The first musical memory I can think of is my nan singing to herself when she did the ironing – she would sing Vera Lynn songs and Gracie Fields. Mum and I lived together with my grandparents until I was 10 and so I grew up with this generation of music that was from a slightly bygone era. We played music on a gramophone that my grandad and my nan’s brother actually built.

My family are from the East End and proudly working class. It didn’t seem to be a barrier to artistic aspirations. My grandad played the violin and my nan’s brothers had accordions – they were always mending all sorts of instruments in the back room of their flat in Poplar.

At school I played the recorder (as you do) and I played the guitar. Mum sent me to classical guitar lessons when I was about seven. My school was a comprehensive in the Midlands. I used to think my education wasn’t that great, but in terms of the arts it was amazing – we had this wonderful music teacher: Mr Dawkins. We each did an aural test and if you passed, you could pick an instrument to play. I picked the saxophone, I was watching The Muppet Show at the time and wanted to be Zoot!

The school helped out with instruments and Mr Dawkins actually lent me his saxophone, which was this beautiful old Buescher, while we were getting my own one. In class he would play a piece of classical music, go through a critique of it and work out the context and the story and what different movements meant.

Growing up, mum and I would listen to the radio constantly. We played records: Deep Purple, Dire Straits, Joan Armatrading, Donna Summer. Roberta Flack was our big love. Its hugely sad she’s just recently left us. Mum took me to concerts at De Monfort Hall in Leicester. We would often get those seats that were round the back of the orchestra which were allegedly the ‘cheap seats’. But how amazing to be on that side, almost in among the musicians, and to see the conductor’s face.

At the moment, the things that I have on my playlist are the sort of old things that mum and I used to listen to: Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony was one we would listen to over and over again, then Satie, Bach, Sibelius and Fauré. I go between classical music and quite heavy rock. I’m a big fan of Biffy Clyro. It always does tend to be grand and sweeping, encompassing sounds that stir me.

One of my first television jobs was Teachers. I was pretty nervous and thought I would learn my lines by making up a melody and turning them into a song. It was helpful for a bigger speech – but it can really mess you up once you’re actually on set! Of course the other actors in the scene don’t know your little tune. And then the director will have their own ideas – you might have to chop up the scene, or do the end before the beginning. I quickly had to learn to be much looser when it comes to line learning. You have to know them cold, but be able to improvise. The process for theatre is completely different again – that’s all about rhythm and muscle memory.

On Last Tango in Halifax my character Kate played the piano for the two main characters’ wedding. I had to learn to mime the ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’. The musical advisor showed me how to play it: where you would lean in, how to make the dynamics visible and obviously where your fingers would ideally be on the keyboard. Then I just kept miming along to the recording for a number of weeks until we got to shoot the scene.

It was very fortunate that the schedule allowed us to do that. They managed to pin down the piece of music and the day we were going to shoot that scene. Really the whole trick is to convince myself I know what I’m doing and hope it comes off! The people in the congregation thought I was really playing it – but only right at the back!

Nina Sosanya presents ‘Florence Price: Power and Pride’ as part of BBC Radio 3’s ‘Facing The Music’ – find it on BBC Sounds