Learn to practice piano properly — and watch your playing transform faster than you thought possible.

Find out more about Benedict

• 1) When did you first develop a passion for music and your favourite instrument?

  I grew up surrounded by music, but the real turning point came in my teens when I started to understand that music wasn't just a subject — it was a language. The piano was my first love and still feels like home base, but over the years I've also studied organ, strings, singing, and composition. The organ in particular opened up an entirely different way of experiencing sound and physical coordination. Each instrument has taught me something unique, but piano is the one I return to most — both as a performer and as a teacher.

• 2) Is there a particular type of music or artist that you listen to on a loop without it driving you crazy?

  Art Tatum. His improvisations are like living organisms — dense, playful, surprising, and full of detail you miss the first ten times through. There's always another twist in the harmony or a sudden rhythmic flourish that catches you off guard. Even after years of listening, I still find myself stopping mid-bar thinking: how on earth did he do that?

• 3) Explain to us the most difficult or riveting course you could personally give to a student of music.

  Teaching someone to trust themselves. Most students arrive convinced they're not talented enough, not progressing fast enough, or too old to really improve. My job is to dismantle those beliefs — not with reassurance, but with results. When a student realises they've just played something they genuinely thought was beyond them, that's the moment everything changes. Designing the path that gets them there, step by step, is the most challenging and rewarding thing I do as a teacher.

• 4) What do you think is the most complicated instrument to master and why?

  The organ — and I say that as someone who has studied it seriously, held an organ scholarship at Oxford, and served as the Michael James Organ Scholar at Portsmouth Cathedral. The coordination alone is staggering: both hands on different manuals, both feet on the pedals, all while managing stops and registration in real time. Unlike the piano, where dynamics come directly from touch, the organ demands that you plan sound structurally — almost like orchestrating as you play. It is endlessly humbling and endlessly rewarding.

• 5) What are your keys to success?

  Teaching students to practice, not just to play. Most people practice the same way they always have — repeating things they already know, glossing over the parts that are actually hard, and wondering why progress is slow. Effective practice is a learnable skill, and it's the single biggest lever available to any pianist. Once a student has it, progress stops depending on me and starts depending on them. That's exactly the outcome I'm working towards in every lesson.

• 6) Name three musicians you dream of meeting in your favourite bar in the early hours of the morning. Explain why.

  Art Tatum — I'd want to understand how he thought about the keyboard in real time. My instinct is he'd describe it all very matter-of-factly, which would make it even more extraordinary.
  
  Bach — partly to thank him for the body of music we still live inside, and partly out of sheer curiosity about what he'd make of modern instruments and harmony. I think he'd be more amused than shocked.
  
  Bill Evans — his touch, his sense of harmony, and his way of sitting inside a chord rather than moving past it make him one of the most thoughtful musicians in history. A conversation with him about sound and silence would be worth any amount of lost sleep.

• 7) Provide a valuable anecdote related to music or your days at music school.

  When I was studying at Oxford, I brought in a piece I thought I knew inside out. Instead of pointing out mistakes, my teacher asked a simple question: "What are you trying to say with this?" It stopped me completely. Until that moment, I'd thought of practice as getting notes right. That one question shifted everything — music as communication, not just accuracy. It's the single most important thing I've taken into my teaching, and it's the question I find myself returning to with students again and again.

• 8) What are the little touches that make you a Superprof in music?

  teach students from secondary school age upwards — including teenagers working towards grades, adult returners who last played years ago, and self-taught pianists who want to understand what they're actually doing. What these students have in common is that they want to make real progress, not just show up once a week and hope for the best.
  
  The little touches that make the difference: a personalised practice plan from the very first session, clear notes after each lesson, video feedback between sessions, and access to a community of pianists at a similar stage. Students also get the Expert Learner Workbook — a resource I've developed specifically to help people practice with intention rather than repetition.
  
  The lessons themselves feel different from conventional piano teaching. Students often say so unprompted. That's the point.