Over the last 20+ years I have developed a keen interest in playing electronic keyboards. It's a great way of de-stressing after the rigours of the day (well even in retirement it can get stressful....), but I am no Rick Wakeman! Other than with some assistance of an experienced tutor during 2004 to help improve my playing technique, I am self-taught.

I began in 1987 with a simple 49 note mini keyboard, which gave me sufficient confidence that this was not a short-term fad, so in 1988 I took the plunge and brought a Roland E20 five octave synthesiser. By 1994 and after consultations with the finance director (the other half!) I went for the Technics KN2000. At the time it was a major leap forward in functionality, which enabled me to more fully explore my fledging musical talents. By 1999 technology and my skills had moved on sufficiently to justify a KN5000, which I kept until 2002 when I upgraded to the KN7000. A superb instrument, but sadly the last of it’s type as Technics withdrew from the market a few years later.

My current keyboard, Yamaha Tyros 3, represents state of the art technology and contains many superb sampled sounds, as well as being highly configurable to enable me to be more expressive as well as exploring a wider variety of musical taste.

I tend to enjoy playing big band/ orchestral pieces covering the 30's through to 70's period. Also, I get together with friends periodically to jam - all good fun! I have also explored the use of the sequencer in conjunction with my computer running Cakewalk Sonar to widen my sound experience, as well as helping me to improve my playing skills, particularly timing.

There are many web sites devoted to the distribution of MIDI files and a number of specialist sites which contain some excellent examples of sound & rhythms submitted by other keyboard users or forums