Tagging, Chain Letters and Shakabuku Films.

Robin has now left the Queen Victoria, for now, and is on his way home.
As he set off from Istanbul he called to say he was delighted at the prospect of 10 days at home.
Not surprising really as he hasn't been here for that long since July.

So whilst Robin reclines at 30 000 feet, and whiles away the hours with his new Sony Reader, I started thinking.

It was connected to the recent post I ran, 'I've Been Tagged', where I had to 'tag' six friends.
Apart from warofthewords who was unable to participate due to the lack of a blog, (which she hopes to rectify soon), there has been a fantastic response.
You can read Jessica Duchen's reply here, Ben Clapton's here, Chris Hambly's wonderful experiment here, and Ari Adler's here, in which he discusses the ease of communication these days and mentions the similarity of tagging to chain letters.

And this is the point I have been pondering.
What is it that makes us reply to these intrusions into our busy lives?
Chain letters have been around for many years, in fact one landed on our doormat only a few weeks ago.
It was sent to son number one with the promise of entry into the 'Guinness Book of Records' if he completed his part of the chain.
He did and this is why.
As you know he has been in a short film, 'Lollipop', which you can watch if you click the link in the side bar, and read about it here.
Since then we have remained in contact, and become friends with, many of those involved. (Thanks to Nick Rowntree for the quick response to my e mail yesterday!)

The company that made this film, Shakabuku Films, (and yes, that is son number one on their home page) have made many others.
One of which is called 'Chaingangs'.
This was an incredible achievement as the entire film, from writing the script, filming, editing and even down to adding the music, was done in 48 hours, as part of the National 48 hour film Challenge.
They did it, and they won.
But what has all this got to do with tagging and chain letters?
Well, watch the film, and you'll see why I couldn't quite bring myself to ignore the task I was set....

I've Been Tagged

Yesterday I had a message over on Twitter from Paize_Fiddler.
I'd been tagged on his blog, 'Free Spirit'.

For those not familiar with tagging, you could read, 'What is a Blog Meme?' by Chris Garrett, or, 'Blog-Tag: A Game for a virtual Cocktail Party,' on The Jeff Pulver Blog, or even, '8 Random Facts About Me (tagging meme)', on James Cridland's blog.

My brief was, "to write six things about me personally, that my readers might not know", and then, 'tag' six other twitter/blogger friends and make them 'it'.

My initial reaction was mixed.
I was delighted to have been chosen from all the people out there in the blogosphere, but also concerned, as the message arrived in the frantic 24 hours that always occur prior to Robin going away for a concert.

So we used the journey to the airport constructively, to come up with my six, 'things about me'.

1) I have known Robin since I was 7 years old!!!

2) I completed writing a book a short time ago, (which has nothing to do with music...), and in the next few weeks will be ready to send it off and try my luck with an agent.

3) As a teenager I was asked to be the lead vocalist in a rock band. When I questioned the fact that they had never heard me sing, they said, "It doesn't matter no one will be able to hear you anyway!"

4) I have a degree in Psychology which has proved extremely helpful in understanding the mind of a musician....

5) At the age of 16 I took two jobs, whilst continuing to study, to pay for my first classical guitar. One in a shoe shop (which I hated) the other as a breakfast waitress, (I was terrible. I'm not good at early mornings, and kept dropping very hot boiled eggs into the laps of business men...)

6) In an ideal world I would have 4 dogs, a couple of horses and a few cats.

So there we are, my six things.
The next stage was to tag six more people.
This is the part that I have found most difficult.
Who do you choose?
All the people I know in the blogging/twittering world are all very busy.
Will they be pleased to be picked, or, annoyed at the intrusion.
I decided to go with my gut instinct.
Most people recognise that participating in such events only helps to promote their particular cause.

So, here they are:

1)Jessica Duchen. 'Jessica Duchen's Classical music blog'. Because I am a great admirer of her blog/books/articles and she is currently thinking about ways forward with her writing.

2)Solobasssteve. Steve Lawson, found on twitter here, or his website here. Because Steve is a prolific twitterer, web enthusiast and a consultant/thinker in social media, and I'm sure will have an opinion on the whole thing.

3)Audio aka Chris Hambly, and Chris's site here. Because Chris is a web developer and specializes in marketing, search optimisation etc. So should understand...

4) MadViolinist, Ben Clapton. Also a blogger friend, 'Top Left Hand Page'. Because Ben is currently running a really nice series on his blog, called, 'On This Day...' and it may help people to find it.

5) warofthewords. Naomi Fox. Because Naomi is in a very similar position to me, in that she spends a great deal of time promoting her husband's work, and I'm full of admiration at what she manages to achieve! Wire Duck Records.

6) aribadler. Ari also has a blog, 5 Ws, and is a former newspaper reporter and a media-relations professional, so maybe he can use the experience of tagging in one of his lectures.

So there we are.
The six people that I have now made 'it'.
I now have to go off and email them all, grovel a little, and hope that they see the positive side to the whole thing!
Hopefully they will link back if/when they accept the challenge so that we can gain a little insight into their approach.

Ohh, and by the time I finally get this post published, Robin should have arrived in Rome!

Sex, Drugs and Classical Music

Jessica Duchen had an interesting blog yesterday which prompted comments about musicians using drugs to cope with the stress of performing. You can read the post here.
I would think that most people can appreciate how stressful it is to be alone on stage, in front of a huge audience, and to be solely responsible for their entertainment for around 1 1/2 hours....
Some musicians turn to drugs, such as beta blockers, to help calm their nerves prior to a performance.
However it is certainly not a path that Robin has followed.
He was once prescribed them by his GP, but didn't take them, as he was more concerned that it would take the 'edge' off his playing than anything else.

Stress is a reaction to a situation.
We all need it to survive.
When you put a person in a stressful situation a surge of adrenaline is triggered.
The heart rate increases, sweat is produced, the hands start to shake and the limbs become cold, as the blood is diverted to the major organs and muscles to aid rapid escape.
That's OK when trying to run away from a tiger or when leaping out of the way of a bus.
It's not OK if the hands which are about to play the guitar have become cold and are shaking.

Musicians therefore need to learn how to cope with this.
For many years adrenaline was Robin's nightmare.
As the day of a concert got nearer the tension would mount.
The days after a concert weren't much easier, as most musicians focus solely on the one wrong note they played, and not the thousands of right ones.
Post concert post mortems were never easy.

But as a musician develops, and gains experience and confidence, he learns how to use that adrenaline to his advantage.
The musician needs to be truly prepared for the concert. By that I mean many years of practice and performances, and rehearsing pieces not to get them right, but until it's almost impossible get them wrong.
Then, and only then, is there a chance of harnessing the adrenaline rush.

Nowadays Robin deals with the stress of performance very well (but still says he would be scared if he wasn't scared).
We no longer have days of apprehension pre concert. Merely hours and hours of rehearsal.
He is also able to recognise that a concert is judged as a whole. If an audience has been entertained , and leaves the venue happy, then one important objective has been achieved.

There's no need to self medicate, just prepare, prepare and prepare again and seize any opportunity to play for an audience big or small.

Oh, and if you're wondering where the sex comes in, well, that I cannot divulge....

Happy Birthday to Isaac Albeniz

Today would have been Isaac Albeniz's birthday, he was born on the 29th May 1860.
Albeniz, the Spanish composer and pianist, is one of the most important figures in Spain's musical history.
He was a child prodigy who at the age of four, so amazed the audience with his performance, that they suspected trickery. Famously as a young child, he stowed away on a ship to South America where he entertained audiences by playing with his back to the piano and other amazing antics.
Albeniz performed for most of his life, and, continued composing until his death on the 18th May 1909.
Albeniz composed, 'Suite Espanola', of which the fifth movement is possibly one of the most famous classical guitar pieces, 'Asturias'.
Although originally composed for piano it was later transcibed for guitar by Francisco Tarrega, along with many other pieces by Albeniz.
In fact Albeniz once declared that he preferred Tarrega's transcription of Asturias to his own original piano version.
Asturias can be heard on Robin's, 'Virtuoso' album.


If you go over to Jessica Duchen's blog you will see that it is also Korngold's birthday!

Update on previous blogs:
The other day I mentioned an article by Ben Quinn on an elderly pop group called, 'The Zimmers'. Their version of 'My Generation', by The Who, has been viewed by more than two million people on YouTube. Read, 'Pensioners pop on course for number one', for the full story.
Well done to The Zimmers, and also to Tim Samuels of the BBC, for putting the group together, and highlighting the needs of the elderly - or not!
There's also a further twist to the tale about the 'code cracking' antics of Thomas and Stuart Mitchell. I first mentioned them on the 1st of May, and it appears that Stuart Mitchell has been contacted by a Mexican astronomer who claims the same hexagonal shape can be seen on Saturn.
Apparently, in musical terms, this shape represents a B natural, suggesting more code cracking is needed.
I'm not making it up, read Ausian Cramb's article, 'The Da Vinci chapel echoes to the sound of Saturn', for the full story.

The Bank of England - Patriotic - I Don't Think So

As I had my first cup of coffee of the day I went on my usual morning visit to Jessica Duchen's site. She was discussing an article written by Stephen King, it's well worth a visit as I'm sure the comments will be flooding in, especially as the story has now been picked up in Italy. (Well done Jessica!).
King's article left me rather perplexed and resulted in me leaving a long and rambling comment on Jessica's site.
However, the feeling didn't leave me, and I have been thinking it over ever since.
It's all about the recent removal of Elgar from the 20 pound note in the UK. Strange that they should choose the 150th anniversary to do this, but then banks work in mysterious ways.
What made me cross was that King says "his appearance represents a peculiar celebration of mediocrity", and that he should never have been on in the first place.
Let me quote from 'The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'.

Sir Edward Elgar:
"His abundant invention, largeness of vision, and strength and singularity of musical character place him high among European Romantic artists and at the peak of British music of his time. He drew inspiration from the culture and landscape of his own country, resourcefulness from the study of his continental colleagues; and he worked in all the major forms except opera, creating a significant body of symphonic literature, the finest oratorio by an Englishman, and in his popular music a style of direct national appeal."

The list of works covers nearly four pages.

Mediocre is not a word I would use in connection with Elgar, but then maybe King, Head of Economics at HSBC bank, knows something that Groves Dictionary (or musicians bible) doesn't.

Many of the points I raised on Jessica's site I shall probably return to on another day, but one I will follow up now is the British attitude to anyone that succeeds. We seem incapable of appreciating those that do well, whatever their chosen field is, but allow hours of television time on brainless 'reality shows', which really are a celebration of mediocrity.

This is a debate we frequently have here in Hillhouse and Robin has a saying which just about sums it up:

"To the triumph of industry over indolence and merit over mediocrity." Robin Hill.

Oh, by the way, Robin has played for many hours today and is currently dining out in London whilst his fingers recover!