Life of a Musician - Robin Hill... is 6 Years Old!

I can't believe that another year has gone by and that 'Life of a Musician' is now 6 years old!

Last year, on its 5th Birthday, I reviewed the blog in general and highlighted some of the most popular post: 'Life of a Musician - 5 Years of Blogging'.

This year, as always, has been eventful.
There have been laughter, tears and the occasional tantrum, as one would expect when following the life of any musician trying to travel the globe these days.

A major highpoint was the release of, 'Standing on Air', which was accompanied by a, 'Making of Video', in which Robin talks openly about his eclectic approach to music and offers some insight into composing and the recording process.
You can read the post here: 'Standing on Air - Robin Hill arrives on iTunes, Amazon etc...'

As part of the promotion of 'Standing on Air' we were extremely proud of the video made by our eldest son Oliver, 'Chill 22', which you can watch below.



There's more about the track, 'Chill 22' here.

But it hasn't all been good.

Unfortunately the release of the new CD was hampered by Robin breaking his arm.
This is a dreadful situation for anyone, but for a musician it brings its own sort of terrors.
Read 'Psychology of the Injured Musician' for more details.

We have also launched a brand new website, packed with information, videos, pictures etc. More about that here.
From the site you can join our mailing list and keep up to date with new releases and the 'soon to be avaialable' sheet music.

One of the most popular posts this year has been, 'The Scale' from The Guitar Gymnasium', which is an extract from Robin's book, and is a must for any player wanting to improve their technique.

As always, travel has played a large part of Robin's day to day life, and as is often the case these days, there are frequently traumas to cope with.
'Fly with a Little Help from Lebrecht...' was probably one of the most frustrating situations Robin has had to face, when an airline refused to allow his guitar in the cabin, even in a paid seat....

The next year of, 'Life of a Musician', promises to be just as exciting.
There are plans for more videos and another album is already underway. So there is plenty to look out for over the coming months.

There are now 727 posts in the archives, scroll down the left hand sidebar, and feel free to have a look around.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading and for making 6 years of blogging so enjoyable.

Fly With a Little Help from Lebrecht...

Getting to Norway was always going to be difficult.
Not because of the distances involved, after all Robin travels all around the world, Norway is pretty much on our doorstep.
But time was the issue.

Last Friday, the 8th of June, Robin was playing for the High Sheriff of Lancashire at lunchtime in Lancaster Town Hall.

This went very well and he then dashed off to catch the first of three flights.
That isn't exactly true, he couldn't really 'dash' to the airport as a murder had been committed on the motorway.

Honestly, you couldn't make it up....

Consequently the motorway was closed and we had to make a detour to a train station which duly delivered Robin to the airport just in time for his first flight.

Not the best of starts.
However, the journey was to get a whole lot worse.

A quick change of planes in Copenhagen and then he spent a night, or what was left of it, in a hotel in Oslo.

Early next morning he duly arrived to catch his Norwegian Air flight to Alesund.
He was met by the usual barrage of questions regarding the guitar, he was informed that under no circumstances would the instrument be allowed in the cabin but, on payment of an extra £20, could be consigned to the hold, even though we had already paid for extra hand luggage.

Robin then 'phoned his contact in America who advised that they would purchase another seat for the guitar.
He then went to the Norwegain Air desk and was informed that they did have a seat available but when he explained this was for his instrument they refused point blank.

After a Twitter exchange, Norman Lebrecht, very succinctly summed up the situation, on his blog, 'Slipped Disc'.
As Kenneth Woods highlighted during this discussion, 'Norman Lebrecht has been a real champion for musicians with airlines.'


Travelling with an instrument has been difficult for some time but the situation is getting worse, and more stressful, with every journey.
Airlines all seem to have different, ever changing policies regarding musical instruments but even then, it really depends who happens to be at the check in desk.
Some people are fine others make problems where none exist.

The fact is that a classical guitar case fits neatly into the overhead locker, still allowing space for other passengers to stow their belonings, or, within one of the wardrobes available on the aircraft.
It really isn't a problem.

But on this occasion the check in assistant wouldn't budge.
No guitar was getting on his plane.

So Robin informed them he wouldn't be getting on the plane either, and his agents booked another flight for much later in the day leaving Robin to spend the entire day back at the hotel.
The pressure was unrelenting as he didn't know if he would actually make his connection after all these delays.

Back at the airport later that evening, Scandinavian Airlines welcomed Robin, and guitar, on board without any hesitation.

Thankfully their were no further delays and Robin arrived with only 30 minutes to spare.

Travel is meant to be the easy part, it's playing the notes that is difficult.
Airlines should remember who the customer is...


The next day he was able to put all the stress behind him and deliver a great concert.
Which incidentally was filmed by a Dutch TV film crew, but that's another story....

Crowd Control at the Proms...

As always I've been listening to a lot of BBC Radio 4.
Two items caught my attention.
Today on 'You and Yours' with Liz Barclay and John Waite, they were discussing a project to get young people interested in classical music.
I have mentioned this before. It's a scheme headed by the Bournemouth Symphony, along with many other orchestras and conductors, who want to provide free concerts for young people.
They recognise the importance of trying to involve children and young adults in the world of classical music.
They even took along a group from a local 6th form college to hear Beethoven at the Royal Albert Hall.

Prior to the concert the youths thoughts ranged from, 'classical music is too long', 'not cool' and 'boring'.
Obviously we have a lot to do in improving the image of classical music. But that's not all.
Why a generation that can spend hours glued to a playstation would find it 'too long' is beyond me. I feel some work is needed in the area of increasing the attention span of our youth. I realise that to play computer games there's a level of interaction taking place, so we need to get more children playing instruments, and therefore feeling involved.
However, post concert, the comments were more positive.
They seemed to have genuinely enjoyed it, felt that seeing the musicians at work was good, but some had felt intimidated by the silence of the audience.
Some also said that they would like to return and would bring a friend if that friend was already interested in classical music.
Clearly more work is needed in the promotion of the whole area.
Lets hope this project takes off.
I was also delighted to hear that Liz Barclay is a 'guitar' fan, and the Spanish guitar has the ability to bring her out in 'goose bumps'!

The other item I listened to was yesterday's 'PM' with Eddie Mair.
There was a very interesting discussion taking place between Norman Lebrecht and Nicholas Kenyon. This had been prompted by a spontaneous round of applause, between movements, on Wednesday evenings performance of Mahler's 9th Symphony at The Proms.

Now this is an area I have mentioned many times on the blog and debated at some length over on Sounds and Fury forum.
Whilst both Lebrecht and Kenyon made their points very succinctly I must say I fall down on the side of Nicholas Kenyon.
He actually made many of the same points that I have in the past. Whilst it shouldn't be encouraged, if applause occurs in the wrong places, well, just enjoy the fact that you've moved an audience and that they bothered to attend in the first place.
It's also possible for a soloist or conductor to 'help' the audience understand where and when they can applaud, by using their body language.
Given that the conductor Ilan Volkov wasn't put off by this occurrence, and that one of the things preventing a new generation from attending concerts is that they feel intimidated by the situation, then this is an area we need to address.

It's not just the audience though.
You have to keep your eye on the musicians.
Back in 1953 the cellist Ambrose Gauntlett smuggled a camera into the Queen's Coronation, kept it in his cello case and remotely took an unauthorized picture of the proceedings.
To read the full story by Luke Salkeld click here.

Elgar Again, and nearing Grenada

Poor old Elgar, why won't they leave him alone. Read this article by Amy Iggulden.The fact that people like the music, isn't that enough?
Norman Lebrecht says, "He left three works of great stature, the Enigma Variations, the Violin Concerto and the Cello Concerto, but the rest is of rather medium quality."
In my view, if he'd only composed one of those pieces he should still be classed as a 'major figure in music history.'
Well done to Julian Lloyd Webber, and James Inverne from 'Gramaphone', for standing up for Elgar.
Meanwhile out at sea, there is a rumour that someone, somewhere, has put a suitcase with Robin's name on it, on an overnight plane to Grenada.
The QM2 will be docking there later today.
We don't know if this is true, or if it is in fact his case, because, as yet, I still haven't managed to speak to a 'person' at BA. Still, six days 'on hold' isn't bad, is it?
Until I hear from Robin I don't think I'll believe it, so you'll have to check back later to see if it has arrived.