I've been remembering a little conversation which happened years ago when a fellow musician was giving me a lift to the Tube station in London. I was on my way to play a concert. As I was getting out of the car, he said to me: 'Have you got your music?' 'Yes.' 'Have...
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I have been going to events at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival. There seems to be a lot of overlap between the audiences, because I keep seeing the same faces. It's interesting to observe the effects that different performers have on the audiences. Some performers banter...
The other day I was talking about piano-playing with some very good amateur pianists. As it happens, they were all high-flyers in other professions. A surgeon was saying ruefully that people don't realise how much work it takes to be a very good amateur pianist,...
Today I was at a major exhibition, 'Ages of Wonder - Scottish Art from 1540 to now' at the Royal Scottish Academy of Art in Edinburgh (it's free, and very enjoyable). As I went round, reading the plaques which explained the artworks, I was struck by how often they...
Italian jazz pianist Rossano Sportiello was visiting Edinburgh from New York last night and I went to hear him. The jazz musicians in the audience ruefully acknowledged that Sportiello's elegant appearance had put them to shame. Beautifully pressed grey suit, pink...
The other night I went to hear a great Irish folk band, Lankum, at the Traverse theatre bar. I first came across them in a BBC Alba television programme when they were called 'Lynched', a name they have understandably ditched. Their talent stuck in my head, so when I...
Last week, when I was in Italy, I went to a concert of a well-known ensemble (I'll be discreet about who and where). Firstly I should say that the large audience appeared perfectly happy with the performance and applauded enthusiastically, but for me as a professional...
I'm reading Andrew Solomon's fascinating 'Far from the Tree', a 900-page study of parents 'who learn to deal with their exceptional children and find profound meaning in doing so'. Many of the chapters focus on conditions which are obviously challenging for families:...
On Saturday I enjoyed reading Ian Jack's fine Guardian article about the Queensferry Crossing, our striking new bridge over the Forth (see photo taken from the Pentland Hills yesterday). Many of his comments resonated with me, a fellow Scot. He recalled how the...
Recently I came across folders of notes I had made when serving on international competition juries over the past decade or more. Pages and pages of detailed notes on people's playing. Most of them played for at least half an hour, sometimes an hour, so there was...
Yesterday I had a message from someone who organises the masterclasses I teach at a university. This year she told me that there won't be any masterclasses. Students don't like them and don't see why they should have to attend them if the music being taught is 'not...
Articles and letters in The Guardian recently have explored why some of today's singers suffer from vocal problems, develop nodules on their vocal cords from singing so loudly, etc. Curiously, the use of powerful amplification has not taken away the need to sing...
Interesting discussions with friends about 'concert performances' of operas they've attended at this year's Edinburgh Festival. I have been to two: Wagner's 'Die Walküre' and Monteverdi's 'L'Incoronazione di Poppea', both excellent, and I've been told that Britten's...
Last night I went to a stupendous concert performance of Wagner's 'Die Walküre' at the Edinburgh International Festival. (Thank you, Amber Wagner, Simon O'Neill, Christine Guerke, Bryn Terfel, Karen Cargill, Matthew Rose, conductor Sir Andrew Davis and the RSNO!) The...
The Edinburgh Festival and 'Fringe' begin this week and the city is plastered with publicity posters. The trend towards anti-glamour continues. Even if a performer wants to look glamorous, they are portrayed in a jarring context. Someone in a beautiful suit lounges in...