I am struck by how fragile music study is. As soon as a child starts lessons their musicality is exposed, as is parental anxiety. Peer pressure and sibling rivalry contribute their share to a complex picture, making the undertaking ever more complex and difficult to assess.

Teachers are very aware of these forces at work on the child's sense of what it is all about. Being human they, too, are subject to insecurities.

No wonder iron-clad methods remain so attractive.