Already, just by messing about on the keyboard and playing by ear to the limited extent I can, I was able to appreciate how precise and mathematical Bach is. Yet, contrary to expectations, that does not diminish the emotion in the music. It is things like that I am fascinated to learn.

Almost everyone on this planet loves music which demonstrates how powerful it is. Even some animals do and, for the benefit of those who have not encountered this anecdote, it is worth repeating something I came across. A few years, ago Clint Eastwood got together with four of his friends who also are leading Hollywood film directors and made a series of films about jazz. In the film Clint Eastwood himself made, he had Oscar Peterson at the piano somewhere in the wild. I am not sure where it was but it must have been somewhere like the desert of Arizona. As Peterson played in a very desolated spot, three deer stopped to listen cocking their ears to do so. One can be sure they were listening because they stayed until he finished playing but moved on a few moments after he finished.

I write this from London, England, where I live as the 2012 Olympic Games are under way. Not only that, but at this season’s BBC Promenade Concerts Daniel Barenboim has performed all the Beethoven symphonies with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra he and the Palestinian literary scholar Edward Said created. That ensemble brings together young musicians from Israel and the Arab countries every summer to enable a dialogue between the various cultures of the Middle East in spite of the turmoil there.

Music is a bit like sport. They both bring people together in a trouble world. Your endeavour, Andrew adds powerfully to that effort and I join the throng who thank you for doing this.