john tavener was born in wembley, middlesex. he went to highgate school in north london. another pupil there at the time was john rutter. at school he studied piano, organ and composition and wrote music for the school orchestra. he also wrote music for the presbyterian church where his family went and where his father was organist. in 1962 he went to the royal college of music where he studied the piano at first but then changed to composition. one of his early successes was a cantata called "cain and abel" which was performed by the london bach society. it was the performance of "the whale" by the london sinfonietta in 1968 that made him really famous. this work used collage, pre-recorded tape, amplified percussion and a chorus who used loudhailers. this kind of thing was very fashionable in the 1960s.