Between the Notes: Essays on Living With Music
A collection of essays drawn from articles originally published on The Cross-Eyed Pianist and A Piano Teacher Writes… between 2010 and 2026.
What does it mean to live with music?
For musicians, music-making extends far beyond the notes on the page. It is found in the solitude of the practice room, in curiosity and frustration, in our relationships with teachers and repertoire, in the rituals surrounding performance, and in the lifelong process of learning, exploring and returning to the music we love.
In Between the Notes: Essays on Living with Music, pianist, writer and former piano teacher Frances M Wilson (AKA The Cross-Eyed Pianist) brings together a collection of essays exploring the inner life of the musician.
Drawing on more than fifteen years of writing about music and music-making, these essays consider practice and performance, interpretation and artistic autonomy, perfectionism and failure, the pleasures and challenges of amateur musicianship, and the intensely personal relationships we develop with particular pieces of music.
This is not a book about how to play the piano. Instead, it asks broader questions: Why do we make music? What does practising teach us beyond technical accomplishment? How do we develop an interpretation that feels genuinely our own? What does it mean to perform for others? And why does music become such an enduring part of our identity?
Written with warmth, curiosity and the perspective of a lifelong musician, Between the Notes celebrates music-making not simply as something we do, but as something we live with.
Frances Wilson…one of the best writers blogging about classical music
Rhonda Rizzo, writer & pianist
an important voice in the piano world
Peter Donohoe CBE, concert pianist
For professional and amateur musicians, teachers and students, and anyone curious about the life that exists between and beyond the notes.
Written with warmth, curiosity and the perspective of a lifelong musician, Between the Notes celebrates music-making not simply as something we do, but as something we live with.
Available in paperback and eBook.
