Caroline Diffley

Born in the Brighouse and Rastrick area of Yorkshire, Caroline Diffley attended Badminton School, Bristol, after which she went on to study the piano at the Royal College of Music in London. While at the College she gained diplomas in both piano teaching and piano performing; her teachers were Lamar Crowson, David Parkhouse and Malcolm Binns. She also spent a term at the Academia Chigiana in Siena, working with both Guido Agosti and with the pianist Arturo Michelangeli.

During a teaching career spanning four decades, she has taught in Kent (at the Kent Music School), in Oxford (at the Dragon School), and widely in the South West.  She taught piano at Wells Cathedral School, working with both specialist and main-school students, and at Dartington College of Arts for twelve years, and now runs a private teaching practice in Exeter. Caroline is an extremely experienced Associated Board examiner, and has examined all over the UK and the Far East, as well as in the USA and, most recently, Australia. She is also on the diploma examining panel, the Presenter Panel and is a Music Medals moderator. She has been a mentor on the CT ABRSM course and is currently a busy adjudicator for the British and International Federation of Festivals. She has also published articles on various aspects of piano teaching and learning.

She has two grown-up children and lives in Exeter with her husband, who is a Professor of Italian.