Florence Cole was my piano teacher. She lived in a house built ca. 1900 in Leighton Gardens, Kensal Rise, London NW10. A pleasant easy-going lady, she had a lot of grey untidy hair and gave lessons on an upright piano in her front room where there was also a baby grand piano. The room was cluttered with piles of music and when she gave theory lessons we stood round the grand using the top as a desk. For as long as I can remember she charged 2/- (20p) for a half hour's tuition. The room was lit by gas which gave her frequent problems with its light not being uniformly constant - until, one day she got hold of the tube emerging from the ceiling and gave it a good shake. Thereafter all was well. Her mother was a blind, foreign-looking lady and in the Summer she would sit by the front door and talk to us. She knew us all by our voices.

When I first started she put a very large, worn music book on the piano stand with huge notes which I found very confusing, but I must have picked it up somehow. One of the earliest pieces I recall playing was Monkey up a Stick. She would add fingering over the tops of the notes in the music we had to buy, and regular practice at home was expected - but not always diligently carried out. There was a set of graded music books, Music of the Masters but I never got beyond the third book.

She entered me into an exam or competition at the Royal College of Music at Kensington and I recall the examiner stopping me playing, saying the rhythm was wrong and I had to do it a differently. But I was really supposed to have sung, not played the piano but was too shy to point that out. Nevertheless I did well and Miss Cole gave me a book, Wild Life in the Ice and Snow, one of the mosts enjoyable childrens' books I ever read. When I became really interested in music I started to try to become a better pianist but found it impossible to relax my wrists and that doomed any chance of proficiency.

I bought two volumes of Mozart's piano sonatas and had them bound into a single book and she taught me from that. But I was keen to get on and bought Liszt's concert study, La Leggierezza, a really difficult piece and she did allow me to try it but I was unable to even master the first bar.

In her front garden she had a stainless steel plaque with her name and qualifications engraved on it, standing on a post, angled upwards. She often used to cover it with a black cloth and when I asked her why, she said it was to prevent it shining when the moon was out and giving German bombers something to aim at.

I grew older and gave up lessons but I recall writing her a letter thanking her for her efforts.

Letter to Mrs D M Burch, 4 Tynedale Close, Oadby LEICESTER LE2 4TS

7 July 2012

Dear Mrs Burch,

Florence COLE, LRAM, ATCL, LTCL & Anr.

Thank you for your letter about Florence COLE. It’s by no means a rare surname so there are bound to be several candidates. Florence COLE was my piano teacher in Kensal Rise, London, NW10 during and after WWII. I lost track of her c. 1955. She lived with her elderly blind mother and as far as I know, was unmarried. I have no idea when she died and although it would not be too difficult to find out, other things took priority, so my date of 1880 was a guess.

She claimed that her cousin was Maurice COLE, a pianist who d. ca 20 years ago. He achieved only modest success, (artists in those days with English names trod a stony path), but was a frequent BBC broadcaster.
I may well take an interest in her again and will let you know if any likely tie-ups come to notice. Thanks again for writing,

Alan Merryweather.