ABOUT
Music has been at the centre of my life for just about as long as I can remember. I still play and practice the piano every day and have a small teaching practice, but most of my working life now is spent a little further back from the piano stool, supporting piano teachers - through consultancy, training and mentoring - helping them to teach with more curiosity, confidence and skill. It's work I find endlessly stimulating, because it means I get to think deeply about what makes teaching genuinely effective.
SALLY CATHCART
I'm a pianist, piano teacher and researcher. I still can't quite believe that playing and teaching the piano is what I get to do every day. It's been my greatest joy for as long as I can remember and it all started without me having the faintest idea of the journey I was embarking on!
I have a teaching studio where I work with students of all ages and stages; from complete beginners to advanced players including piano teachers.
I teach a few children and specialise in those crucial early lessons, because I believe the beginner stage deserves the most skilful and thoughtful teaching of all. At the heart of everything I do is the belief that developing the musician with a good ear comes first, and that a piano lesson should always be full of curiosity, energy and real musical joy.
Alongside my piano teaching, I spent 14 years as a Director of Music in schools, which gave me a real understanding of the challenges music departments face and I've since worked as a PGCE tutor, an MA lecturer at the University of Reading, and Musicianship Director for The Voices Foundation.
I hold a PhD from the Institute of Education, UCL, where I carried out the first comprehensive study of UK piano teachers, exploring their practices, values and motivations — questions I'm still endlessly curious about!
A Churchill Travelling Fellowship took me to South Africa, Hungary and Cuba to study aural approaches to instrumental learning, and that "curious adventure" changed the course of my career. I came home with a much deeper appreciation of collaboration and community, and it led me to found the Oxford Piano Group, a lovely gathering place for amateur pianists to meet, play and share ideas.
The Churchill Fellowship also planted the seed for The Curious Piano Teachers, which I co-founded in 2015 with my great friend and colleague Sharon Mark-Teggart.
Together we've built a warm, worldwide online community for piano teachers who want to think a little differently about why, what and how they teach.
In 2022, I was appointed Director of The Piano Teachers' Course UK, the longest-running course of its kind for pianists and teachers who want to develop their skills within a genuinely supportive network.
I frequently work as a consultant with many of the major instrumental exam boards (ABRSM, Trinity, LCME, MTB).
I'm proud to be a Fellow of the Incorporated Society of Musicians.
I'm the author of Ready to Play, a series of three progressive musicianship series for young pianists. Based on Kodály principles they are designed to establish firm, musical foundations alongside the development of pianistic skills.
I'm currently co-editing the Oxford Handbook of Piano Pedagogy with Dr Christopher Fisher, which is due to be published in 2027.
When I'm not at the piano or computer, you can find me playing viola in an orchestra, or walking in the countryside.
Whatever I'm doing, I'm always chasing that same sense of curiosity, joy and discovery that first drew me to the piano — and I love nothing more than sharing it with others.
