Being a fully paid-up member of London's musical family, I find it increasingly hard to ignore the fact that we double bassists are disadvantaged in almost every aspect of our professional existence.
OK, so we're used to hearing the wisecracks at every turn - yesterday, navigating my way into the artist's entrance of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, being the most recent. A couple of builders yelled: "Bet you wish you took up the violin!" Well, no, actually.
Don't get me wrong - we wouldn't switch to any other instrument or profession. We're devoted. After all, we're the section of the orchestra that provides the harmonic foundation and most of the rhythmic structure. Without it, all hell would break loose: orchestras would fall apart, the melodic instruments wouldn't have the foggiest what to do. Bands have got along for centuries without conductors, and in our history they're still in their infancy. We bassists just let them swish away at the front.
What I'm getting at is the fact that the bass is surely the most important instrument in the orchestra, yet often we don't get the credit for it. And still we shoulder an unspeakable amount of extra costs for our art: all the visits to chiropractors, gyms, Alexander teachers. The repair list goes on.
We also have to have cars large enough to transport our instruments from A to B. The amount of grief student bassists get if they attempt public transport goes beyond the pale, and who can afford taxis everywhere?
Hence the problem. Since February 2003 London-based musicians have had yet another penalty put upon us, Ken Livingstone's congestion charge. Since then it's cost bassists thousands of pounds more than any other musician to entertain people who need, and love, to go to concerts. It's not orchestras' fault: they have enough on their hands fund-raising, and can't stretch to paying congestion charges for the likes of us who have no choice but to drive into central London.
So I'd like to make a proposal, Ken, if you're reading: that an exemption be made for those of us in the arts who have to drive into town. I'm in total support of the exemptions made for the medical and emergency services, but - particularly in the week that we've seen the first glimpses of the fantastic, redeveloped South Bank Centre - surely London also needs to look after the musicians who make those centres worth visiting. Laying physical foundations is all very well, but what about those who play the foundations of the music itself?
