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, I'm involved with many ventures and I'm very proud to be associated with that organisation. And yeah, I think it's so important to bring. you know, transformational experiences to young people where they are in schools, to give them the gift of music. And that's something that I feel very passionately about. Do you think things, well, things should improve, shouldn't they? I mean, it's quite sad in my day. We all had piano lessons, private lessons in school.

Yeah, obviously much has been said about... diminishing numbers, particularly at GCSE and A -level and of course many schools are struggling. State schools, particularly with budgets and the e backification, if I can put it like that, hasn't helped in terms of music not forming part of that formal measure. But that is being revised by the new Labour government. So hopefully that will have an impact on young people coming into GCSE and beyond. There is much more we can do and there is more that I am doing and things that will be announced, particularly in 2027.

But I think music needs to play a central part in every young person's life, music and the creative arts, not only for the... through the very sort of singular opportunities to engage in music and what that can give and do for a young person's esteem, empowering young voices, particularly disenfranchised young voices, creating a sense of community as well within schools. But I also think just in terms of general creativity, we have these sort of... applicable skills which can be applied elsewhere when they're doing other academic tasks. So it's important for so many reasons and I feel confident that things will start to turn when the EBAT becomes reversed.

That would be amazing. I mean, you mentioned ABRSM and I think a lot of listeners will think, wow, Artistic Director of ABRSM, the exam board. What have you brought to the ABRSM in your role? The role is very, very fortunate to have been involved in so many different areas from the publishing area, bringing in new exciting repertoire.

We have the creative musicianship exam now, which is wonderful. Brought a new ABRSM. which is a worldwide concert series, which champions music across the world. Start Here podcast. There's so many things I've been fortunate to be involved with. But the team constantly inspires me, led by Chris Cobb, the chief exec. So many brilliant minds and so many partnerships around the world.

I'm not sure people are... fully aware of all the partnerships no i don't think so yeah in this country and and abroad and all the great work that they do particularly at grassroots level yes and um yeah so Obviously, I think it's coming up to, I think, I don't want to speak, I think like 135 year history. And of course, ABRSM is a partnership with the Royal Schools, the Royal Academy, the Royal College, Royal Northern, and the Royal Conservatoire Scotland as well.

So there's a very rich history there that goes back, you know. for a very long time and um but yeah grassroots music making um innovation in music space in publishing technology and of course we have the exams as well and um and i'm somebody who's come through the abrsm system um and was very proud to have done so yeah and um i remember them as very what how would i categorize them this is going back many years i remember them as the kind of gold standard of exams you know if you come away with a certificate of any hue i would say whether it's a past merit or distinction it's something to be proud of and um the the the motto for abrsm is is a life in music and i think that's so important for people of any

age not just young people but to carry music with them um in their hearts and whether they be players or just people who love to to listen to music or indeed concert girls Yeah, I enjoyed my exams actually way back. Did you? Yeah, I didn't. I think because I also quite like showing off and performing. But so many people are scared of taking exams. That's the big hurdle, isn't it? To try and overcome that for those people.

They walk into an exam room or they do it online and they're petrified. I think that could be said of... probably perhaps any examination I I think when you're in a performing performing environment when you have to execute I think I'm not you know I I'm not an examiner myself but I do know very many examiners and then they're not typically scary people I would say particularly not areas of examiners and of course one now has that the advantage of taking an exam in so many different ways recorded examinations etc the performance exams so um they're no they're no longer sort of one size fits all and so i feel that you know a young learner or an older learner on their on their journey can certainly

find the appropriate vehicle for to progress their instrumental learning yeah i don't really know the syllabus so well but is there anything about improvisation i mean obviously you're great at improvising because you you at the age of four were playing on yeah improvising is important and you know certainly I think the creative musicianship exam is well worth a look because that's about um you know one thing I do remember is when I was adjudicating BBC young musician um It's about two years. I've been involved with them for a couple of years. So going back a couple of years, I remember speaking to all the high -flying young performers. And the thing that struck me is that they're all bedroom producers. So they all have

their logic and their pro tools. They're writing songs. So one minute on TV, they might be rapping through Lispy Minor or Mephisto Waltz. And then the other day, you know, they're... they're making songs and they're engaging with music in a very different way. There's a certain duality to, I think, young people now, and it feels very real and natural to them to be creating original works with their own DIY tech, with a DAW. And in that sense, I feel it's, yeah, it's a different...

It's a different landscape that I think we find ourselves in. And I think the creative musicianship exams, among many things, are speaking to that landscape directly. It's so, so relevant. And it's awesome, I think, that they've created an exam that people are able to express themselves with in a broader sense, their musicianship, not just playing their pieces and their scales and their sight reading, but in a much broader way. I mean, do you mentor any of these remarkably talented young composers? I do. I do mentor young composers, not as part of a formal ABRSM scheme, but in my other work and through study music and other benches. Wow. You've got a lot on your plate. I do, but I love being busy. I think if

I... had to pick one side either you know the playing or the composing or producing or the educational work i find it very difficult uh because um they all energize each other every every facet of what i do i find them um and they sort of cross fertilize in a way and um you know when i know i've got a sort of educational activation um to come you know i'm just so so excited because there is nothing more exciting than being at the start of a creative journey with all the promise that that holds. And it's also quite a scary time for many people. And, you know, I think... Particularly now with all the conversations going on around AI and certain parts of the business feel that they might be contracting. I'm not

saying they are, but it might be a sense, the perception that it might be contracting. It's tricky for many young people, I think, to find their way and to navigate the complexity that we see before us, particularly with all the conversations and talk of existential threats and all the rest of it. I, for one, don't recall conversations like that when I was coming through the system.

It was, you know, and I was talking to a young person the other day and asking them about what they were doing. They said, well, I've got an interview the other day. I said, oh, I think, well, and then it turns out the interviews were the bot. And then I was thinking, what is this world? My goodness me. You have to beat the bot to get to, you know, three rounds until you get to a human. So I do spend a lot of time, I think, with young people just really navigating. um this new world that we find ourselves in helping them to articulate their own proposition their artistic proposition um and you know you asked me i think at the beginning conversation what is my music or my music is classical soul and

it's classical soul because it's this i remember i was at the rural northern the other day and i was doing a class for them in intersectional musicianship so composers performers and i said one really important thing is to be able to if somebody comes and asks you what you do yeah you say well look my name is and i make this and i and i remember challenging one or two of them to do that in the room and they found it really quite difficult i'm not saying raw northern by the way i'm such a fan of raw northern but i just thinking that in that moment for the one or two individuals i spoke to because but i think that more and more is going to be so important particularly with the saturation, I think, on

DSPs. I think I was reading something the other day that 50 % of new music uploaded to your average DSP is AI music. You know, this saturation, people, music fans, music lovers having to sift their way through... huge volumes of music just to try and get to something they might like. It's going to be more and more important for young people to be able to articulate their brand and their story. What do they stand for? Yes, the years and years of study, the hours and hours of practice out in the real world. What do you want to be an orchestral musician, a pianist, a composer, an orchestrator? So important to be able to articulate. what you do clearly and create a story that will connect with the other

person on the other end of the speakers or in the on the audition room um so and i and i think that's exciting i think synthesizing that uh for young people synthesizing what they do and encapsulating that succinctly and be able to present that it's exciting the hustle Got to embrace the hustle. Yes. So, so important. You can't go backwards. You've got to move with the times, don't you? You've got to move with the times. I think, you know, we certainly can't put the AI genie back in the bog if it's out there. Yes. Obviously, lots of issues to navigate.

And, you know, the governance of it will be so, so important. And that's down to the policymakers to make sure that it's not an extractive technology. But in many ways, my new album. is is is not the antidote to that because that's not what i intended to be because i do think that ai in so many walks of life hopefully can be a force for good for human humankind but i wanted to create a deeply human album which is the reason why i went back to my pencil and my pen with the diary and connecting my experiences from the past, speaking to people, taking in everything that I could around me, walking past shops. I remember a coffee song. I walked past a shop one day that said, great coffee for great causes.

It was in the city of London, actually, as I was walking to the ABRSM. And I thought, you know, it would be lovely to just have a coffee song. You know, coffee is a theme. It's good enough for Bach with his coffee cantata, I think it was. And it's certainly good enough for me. And yeah, and the coffee song on this, and I can't wait for people to hear a coffee song, but for me on the album, it's representative of so much more. It's that act of becoming, you know, it's that act of metamorphosis in the morning, that act of transformation and where we all hold the promise of the day in our hands and reach outstretched. And yeah, so it's... And the other thing I really love about 24 is the tracks, you

know, they're in the position that they're in, the chronology as it's presented, which is representative of my day. I would love people to reorder them, to reorder the tracks. Yeah, I just think that would be such a cool thing. And, you know, I look forward to, I look forward to. to see how it's going to be received and how people can put their own stamp on it, all that sort of the TikTokification of it all and people playing, you know. I'm here for all of it, Erica, and this is what I love about the music. It's trying to be closer to listeners, closer to fans, closer to supporters, and also closer to learners. You know, I can't wait to see. people of all ages play the pieces on the piano. And I get such

a kick out of that and hearing their progress. Fantastic. The score won't be available for each piece, will it? Well, they have been thus far, all the scores to my albums, machine music folios. And so, yeah, I have no reason to doubt that this will be either. Fantastic. Fantastic. Wonderful. Well, we have talked so much and we're getting towards the end. So what I'd like to do now is ask you some light -hearted questions and see what your response will be. Okay. Okay, first one. If you could play only one piece from now on, what would it be? Bach's Gold Bear Variations.

Next. Really? Oh, yeah. It's easy. It's easy. Yeah, absolutely. I love it. I love it. Yeah, or Messiaen Varigard. But I think Bart Goldberg. Yeah, absolutely. That's first out of the bottle. Okay. Yes, it came out really easily. Okay. I like this. Well, maybe the next question we've already answered. If you could play only one composer from now on, who would it be? It would be Bach, James Bach. Yeah. He's amazing, isn't he? Yes. Covers everything. Okay. One pianist, dead or alive, you would travel long and far to hear? Glenn Gould. Oh. Yes. Obviously not alive, but I absolutely, I remember carrying around stories about, biographies about Glenn Gould. to my first important concerts, the inspiration,

the idiosyncrasy as well, and also the lessons, so many quirks that were rooted in deep, cogent logic and so many interesting things. So for me, Glenn Gould would be the one. Got it. Okay. One person, dead or alive, that you would love to play for. Oh, okay. Okay. Interesting. It doesn't have to be a musician. It could be something more personal. Yeah, okay. So I'm going to go for, excuse me, the teacher in Paris who Quincy Jones studied with and many other composers.

Boulanger. Boulanger. Yes. Yeah. So I would say Nadia Boulanger. That would have been very cool. You would have liked some of her advice? I think so. But also it's not only the advice, it's the lineage. So many important people in that room, obviously not all at the same time, but have passed through her corridors and listened to her advice and actually to be part of that lineage, part of that rich musical history. I think would have been wonderful. Great. Do you have any technical issues, hurdles? Do I have any technical issues?

My gate's not shutting at the moment. That is a very, very technical issue. And I'm afraid I'll have to get somebody in to look at that because DIY, but I know that's not what you meant. So I... Well, I'll tell you, I've been in Switzerland for the last two and a half months composing. But I did go to the gym when I was there. And when I was in the gym shower, my finger contorted to get the soap out of the soap dispenser. And in doing so, Erica, this is big news. I know this is what you really wanted to hear. And in doing so, I injured my finger so badly. So I do have a technical issue to do with my finger and it's all down to the gym shower. So my advice is if there's a gym, avoid it at all costs. But

now it's healing, but it's just so, so, it's just so, so slow. And it's quite painful at times, but I'm... I'm just buoyed by the fact that it's my index finger on my right hand. But I'm buoyed by the fact that every day it appears to be getting a little bit better. But goodness me, it's taking such a long time. So there, we've got, that's the technical issue. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. That's terrible though, isn't it? Just something just so automatic. It was just so silly. I don't know what on earth I was thinking. You know, why can't I just dispense soap like a normal person? Goodness knows what I did. Have you had any physio or you've just let it? No, I have a deep respect for physiotherapists, but I have quite an uneasy

relationship with physio. I'm of that kind of age where things start to just, you know, ache and tweak. And my back was in a little bit of discomfort and I was avoiding going to the physio. In the end, my wife put her foot down and said, you are going to the physio. And I'm so pleased I did. And he worked his magic. So that fixed that. The thing is a little bit trickier. That would need some very, very specialist advice.

But I'm really hoping that Mother Nature will just do her thing and time will kick in. And it will just start to ease day by day. But I'll be fine. I'll certainly be good for the concerts next year. And did I mention the Palladium April the 27th? I think we've got that. I might even write a little note at the end of this podcast.

Two more to go. What advice would you give to an amateur pianist about how to improve? I would take a leaf out of Glenn Gould's book. I remember when I was reading these stories about Klingel, there was a fascinating one where he was struggling to play Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, struggling to play a particular passage. So he employed these kind of displacement techniques where he put on the hoover and started practicing to the hoover. In the end, he decided that he was just going to take a journey out and took a journey out with the score and came back. But it was the displacement thing that really... So when I practice, I generally have about three or four things. I'm generally reading a book, watching

a movie, practicing, and something. So it's about three or four things. It's never just the practicing. And I always practice in silence. So all my instruments are dummy instruments. So there's never any sound. So the sound is inside, not external, which is why I can listen to external audio. But for a pianist learning how to play, I would say this, and it's in part speaks to the displacement stuff.

So it would be, I think it's the independence of finger movements. So I would say. sit properly and and and try to to sit so you're comfortable and on a comfortable height as well um it wants to be a fairly low position so you have control over your wrist um forming a nice shape with your hand and then when you get into whether you've got a teacher whether you're watching youtube to learn a way to really accelerate your learning and i do say this with some experience of what i used to teach many years ago particularly when i used to teach adults and we're going back here i don't know um when i used to live in harrow that's that's many many years ago certainly before rugby school and all the rest of that the way

i used to get my adult learners to to accelerate was to write their name with their with the opposing hands on whichever hand isn't there their first hand, and to play a particular passage with their other hand. And to do this really deliberately and slowly, and the results were extraordinary. The results were extraordinary. There we go.

That's my tip. To write your name, so if you take, so you're playing a passage, and you're going to take your left hand, if you're right handed, and you will write your name, Yes. And the calligraphy needs to be quite sort of, yeah, beautiful. And you will play a simple passage with the other hand. Do that very, very slowly and deliberately. That's one tip. And the other tip would just be to do the kind of donyani type exercises, which is hand on the piano. And we're going to raise. your finger four and finger two at the same time, keeping all the others down.

Finger five and three, you'll know all about this, Erica. And that's another goal. But it's the writing of the name. Can you do that in your head? And it's the brain. It's getting your brain to work in a different way, isn't it? It's all in the brain. So it's all about, yes, it's strength and it's independence, but you want your fingers to do what you want them to do. In that moment, you want them to execute. And that is what piano, that's not all what piano playing is about, but it's certainly a significant facet is being able to communicate those signals and get the fingers to do what we want them to do. I need a lesson with you. Well, no, just get the crayon out and you'll be away. But you're a pianist yourself.

What are you playing at the moment, Erica? Oh, I always like to do a bit of Rachmaninoff. I'm a Rachmaninoff Schumann kind of. But I do love Bach. I do love Bach. Do you have daily Bach? Most probably. It just does something to the soul, you know. Just grounding, isn't it? It's just so, so grounding. My oldest teachers at Royal Academy when I was very young, and their whole idea of bar conventions and then all the, you know, the prelude and fugues. And, of course, you know, the musical diet, certainly in those days, was perhaps not as adventurous as they are now, particularly, you know, as quite rightly bringing in composers who perhaps have been underserved in the past. But yeah, I remember just devouring

huge swathes of Bach and absolutely loving it and carrying that passion into the present day. Yeah, and you never, in fact, most probably as kids, you know, we had to learn those Bach preludes and fugues kind of maybe begrudgingly a bit. But as time goes by, the love of Bach deepens, doesn't it? I think so. There was certainly at certain points a begrudging element, you know, another round of Bach and Haydn and Weisheven and the usual suspects. And I suppose one did yearn for just a little bit more sort of music off the beaten track. um back then i certainly i did i did yearn but but but also i i remember creating um you know just talking of sort of representations certainly classical i remember

when i was studying it that there wasn't a lot of diversity in that sense i remember creating mosaic in my head of all the musicians that i loved i remember and one corner in my mind's eyes people like martin And then another, there might have been Glenn Gould. Another might be Stevie Wonder. Another, there might be Keith Jarrett. Another, just really interesting musicians and thinking, well, I can't see anything that they want to be in one person. So I'm going to create this mosaic and run to that. So somebody improvises and composes, but also play. But yeah, so I guess on some days, the Bach was certainly played begrudgingly. But I've always held a deep love and, you know, certainly admiration for

his music. Okay, we're nearly up. Last question. If you weren't a musician, what would you be? Two things, I think. Well, there's a few. I do remember, I think I was some late Beethoven sonatas. I think 101 is among them, 106, so Hammerklavier. I was feeling very sorry for myself once. trudging my way to Jimmy Gibb to preparing for something.

I remember looking out the window and spotting a postman in his shorts delivering letters unhurriedly. I actually wrote about this in my diary as I was writing the album 24. Delivering a letter on time, yet in his own time. And I just... It's not a simple, you know, I have such a such a respect for professions like this, like professions like postman, electricians, plumbers. And actually, these people are going to be having the last laugh, I think. But, you know, people will have those vocations and certainly those skills have such a deep respect. And but I remember just thinking I would have loved to have been a postman.

That's in one circle. On the other, I think just something in maths. something math c because uh that was my other the other area that we were um trained in at at home and um certainly that was something i excelled in so math and chemistry particularly okay i thought maybe a chef with all that food you had growing up i i'm certainly expert at um eating but um not uh not in the kitchen creating And that's probably just laziness, actually. I'm not going to say anything. It's probably just laziness. But it's also because I'm just deeply appreciative of my wife's cooking.

There you go. I got it in. Oh, fantastic. Oh, Alexis, this has just been a fantastic discovery for me, all the things you've talked about. And I'm sure that's to really. Well, thank you. Thank you, Erica. It's always a pleasure to see you. Big fan of the magazine, big fan of the podcast and everything you do. So thank you so much.

Oh, thank you, Alexis. All the best. I look forward to hearing you at the Palladium in April. April. April it is. Hopefully the finger will be tickety boo by then. I'm sure it will. All right. Thank you, Alexis. Okay. All the best. Bye. Bye. That was the track Lifted. And it was performed by Alexis French on his new album. Pianist podcasts are free and a really good way to support what we do is by subscribing to Pianist. Visit our website at pianismagazine .com and listen to us on YouTube by searching Pianist Magazine.

And don't forget to sign up to our newsletter, which is full of extra playing tips and useful information. Go to pianismagazine .com to find out how to sign up.

Kapitelklicken springt direkt hin

Shownotes

Transkriptvom Podcast bereitgestellt · Zeitmarken springen hin