Recent research carried out by a team of researchers headed by Dr. Graeme Lawson of the University of Cambridge has established that musicians in prehistoric times deliberately altered the pitch of certain notes played on flutes. Whereas the wooden and bone instruments have holes which yield essentially fixed scales, microscopic examination of the areas around these holes has revealed that the players would slide their fingers over the holes in a way consistent with "bending" the notes.

As every student within the BBCM knows, this is precisely the "expressive intonation" or "voice leading" which Agnes advocates in the performance of all music and which has largely disappeared from modern-day musical expression.

Dr Gary McConnell, Adult Class