I started writing my original WordPress blog in March 2009. Throughout my life I’ve found writing very cathartic but what started out as cheap form of psychotherapy soon metamorphosed into life form of its own which eventually reached the classical music No 5 slot on the Wikio ranking just over a year after penning my… Continue Reading >>>
Downshifting – Why Do It?
Moving house usually involves a lot of packing and unpacking which tends to increase exponentially as time marches on. If you’re anything like me, you tend to accumulate more and more “stuff” as the years go by with the result that not only the removal van becomes progressively larger – along with the associated cost… Continue Reading >>>
Inspired by an Inspiring Award and an Inspiring Pianist!
Last week I received an email from a very dear friend and somebody who I respect enormously, pianist Erica Sipes. Reading through the contents of her latest dispatch I was honoured to learn that she’d nominated me to receive a “Very Inspiring Blogger Award” which is given to people who contribute to “keeping the blogosphere… Continue Reading >>>
Analyse, Accept and Advance – Using Emotionally Upsetting Experiences to Move On
When you almost have it in the palm of your hand, sometimes what you think you really want turns out to be not how you imagined at all As a kid, when adults questioned me as what I wanted to do when I grew up I always said “a star”! It became a family joke… Continue Reading >>>
Life Lessons and Points to Ponder – Notes From 50 Years In The Trenches
According to my birth certificate, I hit the big 5-0 in 3 months and this week the fact has finally registered in my consciousness. After half drowning my way through some extremely tempestuous waters over the years, to be honest I’m a little surprised that I’m still shuffling around this mortal coil but here I… Continue Reading >>>
Performance Copyright Reloaded – Time to Get Out of the Matrix?
The issue of performance copyright is something that’s been gnawing away in the background of my mind for months and I know that this post is likely to be controversial but history tells us that no real sustainable change has ever happened when we’ve individually put up, shut up and accepted “the way things are” with a… Continue Reading >>>
The Power of Choice and Coping with Change
In all aspects of my life I guess you could say that I’ve been a bit of a control freak. While intellectually I welcome change as inevitable and necessary for growth, when it’s presented to me more or less as a “fait acompli” i.e., it couldn’t be clearer even if God hung a huge billboard… Continue Reading >>>
What the Worldwide Transition Movement Can Teach Classical Music About Adapting to Change
Compare This Example of What Usually Happens in Real Life… The Transition Movement started out life as a single 2005 UK initiative based in Totnes, Devon and was launched as a study to see how quickly one town could adapt to a life without oil. As the idea evolved over the last 7 years, the… Continue Reading >>>
Interview by Costa Women – Factoids About Me That Even My Own Mother Probably Doesn’t Know!
An extra bonus post this week – lighter than usual I hope – before telling you about The Transition Movement later in the week. A couple of months ago I joined a Spain-wide networking community for the women called appropriately enough – Costa Women. It’s a social and business network community both online and off… Continue Reading >>>
For Clarinettists Only – The Great Reed Experiment
One of the positive aspects of being temporarily sidelined from public performance for 6 months is the opportunity to explore and discover. Back at the beginning of April, with my embouchure still a bit weak from a nasty cold sore attack on my upper lip muscles and some intensive double-embouchure re-building work on the agenda,… Continue Reading >>>
Do You Have a Disaster Recovery Plan for Your Musical Web Site or Blog?
All jobs have a tedious side including being a freelance musician. Crafting your own career on your own terms demands that you accept responsibility for everything. If you think you can spend the entire day apart from performances playing your instrument, you’re sadly mistaken. Attending to the business side of being a musician on a… Continue Reading >>>
