Joan Mary Last was an English music educator, author and composer born in Littlehampton

Littlehampton

Littlehampton is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, on the east bank at the mouth of the River Arun. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton and east of the county town of Chichester....

, Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. She studied piano with Mathilde Verne

Mathilde Verne

Mathilde Verne was an English pianist and teacher, of German descent.She was born Mathilde Wurm, in Southampton, England, the fourth of ten children, all of whom were musically gifted. She was initially a student of Franklin Taylor. She had the opportunity to play to Clara Schumann, who took her...

 and made her debut as a pianist at the Aeolian Hall

Aeolian Hall

Aeolian Hall may refer to:*Aeolian Hall , a concert hall near Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City*Aeolian Hall , England*Aeolian Hall , a historic music venue in London, Ontario...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1926. After an injury to her hand ended her performing career, Last turned to teaching and composing. She taught music at the Royal Academy of Music and was awarded an OBE in 1988 for services to music education. She never married.