'Life of a Musician - Robin Hill' is 8 Years Old!

Another year has passed and it seems incredible that Life of a Musician is now 8 years old!
But whilst this blog might be 8, Robin has spent practically all his life immersed in music.
Starting out in bands from the age of 12 and continuing right through to the present day.
Many events have been highlighted throughout this blog so feel free to browse through the archives.

As always it has been a very busy year and Robin continues to travel extensively, and perform regularly, around the world.
In fact he isn't currently at home to celebrate this momentous occasion as he is in Denmark!

When not away performing there is still lots to be done. Learning new repertoire and composing new pieces are always high on the list and thoughts frequently turn to recording.
In the next few weeks that is exactly what will be happening.
An exciting new project is underway and will be discussed in more detail in due course.
But for now, the musicians have been booked, the music is prepared and all we need is Robin!
But actually, by the end of August the recording will hopefully be done and the mixing and mastering process will have started.
Then of course the behind the scenes aspects of any new release will start falling into place.

But the last year also saw us re-release, 'Danza - Robin Hill & Peter Wiltschinsky'.
This album was originally released by ASV in 1995 and was an important landmark for the Hill/Wiltschinsky Guitar Duo. Consequently there was no hesitation from us when it became available to release once again.
You can read more about 'Danza' here, including an original review and the sleeve notes.

During the last year we also had a call from Babak Rahnama, a singer, DJ and Producer.
He was so taken by a piece Robin had written some years earlier that he wanted to collaborate.
So collaborate they did and 'Tomorrowland' was the result!
They continue to work on many more tracks and Robin will soon be travelling to London to make a video.

As I said at the beginning, Robin is away at the moment and last night was concert night.
It was also a very unusual night for Robin as our youngest son travelled with him for the first time.
After a gruelling journey which was full of delays and required the sound check to be hastily rescheduled, the concert itself went ahead as planned.
As he prepared to play, 'Fantastic Mr Felix', from, 'Standing On Air' Robin was able to explain that the dedicatee was, for the first time ever, in the audience.
Naturally this went down very well and youngest son was required to stand and take a bow.
A very proud moment for both father and for son and one that made all the hassle of the previous day disperse in a second.

It is in fact moments like that when all the hours, months and years of solitary practice all seem worthwhile.

'Life of a Musician' 3rd Birthday!

Today is the third birthday of 'Life of a Musician'.
I'm amazed how quickly the time has passed and how much as been going on.

Regular readers will know that I haven't posted as much recently, but there is a reason.
Unfortunately I can't yet share it with you!
Suffice to say that a project later this year has been taking up a lot of my time and hence the lack of posts.
But many thanks to you all for being patient, and returning regularly to keep updated.

Here's a reminder of our 1st birthday, 'Happy Birthday to Robin Hill's Classical Guitar Blog', and 2nd birthday, '2 Years of Blogging'.

In the past year a lot has happened and you can scroll down through the archives to catch up with events.

MySpace continues to flourish, Twitter has leaped from 93 followers and 838 updates a year ago, to 421 followers and 3795 updates!
Last year we were at 597 post, and now this will be the 687th post!
We have joined Reverbnation, to reach out to even more people, and new Cd's will be available before too long.

But for now, thank you to all those around the world who regularly drop by, and also to any casual visitors.
I hope to see you all over the next year, as we continue the journey.
Feel free to comment or send me a message if there are any areas you would like me to discuss.

For now though, time to eat cake.

A Week Flies By...

It has been rather a frustrating week.
We had all been looking forward to having Robin home, for a whole week, but also knew that it would be a busy one.
We hadn't counted on me taking a few days out to recuperate from a heavy cold, but it was a relief that Robin was around to shoulder some of the domestic responsibilities, whilst I felt sorry for myself.

We also hadn't expected a sick, and very vocal, cat.
Poor Ramsbottom was also unwell, requiring a visit to the vets (he protested all the way there) an injection, and a week's worth of tablets.
I now have mastered the art of medicating cats very well, and he is improving daily.

Then there was son number two's birthday party.
We, along with one of his friends parents, hosted a noisy and chaotic party for over 30, 5 and 6 year olds.
All went well, and was greatly enjoyed by all the young guests. I was informed by his teacher the next day that the whole class had been very quiet, and it would be lovely if we could tire them out in such a way more frequently...No chance.

Then of course his birthday itself.
I was just pleased that Robin was home for such a significant event.
Over the years he has missed many of these family occasions when away from home and it's hard for all concerned.

By this weekend, he then had two private functions to play at, whilst I prepared everything for another trip which starts tomorrow.
This week has gone all too quickly, but at least it is only 1 week away from home this time.
We have coped with much longer.

However, communication will be hampered, as Robin is without his computer.
It has been sent away for repair.
This has been very frustrating, as he has been unable to do any recording in his time at home, and also, will not have his Apple back until after this next trip....

But this is the reality of life as a musician.
When travelling extensively, time at home is precious, whatever is going on.
But after a week of chaos, illness, vocal cat, parties, etc. I think there's a small part of Robin that will sit on the plane tomorrow, put on his headphones, listen to some calming music, (without interruption), and feel that a week away from home may just be rather refreshing....

2 Years of Blogging

Happy second birthday to 'Life of a Musician'.
We seem to have come a long way since the first blog two years ago and I have certainly been on a very sharp learning curve in this time.

A few statistics for you:

Today will be the 597th post, which I'm sure you will agree, is a lot of writing!
In the past year alone we have had nearly 19 000 page views, with approximately 1000 pages read each month.

Then we entered the MySpace terrain and in only a few months have built up a considerable list of 'friends' and have already had over 2700 profile views.

Twitter has been equally as active, with 93 regular followers and 838 updates at the time of writing.

We may be low on the 'links', by which a lot of blogs judge themselves, but the amount of regular readers we have more than compensates for that in my mind.

We will be releasing the 4th CD on CD Baby in just a few weeks time, so I think you will agree that it has been a busy 12 months.

I've enjoyed the past year and there have been many exciting things happening along the way. Lets hope the next 12 months prove equally productive.

Many thanks to you all, from all parts of the world, for following the life of this particular musician so far...

Birthday, Blogs, a Beatle and Ravi Shankar

Today is Robin's birthday and we are very lucky to have him at home to help him celebrate.
The day started with the normal rendition of 'Happy Birthday', sung by all the family, as an early morning wake up call, followed by a present opening ceremony, before pre school chaos ensued.
Once calm had returned to the house we decided to take some time out.
This is actually quite rare, so was a real treat for us both. That's the beauty of having a birthday in the house, everyone gets to enjoy it!

As it has been such a nice day here, we packed up a picnic, and took ourselves off for a drive in the countryside, and had a thoroughly good time.

But now it's back to work.
Robin is practicing his guitar.
I have been dealing with agents about the forthcoming trips.
Actually, I'm rather envious of some of the places Robin will be visiting over the next few weeks. Hopefully there will be plenty of photo opportunities coming up.

But sitar mania does continue here.
Have you ever heard 'Happy Birthday' on the sitar?
It sounds great, even though the birthday boy had to play it himself, whilst the rest of us finished breakfast. I suppose that's the downside of being the musician.
Not only is Robin still playing his sitar, but he is also listening to others play, and watching them on YouTube.
Here's a example, it's Ravi Shanker giving George Harrison a sitar lesson...!

Birthday to Bach

Today we were invited into school for 'birthday assembly'.
As you can imagine, it is very exciting for a small boy to stand in front of the school, and show two of his newly acquired birthday gifts, especially as your parents are able to watch.
Son number one obviously gets his stage presence from his Dad, as he didn't appear at all phased by proceedings, even when he had to talk to the headmistress about his toys.
Maybe those 'performing' genes are inherited, we'll have to wait and see...

There was one thing we were both very impressed about.
Each week a piece of classical music is selected, and played to the children as they go into assembly, and again when they leave.
They are all told what the music is, and, encouraged to listen to it as they wait.
What an excellent way to expose young and impressionable minds to some wholesome and nourishing music.

This weeks choice was Aria, from Bach's Goldburg Variations.
A particularly calm and serene piece and ideal to maintain order amongst a throng of under 7's.
We are both very familiar with this piece and it was a delight to sit and listen as all the children filed in and out.
It wasn't a version we are familiar with though and I'm afraid I don't know who was performing it on this occasion.
However, I do know it wasn't Glenn Gould, as the characteristic humming and singing along, present on all his recordings, was absent.
I really had to restrain myself from adding them myself, and, I later found out that Robin was having the same problem.

Happy Birthday To Robin Hill's Classical Guitar Blog

Today is 'Life of a Musician's' first birthday!
I can't quite believe that we have been going for a year - but it's true.
We have come a long way in that time, and I have learnt a lot in the process, and had a great deal of fun.
There's such a lot coming up and I hope to have more sound clips and video footage over the next few months.
Plus the launch of a new web site where downloads and sheet music will be available. More of that over the next few weeks.
In the last year I have only missed one day, and that was due to technical problems with our BT line, and we now have regular readers in over 45 countries!

So, to mark the occasion, I have decided to give myself the rest of the day off.
As for the cake, well, I had some helpers who very quickly demolished that!

Happy Birthday to Me!

So here we are. It's my birthday today and Robin is a few thousand miles away feeling rather nauseous in the Atlantic.
He's a romantic soul though, as he gave me some presents before he left, one of which was a bunch of flowers carefully chosen to be in full bloom today. He timed it perfectly, they are beautiful, but then timing is his thing.

It's also the day that in 1792, the national anthem of France, 'La Marseillaise' was composed by Captain Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. I'm sure he didn't do it all in a day, maybe today was just the day he 'went public'.
So whilst I can't see or speak to Robin, we can communicate via e mail, once he wakes up!
There is another way though.
I read this the other day:

'Music carries me immediately and directly into the mental condition in which the man was who composed it.
My soul merges with his, and together with him I pass from one condition into another; but why this happens, I don't know.'
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

So, all I need to do is put on some of Robin's compositions, and I'll be right there with him.
As far as the rest of the day is concerned, well, family are coming over later, and I've saved a couple of episodes of 'House' to watch this evening.
If it's good enough for Jeremy Denk to be an overt 'House' fan, then it's good enough for me.