And just Who do you think you are, coming in here?

What makes you authorized personnel?

Actually, I'm glad you entered. As a musician doing my best to play the right notes, I have often felt unworthy and second best to the ones whose fingers fly around the keys with apparent ease. For years I never dared try Chopin's piano music, because I believed it was far too difficult and I could never play it. Then one day, a year 11 piano pupil came in and said that his Grandad had offered him £100 if he could play the Minute Waltz by Chopin, so could he please learn it?

I did not have much choice. We tried it together. I soon found it was not half as bad as I feared. Whether his Grandad coughed up the money Idon't know, as he was not all that good at it, but I kept at it. I performed it in a concert recently, and nobody threw any rotten tomatoes.

It seems to me that half the battle of learning an instrument is to overcome inner concerns of being inadequate. So, yes, you are authorized personnel and don't let anyone make you think otherwise. Play on!