A RYEDALE composer and music publisher has written a new book to help beginner pianists overcome a recurring problem.

Graham Lyons, from Kirkbymoorside, said he got the idea for the new approach after listening to an interview on Radio 4 with a man who had started learning the piano on his 50th birthday.

“He said, ‘I can play the left hand and I can play the right hand, but it all goes horribly wrong when I play them together’,” Graham remembers.

So in response he wrote and has published “Under the Fingers”, a book designed to simplify learning the piano, so named because the fingers of each hand stay on just five notes.

The book is split into three sections; first with the two hands copying each other, then doing a “mirror-image” of each other, and finally, gradually, becoming independent of each other.

It is written for adults, as well as younger learners, he added.

Under The Fingers is published by Useful Music at £5. It is available on order from Minim Music in Ryedale or from SpartanPress.