Blog
I’ve been writing this blog since 2009, but there still seem to be plenty of interesting topics to mull over. You can subscribe (it’s free) to follow the blog by email – each new post will pop into your inbox.
Elite athletes and what we musicians can learn from watching them
I'm enjoying the lull between major sports events - the Euros Football Tournament and the Wimbledon Tennis Championships just passed, and the Olympics which start in Paris at the end of the coming week. I got quite engrossed in both the tennis and the football,...
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Risk assessments
The other day I was part of a coffee gathering where people from various lines of work were talking about their experiences of writing 'risk assessments'. They described the complicated forms that had to be filled in and the efforts to explain what preventive measures...
FT Best Summer Books of 2024
My book on women pianists has been chosen by the Financial Times as one of their Best Summer Books of 2024. Music critic Richard Fairman made it one of his choices. It's very gratifying to find the book being noticed by a wider circle - I suppose because of the...
Carrying on a tradition
On my last evening in Prussia Cove, I was asked to say a few words after supper about the guiding ethos of the place as envisaged by violinist Sandor Vegh, who started the International Musicians' Seminars forty years ago. I stood up in the dining room by candlelight...
At Prussia Cove
I’m down by the sea in Prussia Cove in Cornwall, at the autumn chamber music seminar of the International Musicians’ Seminar, from which I have had an unaccountably long break. I remember thinking I’d have a little rest from it for a year or two. All of a sudden it...
September ducklings
In spring of this year I noticed that there were no ducklings on our local ponds. I mentioned it to a couple of friends in other cities, and they confirmed that there were no ducklings on their ponds either. Eventually I even wrote to the Guardian letters page about...
Pianists out of luck
Today’s Guardian article about former concert pianist Anne Naysmith, who lives in a little shelter made of trees and bushes at the foot of a railway embankment in west London, got me thinking about pianists. As the article points out, her case has echoes of the...
‘Ongaku no tomo’ book review
The Japanese music magazine 'Ongaku no tomo' (Friends of Music) has published this review of my book 'Out of Silence', translated by Noriko Ogawa. The delightful translation of the review is by a friend in Japan: 'Susan Tomes sets a high values on encounters with...
My first Japanese reviews
Noriko Ogawa, who translated my book 'Out of Silence' into Japanese, reports that the first reviews have started appearing in Japan. To our great delight the book is one of three chosen this week by the Nikkei Shinbun (Financial Times of Japan) as "Connoisseurs'...
The Olympics Closing Ceremony
Last night we watched the Olympics closing ceremony, basically a long pop concert with eccentric dance interludes. I assume that the singers couldn't really hear their support groups or backing tracks in the enormous stadium - at least, I'm giving them the benefit of...
National Anthems
The Olympic medal ceremonies have proved a parade ground for the national anthems of lots of different countries. And what a lamentable bunch these anthems are, from a musical point of view. I've been struck by how most of them fail to give the slightest flavour of...
Music at the Olympics
I'm having trouble getting used to the loud music which is played at the Olympics between events and even during pauses and breaks in the action. Last night we watched (on TV) a women's basketball match with pop music carefully choreographed to plug any moments of...
Booking me as a speaker
I have joined the roster of speakers represented by the Ed Victor Agency. If you are interested in booking me as a speaker, Visit their Speakers' Bureau and scroll down the alphabetical list until you come to T. I've always enjoyed speaking to concert audiences, and...
Marginalisation
The other day I went to an orchestral concert, at the end of which the conductor held up a hand for silence and made an emotional speech about how this kind of music needs our support more than ever, because classical musicians feel 'marginalised'. He said that young...
Above the frets
Went to hear a consort of viols playing their own arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which were written for a keyboard instrument. It's such wonderful music that it has inspired various people to arrange it for different instruments - I have heard it done...