 Trevor Pinnock was born in Canterbury , where his grandfather had run a Salvation Army band . His father was Kenneth Alfred Thomas Pinnock , a publisher , and his mother , Joyce Edith , née Muggleton , was an amateur singer . In Canterbury , the Pinnock family lived near the pianist Ronald Smith , from whose sister Pinnock had piano lessons . He became a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral when he was seven , attending the choir school from 1956 to 1961 and subsequently Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys . After receiving instruction in piano and organ , he served as a church organist ; by the time he was 15 , he began to play the harpsichord . At age 19 , he won a Foundation Scholarship to the Royal College of Music to study organ and he also studied harpsichord , winning prizes for performance on both instruments . His teachers were Ralph Downes and Millicent Silver . A strong early influence was Gustav Leonhardt , though he did not study with him . 
