Michael Head was born in 1900. He attended the Monkton Combe music school and was later taught piano by Jean Adair, a pupil of Clara Schumann. After service in the war, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London where he became a professor aged twenty-seven.

An accomplished singer himself, he wrote one hundred and twenty-four songs, often inspired by the English countryside. As a teacher and examiner, at home and abroad, Michael’s aim was to encourage everyone to engage in music. He died in 1976.