Lucy Illingworth captivated the nation at just 13 years old when she performed Debussy’s Arabesque on Channel 4‘s The Piano last year.
The Halifax teen moved viewers to tears as they watched in awe as the blind and autistic pianist recited the piece from memory.
The performance was so moving Lucy was crowned winner of the show February last year with classical pianist Lang Lang, one of the judges, calling her a ‘genius’.
The star pianist started playing piano at the tender age of three, and Daniel has been by her side ever since.
Here we take a look at the musician’s marvellous bond with her piano teacher and music activist Daniel Bath as The Piano returned to our screens last Sunday.
Lucy Illingworth captured the hearts of the nation last year when she won The Piano in February 2023. Pictured: Lucy, aged 13 and Daniel Bath, her piano teacher at Leeds Station
Lucy and Daniel worked closely together, and he adapted his methods to her blindness and autism. Pictured: Lucy performed at Windsor Castle celebrating the coronation of the King
Lucy’s piano teacher humbly branded himself a ‘scruffy music teacher’ in an X post alongside this picture of him beaming. The music activist aims to champion neurodivergent musicians
It all started at a young age for the piano prodigy, first playing the keyboard when she was aged just two.
Daniel first saw her ability when she played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, years before the blind and autistic teen performed on stage at the Royal Festival Hall.
In fact, Lily had the chance to start piano lessons with the teacher Daniel when she was just three through the musical charity The Amber Trust, that he is proudly part of.
He recalled: ‘I first met Lucy in ball pool at school and I couldn’t see anyone in the room at first. And then I saw this little hand sticking out of the ball pool.
‘And someone said “Oh that’s Lucy”. So I put a little keyboard under the hand, and the hand started playing, rather mutinously, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
‘And I thought: “Here’s a girl for whom music is really important.” And it could it be a way of unlocking her language, her social skills, and above all, her enjoyment of life’.
The family upgraded her keyboard and realised she was composing music in her head while sitting on the sofa. She was also able to play back music after listening to it just once.
‘From a fairy tale book with a piano on it, she started playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star but it was pitch perfect. It was such a moment to hear that,’ Lucy’s mother Candice recalled.
Music teacher Daniel first saw Lucy’s fantastic ability when she played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, years before he would see the rising pianist perform on stage in front of a huge crowd
The teenager wowed passers by at Leeds train station with her rendition of Chopin’s Nocturne in B-flat minor in February 2023, with the video being viewed over five million times online
However, Daniel admitted that lessons weren’t easy at first because he had to figure out how to teach and make the most of her talent.
He said when he first started teaching, Lucy couldn’t listen to a piece for more than 10 seconds before she got impatient and would push his hands out of the way.
Now, he will play the entire the piece to her, before he asks Lucy to recite what she remembers she has had.
He said: ‘You can’t teach Lucy, you can only guide her in the journey’.
They teach the hands separately, with Daniel saying he has to physically pick her hands up at times so they can jump over each other.
Lucy puts her hand underneath Daniel’s with Daniel still playing, pressing her fingers down gently before she tries the piece on her own.
‘She loves to improvise, she loves playing jazz and the social interplay of that’, he said.
To play, Lucy reacts to the music with her body, especially her head and leg, which Daniel said he sometimes has to hone her energy to her fingertips.
The pianist, who was born with cancerous tumours in her eyes and is largely non-verbal, was put forward by her mother Candice forward for The Piano as she wanted to show others how ‘amazing’ she was and raise awareness of her condition.
When Daniel first started teaching, Lucy couldn’t listen to a piece for more than 10 seconds before she got impatient and would push his hands out of the way, a far cry from today
The teenager from Halifax, West Yorkshire has since perfected her piano skills. She moved viewers to tears as they watched in awe as she recited the piece from memory on The Piano
Proud piano teacher and music activist Daniel confessed: ‘Of course she’s brilliant and working with her is the greatest blessing a scruffy music teacher like me could dream of.
‘But Lucy is what happens when you make instrumental tuition available to disadvantaged children. Help us to get this message across to those who decide’.
According to his website, Daniel, who has experience with keyboard, strings, voice and brass is a ‘jazz and classical pianist, ethnomusicologist and music education activist’.
He is a music graduate from Cambridge University and worked as a community musician and teacher since he moved to Todmorden, West Yorkshire in 1997.
The devout Catholic has worked in nurseries, refugee centres, schools, and even prisons.
He still works as a tutor for Amber Trust, a charity for visually impaired young musicians and founded Music For The Many – to provide instrumental tuition free of charge, to children and young people.
