The success of failure ‘A live donkey is better than a dead lion, isn’t it?’- -Shackleton, to his wife, upon returning from a failed polar expedition. It’s 1914 and you’re leading an expedition to be the first to cross Antarctica by ship when your vessel gets trapped by pack ice. Months go by and you …
“Can I speak to you for a minute, Valerie?” Samuel (not his real name), an extremely bright and talented cellist, had started showing up to class late, looking suddenly much thinner, with dark circles under his eyes. I was concerned. One day he asked to speak with me after class. We went to find a …
In part 1 and part 2 on this subject I’ve been looking at how tuning into your inner smart meter can really help you become more efficient, healthy and happy as an artist. How do you read the dial on your smart meter? To tune in to your energy levels, for example, you can assign …
The other morning, I woke up with an image before me – the tail-end of a dream. Someone had installed a meter next to me on my right-hand side. I knew it belonged to me now – in fact, it seemed to be part of me. “I know,” I said to myself, half asleep, “it’s …
The author at six, already making soup. As a performer, do you find it hard to get down to practise? Or do you feel like you’ve never done enough? Or maybe both? As a kid, it was just compulsory- a set time for piano practice every day, with no discussion. I had hoops to jump …
A while ago, I began to realise that a strange thing was happening to me. Every time I was invited to a wedding, something went terribly and bafflingly awry. When one of my best friends asked me to bring something meaningful to place on the altar at her wedding I knew just the thing– a …
When I was an active and successful concert pianist playing recitals in Britain and across Europe, one of my main focuses was practice. I was most often playing repertoire chosen by others, as I was a collaborative pianist working with singers and instrumentalists. One moment I would be working on a Brahms cello sonata, the …
Recently, I’ve been taking theatrical impro classes which culminate in a public show, and they’ve sparked lots of ideas in me. Our teacher, Remy is extremely imaginative and adventurous, and so we never know exactly what we’ll be doing from one moment to the next. However, we do generally start the class with a warm-up. …
This week, I’ve written a guest post “What does it mean to be free to create?” on Lisa Peake’s Peake Productivity blog. It’s an area I’m very much still working on, and I’d love to hear your ideas too!
My new blog entry is on the most inspiring books currently on my book shelf.