I know it has been six months since my last blog, but I've not been idle. Quite the opposite. On top of the usual performances here, there and everywhere, I've been let loose on air! Not in a parachute or at the end of a bungee elastic, but on BBC Radio 3, presenting the Request programme every Sunday afternoon.
Writing scripts in every spare moment, then delivering them, holed up in a lonely Broadcasting House studio is not a doddle. Not when you've got a wandering mind as I have! Condensing sleeve notes and page loads of factual information on composers and music into a minute's worth of captivating spiel has been a fascinating and time-consuming challenge. The more I read, the more I want to say, but time doesn't permit. Therefore it's been great for my decision-making skills. None of which I could have achieved without my awesome team of producers.
As well as that, I've been filming a new BBC TV classical music competition as a member of the panel, which launches any day now. October 16 I'm told. Having always struggled with the idea of a competition in music (coming from an athletic background, where it's clear who wins), the format of this new contest has won me over. The age group is 12-19 years. We selected nine of the most outstanding contestants to go into a "house" for three weeks. They were not chained in a choky practising scales and arpeggios for eight hours a day, followed by a bun fight. Instead, they were give a huge variety of artistic and worldly challenges with workshops most musicians would struggle to have in a lifetime. These included busking in a shopping precinct, body language and overall presentation advice, laser quest, jazz improvisation with Julian Joseph's trio, individual tuition, mentoring and learning to dance the Tango - to name a few! Taking anyone outside their comfort zone has risks, but these young people leaped to every challenge with such a thirst that I'm convinced our nanny state is a feeble idea. It has also proved to me that youths who play, or want to play, what we call "classical music" are not sissies either.
The winner gets to make a solo album and has something of a launch, and seven of the contestants have already recorded a solo piece as one of the house challenges. So all in all, thumbs up to this competition, as it's been an educational, eye-opening, fun experience for everyone involved. Having said that, without doubt it's been awful picking the bones and sending two contestants home at the end of each week. But it has to be done. We've gone as far as the semi-finals now, with the finals ready to roll with the remaining three later this month.
