I began this project just before the world stood still. I was feeling stuck with my compositions. I started things and abandoned them. Grand plans bounced round my head but came to nothing.

Almost every day I get up, I make coffee, and I sit down at the piano to practice. I learn pieces, I do jazz exercises, I work my way through sight-reading workbooks, perfecting pieces for performances.

But how do I practice composing? I wasn’t sure so I decided to set myself an exercise – to write twenty four pieces, each twenty four bars long. Why 24 bars ? I mark up A4 manuscript paper with a ruler when I write by hand. For piano this means I end up with 24 bars on the page. Why 24 pieces? One in each key, 12 major, 12 minor – I am still a jazzer even when I write things down.