I get asked that question a lot. Well, the quick answer is, I actually don’t want to. They are wonderful, but they are tiring. I get totally worn out. And I need recovery time. Time to do not-much. Time to see friends. Time to walk a dog-that-doesn’t-belong-to-me, or practise yoga.

I thought I’d list what goes on before a St James concert. I’ve chosen this one because it’s where most of my concerts are.

1. During the day, everything at home is put in a big pile. I’ve practised everything I need to do, and polished the cello. Bit antsy, but ok.
2. Drive to the venue about 3 hours before the concert. Still antsy.
3. Get everything into the venue – cello, stools, lights, wine, tablecloths – you name it, it’s loaded in.
4. Move all the pews around and count the number of seats we have to put out.
5. Sweep the floor.
6. Set up the bar. Put the wine in the fridge. Check all the glasses are clean. Set out the tablecloths, snacks etc.
7. Set up the CD table. Still antsy.
8. Get the programs and list of people that are coming and set up the ‘check -in table’.
9. Wash the chairs.
10. Hang black-out curtains.
11. Put up signs so that people don’t barge in before they open the doors (yes. It happens. I’ve had huge number of excuses….).
12. Check all the right lights are turned on (or off) for the start of the gig.
13. Get dressed. Start to get calmer.
14. Check with all helpers that they are ok and know what to do. Realise most things are done now, and calm down even more.

Then I can get ready to play. Now, I have help that makes things easier – and I so appreciate it. But that all goes on before I can sit at a cello to warm up. On Saturday night, after the second one gig, the entire thing is reversed. So not only am I emotionally drained from whatever it is I’m playing (because I don’t seem to play unless my heart is on my sleeve!), I’m also physically worn-out too.

The Sunday after two St James concerts I lie pretty low. Try and dig in the garden. Noodle around the house and listen to records. Eat some good food.

And it’s enough for me. How long will I keep doing it? Not sure. At the moment, it’s fine. There’ll come a time where it’s not fine, and I’ll stop.

But not just yet.

Programming a concert is something I think about a lot, and do really carefully. There’s a number of things to take into account.

I try and have enough things that I’d like to listen to – not ‘crowd pleasers’, as such, but things that would make you want to come back to a concert. I try to have at least one thing that most people will know. I try to have one thing written by a living composer. I also search out a good mix of slow and fast.

Then I need to take into account the fact that most of the concerts I play are ‘Bach in the Dark’ concerts – so I need enough Bach. And then if I can get things that are inspired by Bach, or linked to Bach, that’s even better.

I need to work with each artist, and work out what we can program that can showcase what they do, as well. I’ve got a great improviser? How can I program something that will show this off? Someone who plays great klezmer? Same thing…

And then to fine-tune things even more (no pun intended), I try and work out the flow of the concert. I often try and link keys together, so that things are placed really well next to one another. Or I feel that one piece is the ‘heart’ of the concert, so to speak, so I work outwards from that one piece. I’ll also often find a piece that’s a good ‘opener’ for whatever reason.

And I might jot down six or seven different running orders, and fiddle with them for a week or so, moving things around. I”ll talk to the other artist. I’ll talk to my musical husband and get his opinion. I’ll also ask a few trusted friends. And then it falls into place.

So I am constantly amazed when someone, out-of-the-blue says to me something like “So, Rachel – for the next concert coming up, could I hear three movements from such-and-such? I like it, and it’s a great piece.” I wonder to myself…. Do they know the thought-processes that go on for each program? Are they thinking that they are helping? Or do they just see me as a jukebox?

I’ve been told to just smile and nod and say something like ‘Oh, I’ll think about it.” But, of course, I don’t do that. I engage, and try and say why I’ve done what I’ve done. And do you know, it never really works. Maybe I will mumble something non-committal next time. But it did make me wonder if anyone who isn’t a performer actually knows what goes on.

So now you do. Well, at least a bit. And how I work. It’s not how everyone does. But throwing in unasked for requests doesn’t really go down well.

And NEVER ask for the Pachelbel canon.

I practise a lot.

I try and sit at the cello every day. Days I’m teaching in a school, I’m up before sun-rise, and sit at the cello for a goodly while before I leave. (I’ll often then return after a day’s teaching, but my quality of practise isn’t so good….) On days I’m not teaching, I’ll sit and practise for hours – sometimes up to 5. Most days it’s a good time – exploring, trying new things. Learning new repertoire. Revisiting things I know, often looking at them in a new light.

I was practising a Bach suite (the fifth one. It’s totally fabulous. And huge – such a big play!) the other day, and realised that I’m still improving. I could do things that I couldn’t before when I last performed this two years ago. Some things felt easier. Some phrases spoke to me in a different way.

And so I got wondering – what has made me improve? I mean, you’d hope I did, after all the time I choose to sit at the instrument. I perform a lot, so I’m trying to always be the best I can. (No point in expecting people to come and hear you otherwise, is there?) I play with lots of different instruments, and adjust my sound accordingly – I can play really soft with a guitar, for instance. Very loud with a harp. Is it playing lots of Bach (It’s like eating your greens – it’s very good for you as a musician!)? Is it challenging myself physically in the yoga room, balancing and doing back-bends? Is it getting older? Doing recordings?

It’s possibly all of those things. But at the moment, the thing I’m thinking is making the most difference is that I play a lot of music that isn’t originally written for cello. It’s keyboard music, or violin music, or vocal lines. So I have to work out how to get things sounding the best I can on my cello. No-one cares that it’s awkward. Or difficult. They care that it’s played well. That it’s phrased and sounds beautiful.

So I keep searching and wondering. Can I play this better? Is this the best fingering? Can it sing more? Sometimes my obsessiveness (for want of a better word) serves me badly. I get frustrated with myself. I don’t take a day off. I forget that, after all, it’s OK to not be perfect.

But it’s also pushing me. Making me a better musician, a better player. And stopping and reflecting on that, it makes me smile.

“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” goes the saying.

If I can be really honest here, I want to punch someone who says that to me. Hard. Preferably in the face. Yes. It’s true.

I DO do what I love. I love playing the cello. I love practising and exploring new and old repertoire. I love teaching and sharing the love I have of music. I can’t imagine not doing any of this.

But it is work.

I teach on days when I’m tired and my back is sore. I don’t want to be reasonable when a child complains that they have the wrong colour kazoo. I want to be at a cafe having a coffee and a muffin, rather than having been at school an hour before the kids come getting all the instruments out for the day, putting them back at the end of it and then seeing lesson after lesson of kids. It’s work.

I practise on days when I feel like curling up in bed. Or when I’m panicked at the amount of notes I have to learn. Or my eyes are tired. Or I’d rather be out with friends. I sit, sometimes for hours and work. Because I have to.

I sit updating social media, or listening to recordings that need editing, or devise programs (which take a long time, surprisingly) when I don’t really want to. Sometimes this is fun. But sometimes it’s not. Again, it’s work.

Having written all that, some days it’s excellent. I leap out of bed, and love sitting and practising. My body feels good. My brain is on and well-rested. I love leaping around a classroom. But it’s not always like that.

It is fabulous doing something you love. I wouldn’t do anything else.

But it is work.

 

A long while ago I was lucky enough to meet the most amazing music therapist. She came to a school that I was teaching at as part of her Master’s degree. She was meant to be learning from me, as I taught disengaged kids. What actually happened was I learned far more from her than she did from me (isn’t that always the way?)…

She participated in music lessons, helping out. She was fantastic in the classroom. And then she asked if she could do a crazy thing with a pile of year six kids – she wanted to give them a 10-week djembe drum workshop. (She was following a set of lessons they do a lot in W.A., called ‘drumbeat’ as children transition to high school. A facilitator uses drum lessons to get kids talking about what they might be fearful of as they move to senior school. It’s a great program.) Luckily, we had a principal at the school who was willing to give this a go (thank you, Mister Johnston!). Over the weeks, I would nip up to the hall to see what was going on in these classes. And I saw some incredible engagement with some really tricky customers – and love of drumming blossoming. These kids loved what they were doing!

So I learned some very basic drum skills, and piecing together bits and pieces from everywhere, started teaching drumming myself to classes. I’m not a drummer. I don’t pretend to turn kids into ‘proper’ drum students. But I do see so many things working in drum lessons. Children are engaged – really engaged. Children are listening and memorising music. They are developing motor skills. They are working as a team. They are having the most enormous sense of fun.

This was all brought back to me last week, as I was teaching. I’m at a school where things are pretty difficult at the moment. More difficult than what things were. There’s a lot of angry, disengaged little people. It didn’t always used to be like that – and it probably won’t be like that all the time. Maybe next term it will change. But it is like that now. And it’s hard to teach there at the moment. I’ve tried lots of different things to engage the classes.

And this week I chose to drum with all the classes who were big enough to do so (why I hadn’t done this before, I do not know. I tried lots of other avenues, but they weren’t hugely successful.). And I saw it again. I saw this drum ‘magic’. Kids who hadn’t engaged all term were drumming. They were answering questions as we discussed patterns. They were ‘in’ the lesson with me. They were trying new things, and testing themselves. They were sitting stiller than they had before. They were sitting taller than they had before. And most importantly, they were smiling.

Coming home, I smiled. I’m not sure how it’ll go next music lesson. But these ones were good ones. I had done my job. I had loved my job. Kymbo, thank you for opening this door. You would have been proud of me this week….