County Lines (and notes)

I mentioned on my ‘BMM’ post that I was lucky enough to play lots of instruments when I was growing up. Perhaps, the proper expression however would be ‘tried.’ I was a restless musical soul you see - lots of percussionists are. I have noticed this through teaching; percussionists are often the ones who can’t quite settle on an instrument. They are musically interested (well, not always but that’s by the by), find percussion and then are never bored again. In theory at least.

My point however isn’t about boredom or percussionists; it’s the fact that I had the luxury of being able to try these things out. You may have worked out by now that I am the middle of seven children and - whilst I cannot pretend we were on the breadline - tricky financial choices had to be made about our interests. An example might have been ‘it’s Brownies or tap dancing - you can’t have both.’ The joyous thing however is that when it came to music, those choices didn’t have to be made; it was all free. Let me tell you of some of the splendorous musical activities that were on offer when I was growing up….

Firstly I went to a large Catholic Primary School. (All of my family went to state schools by the way, more on which later). In this school we had a specialist classroom music teacher who was a competent pianist and guitarist. She offered recorder and guitar clubs at lunchtimes and we sang in assembly every day - always with the piano but often with other instrumental accompaniments. Every Friday the whole school would walk to the Abbey (about a mile away), celebrate a sung Mass and walk back to school again. Apart from the piano (and we did pay for these lessons - a lady two doors down who charged 50p), I went to a choir on a Friday night where we sang in three parts, learning the music from memory.

At the age of ten, I started going to the Saturday morning music centre where I was given a (brand new) free clarinet, had theory, recorder and percussion lessons and played in an abundance of bands and ensembles. My parents didn’t pay a penny. No-one did. Later, I joined the borough Youth Orchestra and was really starting to relish these new orchestral sounds. Then - out of the blue - Dad got made redundant and the bottom of my world dropped out. We had to move to the West Country and I honestly thought I would never again be able to carry on with all of this creative activity. I was delightfully wrong. Somehow somebody sniffed out the fact that I was a percussionist and I joined the County Youth Concert Band and from thence to the Youth Orchestra. The repertoire we played was spectacular. Consider just two examples: Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto. OK - not exactly off the scale for adventurousness but the soloist was no less than Kathryn Stott. Kathryn Stott! I was instantly captivated by her beautiful tone (I had never thought about tone on the piano before I heard her) and - of course her wonderful musical interpretation. The second example is the Hary Janos Suite by Kodaly. This matters because of the sheer breadth of instruments that needed to be played; all those percussion instruments, a full orchestra and - crucially - a cimbalom. Who plays a cimbalom? Heather Corbett of course - brought down from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to play for us. It was awe-inspiring and I have never forgotten those crucial musical experiences. I have not yet mentioned all the tours, magnificent concert venues we played in and wonderful holiday courses, but they were also part of the mix.

Dear readers, you need to understand one thing; this multitude of activities was only possible for the vast majority of us because these activities were free. I will say it again - they were free. Granted, us state school children were picked because we ticked certain musical boxes; presumably had spirit and potential and of course played the correct instruments. But for those of us who went to (mostly crappy) Comprehensives, this was our get out - our escape. If you are naive enough to think that somehow we would have had this level of music in our lives without financial support you are deeply wrong. These activities have all but vanished and children no longer have these opportunities. “But what about the Kanneh-Masons? Or Laura van der Heijden? They have come through State Schools haven’t they?” Yes they have - but they are brilliant. A combination of sublime talent, support and incredible hard work have enabled them to reach heights that they truly deserve - and long may that continue. Most of us however did not have Grade 8 distinctions by the age of ten. Our musical learning curves were slower and the trajectories were more modest. It doesn’t mean we haven’t contributed to society artistically - just differently. And for those twats in charge who believe this isn’t important, just look at the wealth of difference learning an instrument makes in a child’s life; it is well-documented and overwhelming. Music changed mine and thousands of others’ lives - and believe me, we have been able to contribute nobly and decently to society.

Uplifting music of the day: ‘Sweet Sue Just You’ - from the Martin Taylor album ‘Spirit of Django.’ I fancied something bouncy and European…..

Contemplative music of the day: ‘Waltz for Ruth’ - from the Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny album ‘Beyond the Missouri Sky.’