Tuesday 13 July 2010

So you're a professional musician now?

I think that's a very interesting question.

Certainly, I could easily live on this kind of busking money if it wasn't going to the church. Then there's all the piano teaching and sundries.

But something has just happened to me that only happens to professional musicians and it's made me think.

There's a charity called "Music in Hospitals" that does what it says on the tin except it also works in care homes and so on. It exists to bring music of the highest quality into those settings. That's very creditable, I think.

A couple of friends, Catherine Handley and Huw Chidgey have been doing gigs for Music in Hospitals for some time so when Catherine put something about it on Facebook I thought I'd look into it and sent off for a form.

I filled it in thinking it was wasted effort because it says you need to be a professional musician and asks you to put down your qualifications and experience.

So, I put down that I could play grade 8 piano stuff and I mentioned about Frost at Midnight - www.myspace.com/frostatmidnight and the songs on the radio and the busking tour and thought nothing of it.

And now I've got an audition. Now, by talking to Catherine Handley I've found out that it's entertainment first in this world and not by any means all classical although that's included. So I'm thinking at the moment about playing the Scott Joplin rag, The Entertainer and a couple of songs people can join in with like Blowin in the Wind and You've got a Friend.

Whether I get the gig or not, I'm quite chuffed to have been asked. In any case, I'm giving a talk on the Roy Noble programme from the Royal Welsh Show next week the day after the audition so I intend to use the experience to talk about how we need to find ways to make our faith and experience work together.

I'll let you know how I get on.

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