
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Kate Kennedy meets musicians who, like her, had to stop playing after injury and rethink their lives. What does this mean for a musician's relationship with their instrument?
Aged 11, Stephen Marquiss was labelled an exemplary piano scholar. Gaining a music specialist place in 1990 Stephen promptly attained the highest ABRSM exam mark in the country and reached the televised semi-final of BBC Young Musicians. But then injury forced him to pull out. At 18, his career was all but over, having struggled with recurring RSI, musculo-skeletal issues, which destroyed his confidence and mental health. Ironically, this crisis forced him to address fundamental aspects of how piano is taught and played - and now at 45, Stephen has his own school of playing called Piano Portals, which seeks to rewrite how practice is approached. Kate takes him back to his practice rooms, to help us understand the intensity and the fear of failure that drove him to injury and we learn how his new approach to playing unfolded.
Presenter: Kate Kennedy
By BBC Radio 34.2
8282 ratings
Kate Kennedy meets musicians who, like her, had to stop playing after injury and rethink their lives. What does this mean for a musician's relationship with their instrument?
Aged 11, Stephen Marquiss was labelled an exemplary piano scholar. Gaining a music specialist place in 1990 Stephen promptly attained the highest ABRSM exam mark in the country and reached the televised semi-final of BBC Young Musicians. But then injury forced him to pull out. At 18, his career was all but over, having struggled with recurring RSI, musculo-skeletal issues, which destroyed his confidence and mental health. Ironically, this crisis forced him to address fundamental aspects of how piano is taught and played - and now at 45, Stephen has his own school of playing called Piano Portals, which seeks to rewrite how practice is approached. Kate takes him back to his practice rooms, to help us understand the intensity and the fear of failure that drove him to injury and we learn how his new approach to playing unfolded.
Presenter: Kate Kennedy

7,924 Listeners

143 Listeners

1,063 Listeners

5,577 Listeners

1,801 Listeners

303 Listeners

1,748 Listeners

1,024 Listeners

1,951 Listeners

488 Listeners

585 Listeners

71 Listeners

411 Listeners

305 Listeners

760 Listeners

839 Listeners

129 Listeners

61 Listeners

241 Listeners

56 Listeners

52 Listeners

181 Listeners

4,170 Listeners

3,236 Listeners