John Eager (1782–1853) was an English organist who taught the pianoforte by a controversial system designed by Johann Bernhard Logier making use of the chiroplast, a teaching instrument.
Soon afterwards he married Miss Barnby, a lady of good fortune,[clarification needed] and in October 1803 was appointed organist to the corporation of Yarmouth on the death of John Roope.
[1] In 1814 Johann Bernhard Logier patented his ‘chiroplast,’ a teaching tool made to hold the hands in the correct position while playing the pianoforte.
[2] However, he gradually convinced a considerable number of people of the excellence of the system, which, in addition to the use of the chiroplast, claimed to teach the ground work of harmony much more rapidly and thoroughly than any other method.
The appendix to the account contains certain letters written to, but not published in, the ‘Norwich Mercury’ and the ‘Norfolk Chronicle’ by people who considered that the opinions on the chiroplast method expressed by those papers were unfair.
Eager's reputation does not appear to have suffered; ten years afterwards he is spoken of in the highest terms by the writer of the ‘History of Norfolk,’ and then held the post of organist to the corporation.