Catherine Vickers, winner of the Busoni Prize in 1979, has been a professor of piano at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen and the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts for many years. Her instructional work 'The Listening Hand' is intended for all pianists who wish to augment their pianistic skills in the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Volume I, published successfully a year ago, provides the fundamentals with scales, intervals and tonal systems based on the harmony of Messiaen, while Volume II contains more advanced exercises on dynamics, attack and touch and special effects. They will soon be followed by Volume III which will focus on rhythmic studies with selected examples from the widely ramified repertoire.