Suitcase to suitcase

Just in case anyone is thinking that I lead a glamorous life let me describe it as it really is!

Last Friday I returned around lunchtime to my home in Cambridgeshire from performing with Maria Rud, Philip Sheppard and Canty at the National Museum of Scotland. We  collaborated on a brand new project titled AniMotion which combined art with music.

It was a lovely sunny day in Cambridgeshire but as I waited for my instruments to be returned (they are couriered to UK and some European events nowadays), I would really have liked to get out into the sunshine and my beloved garden - but sadly no time for hobbies! Instead I emptied one suitcase and began to fill another with the items I would need for my next engagement in Poland. In go the usual items clothing and toiletries and then using every available corner of my suitcase I pack any small instruments the Filharmonia Czestochowska Orchestra may not be able to provide.

I make sure my stick case remains open until the last minute as I spend all day Saturday practising in my studio to ensure I know the piece as well as possible.

Multitasking is also essential, so in between practising movements in the score I also organise the laundry, vacuum, clean and make sure there is enough food left out for my cat, Sophie, while I am away. 

When I am done I just have time to keep a promise to a friend who has invited me to attend an evening event organised at a local school. The children performed a series of dance routines and I am always amazed at the quality of these amateur events. It is clear to me there is immense dedication from school staff, family and volunteers to give these children the opportunity to have their moment and I am delighted to say the audience showed an enthusiastic appreciation.

Without this kind of support I am well aware many children would not have these chances to express themselves in the arts. I am deeply saddened by the short term view of successive governments as they opt to cut music from the curriculum.

I follow projects like the Astar initiative conceived by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and their conductor Peter Oundjian. The project aims to give a copy of their Astar CD to every child born in Scotland. The music is recorded by the RSNO designed for playtime, nap time and sleep time. 

Whilst I am enormously proud this initiative has come from my homeland Scotland, I would really like to see every child given a copy of this CD. Music is about inclusion and in my opinion music is the greatest cohesion for societies across the world, you do not even need to know the language if you can share the love of music.

I can personally demonstrate this because I am writing my blog today from my dressing room in the home of the Huberman Festival Filharmonia Czestochowska, Poland, which I can hardly pronounce! Our conductor Adam Klocek will bring us together through the notes on the score and because we all share one common goal to perform the music to the best of our abilities, language barriers simply will not exist.

We will be performing the World Premiere of the Double Concerto for Percussion and Cello by Olga Hans in front of an audience and a TV crew so no pressure!!!

I hope all of you who read this will take a look at what is happening to your children's music education and feel moved to approach decisions makers to ensure your children are given equal opportunity to experience the wonderful world of music in some way, shape or form.

In the meantime I will return home on Wednesday lunchtime to begin unpacking and repacking again for a speaking engagement in Dublin on Friday!

AniMotion

AniMotion is a brand new project for me.

My team and I have approached it from a completely new direction and it has been an incredible journey.

It is about the collaboration between art and music - musicians and artists.

Together with the Russian Artist Maria Rud, the Cellist Philip Sheppard and the vocal musicians Canty we are going to give a show like no other!

The video's from the link below are examples of what the audience can expect to experience.


http://www.mariarud.com/projects.html



Tickets can be purchased on line only at http://bit.ly/QPuGPi

ENJOY!!

Poetry in motion....

East is east and west is west - so that say and next week I will be heading Eastward to perform in Peking with the Nuremberg Symphoniker Orchester as part of the Festival of Beijing.

For me the colours in China represent a poetic feast for the eyes. Each time I visit I feel the vibration of colours surrounding me and I want to be carried away on a tide of colourful waves.

In music we often speak about sound as a colour spectrum, musical sound colours are where east meets west in a way and colour becomes sound and vice versa. They are inseparable yet different, the one and the same and yet individual. Like poetry they take the reader through a variety of passages. Flowing and separating then coming back together - uniting us without our surroundings and connecting us through our emotions

I was honoured to receive the poem below this week, written by Tina Negus. When I read the poem I felt its poignancy and I fully understood the correlation she makes between percussion and our environment, these observations are very real for me. Throughout my life I have enjoyed exploring all sound surfaces from squeaky moist windows to the fabric of my coat - sound is everything and we are the sound in everything or perhaps you know different?

The percussionist

(a small tribute to Evelyn Glennie)

Drums mark the rhythm

of the melting icicle and the dripping tap,

the interval between the beats decreasing with precision

as the tempo rises.

Music lives in the silent lines

raked into the gravel of the samurai garden,

echoes in the surge of shingle on the highland shore,

lingers in the attenuated note

of the distant sunlit horizon.

The percussionist plays the rusty xylophone

of farmyard scrap, the breeze ripples the puddled reflections

of the cowshed wall, shimmers the corrugations,

provides the visual score.

Smashed glass in the derelict warehouse

paints a crescendo of recent events, a static explosion,

the pigeon’s cooing in contrapuntal harmony

resounds from staircase and rafter,

the distant descant of metal sheets waving loosely

in the urban wind.

Mirrored glass distorts the urban architecture

into a cadenza of modernity,

chanting the times to unhearing ears,

to unseeing eyes.

The roots of rhythm are all about us,

music is within us,

in our blood,

in the fugue of our heart,

in our breathing,

our inspiration.

We are the sound.

Your comments on Tina's poem would be most welcome.

PB.....What's yours

During the L2012 Olympics and Para Olympics the term PB (or personal best) was raised and talked about constantly. In the quiet early light of day as I head for New York I begin to wonder what this means to us as individuals. My life has been full of firsts, most notably I am the first person to create and sustain a career as a Solo Percussionist. However I have never quite thought about my achievements as personal bests. I always try to do my best at everything I get involved with and I definitely know there are some things that I am never going to be brilliant at, like maths for example!

I am also competitive and like to win if I play scrabble or monopoly and I remember fondly the arguments I had with my brothers when we tried to beat each other at various games.

The need to achieve seems to creep into so many aspects of our daily lives. As the car I am in heads towards the airport, I can see people around me trying to overtake, change lanes, weave in and out of lanes to gain a bit of an advantage. I am not sure why this happens perhaps you know? Everyone seems to be trying to get ahead, in front, or just overtake to arrive a bit sooner, get that favourite parking spot or avoid delays further down the road.

Right on the back of the Olympics Britain is celebrating yet another incredible achievement from our very own Andy Murray. Andy has finally won his first Grand Slam and it makes me so proud, I am enjoying his achievement too - Well done Andy!

The psychology behind achievement is just as interesting. We may all have sensed a great day or a special feeling or simply a resounding YES! when we have achieved our goal. But how many of us actually set out to create and beat our own aims and objectives mentally? In my normal working day I often think about how much rehearsal time I want to achieve or perhaps I might want to ensure that I have got to grips with a set piece of music and as I break it down I set myself the challenge of making sure that I do not leave the studio until I have mastered a particular section. I find this is good practice but as I reflect on the due processes that I put into action I guess I am constantly trying to create and maintain a sense of achievement.

The best bit is when I finally get it right I reward myself with a cup of coffee and a piece of shortbread!

For my next performance there is technically no need for rehearsal but there is still a challenge. I will be improvising with the wonderfully talented Zeena Parkins at the Skirball Centre, NewYork as part of the Joshua Light Show. Improvisation can be just as nerve racking as a concerto and my excitement is already mounting as I think about meeting Zeena for the first time and working out how we can improvise together!

I genuinely want to know what your PB's are, however great or small, I know when you achieve something it will make you feel good and that has to be a good thing. Good luck and please join me on my Facebook where I will try and respond to as many of you as possible.

'Isles of Wonder' behind the scenes

Copyright Philipp Rathmer, Brigitte

"When I was invited to participate in the London 2012Olympic Opening Ceremony I was both honoured and humbled. The onus on all the people who have donated their time, energy and effort towards the world's most prestigious event is enormous. The attention to detail has been second to none from everyone who has participated both on stage and off stage. For my part I was delighted to introduce the Aluphone to Danny Boyle and his creative team. In turn I believe it's beautiful tone and sound colour have been incorporated into, what I hope, will become an iconic piece of music helping to introduce this exciting new instrument across the globe." Evelyn Glennie DBE

Meeting people like film Director Danny Boyle is awesome in itself. However working with him and his team on the music and staging of an event like the L2012 Opening Ceremony takes the term 'awesome' to a completely new level.

I am astounded that such a vision could and has come together in this spectacular programme. The common theme behind the scenes has been, were it not for the volunteers this programme could not have happened. They have come forward in their thousands and I salute them.

My contribution is minimised by the efforts of so many but for me it is also a pinnacle, an aspirational achievement and without a doubt a day I will never forget. The daily process working with artists, production teams, technical and personnel crews has been a constant reminder of the skills and expertise that have also contributed in silence behind the scenes. 

Our sense of pride in our great nation and its contribution to the world is played out during the Olympic Opening Ceremony programme this evening from the work of Isambard Kingdom Brunel through to our modern interactive technology. 

The United Kingdom represents so many aspects of our lives. Our islands and relationships across the globe have been forged and interlinked in many ways over hundreds of years.

As you know I was born in Scotland and I am proud to call myself Scottish however my country is the United Kingdom and tonight I was part of the best show on earth.

I sincerely hope you enjoy the weeks to come and celebrate the spirit of the Olympic Games as the worlds best athletes compete for the highest prize.

The 'not so blue' Danube...

I recently visited the beautiful city of Linz in Austria to give a motivational speech on for delegates attending the ICCHP  conference. Whilst I enjoyed my supper one evening on the terrace overlooking the famous Danube River I reflected on the fact that due to heavy rain the river was flowing very fast and looked decidedly muddy and brown, not quite the romantic image Johann Strauss had portrayed in his beautiful Blue Danube Waltz.

Talking to people living in Linz about the weather (as we British love to do!) it seems the weather patterns are very similar to ours in the UK. As I watched the heavy barges travel up and down the river I found myself thinking about other similarities between the music business and the Danube.

By day the Danube is full of long hard working barges pushing heavy loads up and down the river both with and against the flow until the evening brings on the twinkling lights of the restaurant and hotel boats trading their wares. The river morphs amidst the moonlight and romance of the night, masking the muddy brown waters below.

Of course the industrial aspect of my musical world is not quite so obvious and the hive of activity behind every performance is well and truly hidden from view. For me and my team the flow begins as soon as a promoter books an event. The administration wheels go into motion and the groundwork begins in earnest.

My team beaver away discussing and agreeing various points, negotiating, organising, liaising on every aspect of my involvement, repertoire is discussed, instruments are organised, travel and hotels are booked and contacts are made. We pride ourselves on creating and maintaining long term relations and we recognise the importance of good communication. This is absolutely critical to ensure the flow is completely synchronised with our customers needs, regardless of the many activities that come and go between us and the promoters we simply must get the show on the road.

Our journey is sometimes very hectic and we have occasionally need to move heaven and earth to ensure the performance goes ahead. Just like the barges we sometimes have to push against the flow, occasionally we get caught up in the reeds (metaphorically speaking!) but we always pride ourselves in ensuring the curtain goes up on time and the audiences are Wowed!

How do I look today?

I have been watching an article on BBC 1 this morning stating that girls as young as 11 are so conscious of their looks they are posting airbrushed images of themselves on their own Twitter and Facebook accounts.

The apparent cause for this unnatural behaviour is the media, fashion magazines and social networking sites which make youngsters feel they are somehow not normal unless they look and dress in a certain way. This has resulted in children, because that is what they are, feeling the need to alter and enhance the way they look in order to fit into their social world.

Like many people I find this very distressing and worrying and would like to offer my own perspective based on my life and experience.

To this day my mother, much to my embarrassment, tells of how I was not a bonny baby! I had a shock of black hair sprouting in all directions and apparently I was not the prettiest baby! what a negative start to my growing-up process!

I grew up on a farm which probably contributed to my ability to put material looks to one side because together with my two brothers we all had chores to complete early in the morning and again in the afternoon when we returned from school. This meant I did not have the time to spend examining every spot and pimple in front of the bathroom mirror. I also did not have a mobile phone let alone a camera with an airbrush facility to send altered images of myself to my mates.

I did however have a strong family and social support which enabled me to concentrate on the important things in my life such as how well I did in something and when I did well they would praise me for my efforts. I quickly learnt skills and attributes that would far outweigh how I looked and as long as I could do my best at something it did not matter if my physical appearance did not fit with fashion models portrayed in adverts and magazines.

My confidence was encouraged and developed around aspects of my life that would stand me in good stead.

When I lost my hearing at the age of 12, my parents continued to support my aspirations and goals even though they must have worried a lot about the challenges I would face. Looking back I can see their help was invaluable in creating the person I have become.

Over the years I have experimented with different hair colours, makeup and fake tans but have always been able to return to the real me and the real person I need to be in order to continue to work in a very eclectic business. I work for myself so I cannot afford to be pushed and pulled by other forces, least of all demoralised by the way I look.

A few years ago the inevitable grey hairs began to appear and I was dismayed, however I stood my ground and let them grow and now I am complimented on how lovely and shiny my hair looks and I am proud of my decision not to succumb any longer to the pressure of fashion.

If I were asked to give each young person a bit of advice I would say 'We are all different and beautiful in our own way. Don't fall into the trap of exchanging your own unique identity for someone else's idea of what you should look or behave like. Always be true to yourself because that way you are in control of your own destiny. Do the best you can in everything you do and dwell only on your achievements'.

I would be very interested to read your thoughts on this subject and what your advice to youngsters might be?

Photo © Philip Rathmer