Having started the cello much later to most other musicians, I found myself battling the fear of performing at the same time as facing an insecure self-image that often comes with being a 12 year old. I believe this made the issue far greater than it would've been, had I been performing at an earlier …
Category: Performance
Tennis and musical injury- the injustice
Following a hectic final term at school, my return home last Friday was greeted with the excitement of both the women and men's Wimbledon finals. Throughout the whole of the tournament this year, I couldn't help but compare the lives of tennis players with our lives as musicians, and how tennis may be revealing …
Music, Philosophy and Jeanette Winterson
For Christamas this year, I bought Jeanette Winterson's semi-autobiography, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, for my pianist friend, Jasmin. I thought I would interest Jasmin because of Jeanette's inspirational story and her connections with Oxford, (Jasmin is awaiting a response from her Hartford interview!) and so it did. So much so in fact that …
Does Art Have To Be Understood?
I often wander cautiously around art galleries, often in the shadow of sincere tourists with their hands behind their back, face poised in a wonderfully intellectual and pensive expression. I feel inclined to understand the vast collections before me as they seemingly are, and marvel at the sense of x throughout the complexity of y. …
Waiting For Love- Poems for presents
I didn't mind But Waiting for love Was like waiting for a dream to come To fly by and take me to a world afar Where love was the waterfall and I was the reflection I was shown the life from my dreams in the river A life where the moon kissed the stars And …
Always choose the better life- mental health and musicians
Sometimes our thoughts can be far more destructive than the events surrounding us. Of course these two things are often interlinked, but not exclusively. If we have a specific worry plaguing our minds, no matter how laid back our life may seem, often the internal anguish can be far more warring and destructive. On …
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Courier of the soul- A poem
Performing is delivering a gift From writer to reader, composer to listener You decide the path and perhaps the packaging But you leave the gift at the front door Ready to be discovered, unwrapped and cherished. The package was in your care Responsible for its preservation You may enjoy the recipients reaction But you are …
Sometimes we all get in the way of ourselves
http://youtu.be/GNc6qTwC7OY I've never experienced a relaxed performing experience. It's always been a matter of hoping and praying that practice will have been enough and that my performance will be a quarter as fluent as it was in practice. This has really frustrated me. How is it fair that I become a completely different musician when I'm …
Continue reading Sometimes we all get in the way of ourselves
The Performance Mind
Hope you're enjoying my crazy little poems- I write them as an attempt to iron out the anxieties and thoughts in my head and hope they may provide a different perspective for other artists/ musicians. I'm aware how many people suffer from performance anxiety or stage fright and how often the remedies we are given …
