Alan Brown (musical transcription) is a former member of the Scottish National Orchestra. He now works as a freelance musician, with several leading UK orchestras, and as a consultant in music and IT. Alan has had several compositions published, developed a set of music theory CD-Roms, co-written a series of Bass Guitar Examination Handbooks and worked on over 100 further titles.

The Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) was a noted harpsichordist whose work straddled the baroque and classical music eras. He was born in Naples, as the son of the renowned composer Alessandro Scarlatti. His early teachers included his father and Francesco Gasparini in Venice. After a period as a prominent musical director and composer in Rome and Lisbon, Scarlatti lived in Spain, later tutoring the future Queen of Spain in Madrid. It is believed that he composed the majority of his famous 555 keyboard sonatas during this later stage of his life, and he remained in Spain until his death in 1757.