Sidney Harrison (4 May 1903 – 8 January 1986) was a British pianist, composer, broadcaster and educationalist who taught at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with dram ...

for many years.''Musical Times'' obituary, March 1986, p. 162 His students included

Norma Fisher Norma Fisher (born 1940) is an English concert pianist and professor of piano living in London. Illness shortened her performing career in the 1990s and she turned instead to teaching. Biography Norma Fisher was born in London of Russian-Polish ...

and

John Lill John Richard Lill (born 17 March 1944 in London) is a British classical pianist. Biography Lill studied at the Royal College of Music with Angus Morrison, and with Wilhelm Kempff. His talent emerged at an early age, he gave his first piano re ...

, and one of his protégés was

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

Early life

The son of a tailor, Harrison grew up in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

, London, England, and began playing the piano at the age of four. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music under

Francesco Berger Francesco Berger (10 June 1834 – 26 April 1933) was a pianist and composer. He was a piano teacher and a professor at the Royal Academy of Music. He is mostly remembered as the honorary secretary of the Royal Philharmonic Society, Philharmonic ...

and

Orlando Morgan Robert Orlando Morgan (16 March 1865 – 16 May 1956) was an English music teacher, composer and musicologist. He is best remembered as an influential teacher at the Guildhall School of Music in London, where he taught for 64 years, from 1887 to ...

and was subsequently a professor of piano there, from 1927 until 1965.

Career

Harrison made his first public appearances in the 1920s as a solo pianist, in chamber ensembles and as a concerto performer, travelling across the UK, Scandinavia, the Low Countries and France. This continued over the next few decades, including frequent

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

broadcasts. From the 1940s Harrison's broadcasting work expanded into schools programming, music appreciation and as the presenter of gramophone records, continuing until the late 1970s. In 1950 Harrison gave what has been claimed to be the first televised piano lesson. The first of six weekly lessons was broadcast by BBC Television as ''Piano Lesson No 1'' on 10 January 1950. The series continued in November the same year as '' How to Play the Piano''. Harrison was also an occasional composer: published works include a suite ''The Voyage: five pieces for piano solo'' (OUP 1949), and the ''Fantasia on 'Brother James's Air (OUP 1952). In 1956 George Martin (who had been encouraged to audition for the Guildhall School by Harrison) recorded some lessons and performances of

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

and Chopin on a

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

extended play record called ''Sidney Harrison Shows You How''. This was followed in 1957 with a BBC TV miniseries '' Teacher Didn't Tell Me''. During the 1960s and 1970s Harrison was a frequent broadcaster, and occasional guest on the BBC television musical quiz show '' Face the Music''. After 1965 Harrison continued teaching piano at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

and adjudicating at competitions. He was chairman of the European Piano Teachers' Association and also the editor of its quarterly ''Piano Journal''. He continued performing at recitals until the end of his life. His dozen books included ''Music for the Multitude'' (1939), ''The Enjoyment of Music'' (1953), ''Piano Technique'' (1953), the autobiographical ''Teacher Never Told Me'' (1961) and ''Grand Piano'' (1977).

Personal life

During the 1960s he was living by the River Thames at 57 Hartington Road in

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...

, and later at 37 The Avenue, Chiswick.''Writers Directory, 1980–1982'', p. 534
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Sidney 1903 births 1986 deaths 20th-century British classical pianists 20th-century British male musicians Academics of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama BBC television presenters British classical composers British classical pianists British male classical pianists British piano educators Classical music radio presenters