Tut Tut Tut

Well it is over a month since my last blog so the idea of blogging more regularly may have been overly optimistic. I was partly tempted to title this blog "On Why It Is So Difficult to Blog Daily". The answer is, lots of things get in the way - my 9 to 5 as an HR Advisor at the Barbican Centre (which is a really cool job), my part time masters in HR at LSBU (which is really stimulating) and the gym and more recently drying and straightening my now incredibly hair (girls, I don't know how you do this every day). Clearly my list of excuses is long enough which prompts me to have enormous respect for people who can blog every day about their lives and chosen field. I have to remind myself of course that often for these people blogging is part of their 9-5 whereas today I am squishing it into my lunch break!

In a quick creative update, I have made a major breakthrough with my music in using Kontakt 4 which will convert my gigastudio content in a Windows 7 environment. All that work in creating a dual boot system to run the legacy Gigastudio to bring my compositions to life is now a waste of time aside from learning how to create dual boot systems. I am probably a better computer technician than I am composer now!

This means I've been able to write more content for my new show and I hope to be able to share an extract from the Overture very soon to whet your appetite.

Meanwhile research into the setting and context of the show continues and with a two week writing holiday scheduled for my 27th Birthday on the 28th March, I think we will be seeing some material soon!

Back to the Start

Well my New Year's resolution of blogging every day hasn't got off to a good start but let's see if I can cram in a quick one now before dinner!

This weekend I made major progress is getting my music rig all set up. Gigastudio is working well and working well with Sibelius now that I have a dual boot Windows XP 32 bit and Windows 7 64 bit operating systems working side by side. All of this meddling actually only gets me back to where I was, approximately 3 years ago but now I have to move forward to get my other VST instruments to work. Either way, it was a powerful reminder of just how good that software is and how it is good enough for what I need it to do right now which is write the score of my new show and the score of a panto for one of my clients and potentially orchestrate a musical for another.

I hope that it doesn't throw all of its toys out of its pram before my epic writing fortnight scheduled for the end of March.

These Things Do 'Appen

And until you stoppa these things 'appening, this thing does not 'appen.

Thus says Carlotta in The Phantom of the Opera and I wonder if the cast of Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark have considered having a similar strop. (And if the reporting on Natalie Mendoza is correct - they just might!)

Not a days goes by where there is not some commentary on the new Broadway Spiderman musical in the media or wider theatre industry and it is very true that there is more than an element of schadenfreude in reading event unfolding. There's plenty to get excited and vocal about; massive investment, extended previews, high ticket prices, opening night delays and, most notably, the accidents.

I have been intrigued by the reactions to the cast injuries which have included a demand for the show to be closed. There may be many reasons why a show should be closed, but a few accidents is not one of them. I am not saying that a cast, or anyone who works on a show, shouldn't work in safety or be protected. Nor am I saying that it isn't terrible that these accidents happened.

But....

Theatre should push boundaries and should try new things. That involves risk and sometimes the risk includes physical risk to performers.

Theatre has never been safe. Risk cannot be eradicated, it just needs to be assessed, calculated and taken with good knowledge. If the Spiderman team have failed in some aspect, it might be here. It might not. Either way, you cannot work in theatre without resigning yourself to the fact that sooner or later you might get hurt. If you are stunt double for a performer, those stunts involve risk.

Lots of shows have some element of danger and have had accidents. Other bloggers have mentioned Idina Menzel's fall through a trap-door, Shoshana Bean's stumble into the orchestra pit (twice) and the Lord of the Rings accident. I will wager that Starlight Express had it's fair share of bumps and bruises. These shows didn't close and neither should this one.

Haven't people ever heard of the expression "break a leg"? No business like show business.

Tinker, Tailor, Sailor, Spy

I was recently looking at the advertising for Apple's Logic and a major part of their pitch is that with Logic you can get back to doing what you do best - being a musician, and this weekend I realised this is a very good sales point.

I have talked in the past about the issues of using the formerly leading software Gigastudio when it was discontinued by its maker, Tascam, shortly after they released a version which was compatible with 64 bit operating systems. As a result, it became very difficult to buy a copy of the programme which spelled disaster for people like me who had built machines that would take advantage of more larger amount of RAM for loading instrument samples.

Initially I tried competitor products but none of them worked as well as Gigastudio. Now I am faced with the prospect of creating a dual boot system running Windows 7 (64 bit) and Windows XP (32 bit) and reinstalling the previous version of Gigastudio. And sure, I will be regressing to a software and a set up which is legacy, discontinued and has no future, but right now I don't want to move on!

What does any of this have to do with my work as a composer or orchestrator? Nothing - but after having spent an entire weekend working through this problem, it serves as a perfect example of how today's creative have to not only know their craft, investing significant amounts of time and energy, but you also have to be a PC surgeon, amateur programmer and researcher as you wade through a mire of computer problems when you'd rather be working on your scores!

And even if I ever get back to where I started, I am still faced with the reality that I will have to adopt a completely new system in the future. But not today!

A Blog A Day

I am well aware I was totally rubbish at blogging in 2010 and I came to a realisation that it was because I liked to write massive blogs that were in-depth about a topic. The most successful, current and up-to-date blogs are those which are spontaneous and short. So a major resolution for 2011 is to blog every day, even if it is just a few sentences to capture what's going on with my creative work, theatre industry, music and life.

That's a tall order. But let's see how we get on!

Oh, look - first day done. Just another 364 blogs to go.

On Being An Arts Professional

I wrote this piece as part of an article that is being published by the National Campaign for the Arts.


The more I learn about the arts industry, the more ideas about my future develop, having realised that earlier career aspirations aren’t for me after all. I discovered Human Resources as a career path when my first arts jobs in theatre administration began to have a strong HR focus. I leapt at the opportunity to move to a bigger organisation where I could become a specialist and this has resulted in a new, broader approach to my career. As an HR Advisor at the Barbican Centre, I find it incredibly rewarding to support the industry I love. Several elements of my background blend well in what is, unapologetically, a demanding and fast paced environment. When advising managers I can draw upon my arts and corporate work experiences, psychology degree and HR training. It’s a great shame that people rarely advocate that the ‘management’ part of arts management can be just as compelling as being in the limelight.

Even so, my creative drive is sustained by working as a freelance musician providing services from sheet music preparation to orchestration to composing for both amateur and professional clients, as well as working on my own music. I specialise in coaching clients on projects which move out of their comfort zone and into mine. The symbiosis of self employment and my HR role means that I am never forced to work on gigs just to pay the bills like other musician friends. I can balance my freelance and personal work with my other commitments. Sadly, it’s my own work (finishing that musical or concerto) which suffers when diary space must be prioritised by income.

There is little cross over between my HR role and being an artist. While I can feel like Clark Kent, I like the mental and emotional separation of switching from being an HR Advisor to a composer to a freelancer. When the work at the Barbican is of such a consistently high quality, it can’t help but raise your outside artistic aspirations (and the volume of your inner critic). I hope that sooner or later this excellence will rub off on me! The opportunity to see different art forms and do something different in the Barbican’s welcoming environment has engaged me in genres, ideas and practices I would never been inclined to try elsewhere, informing and influencing my creative work. It’s not just about the artistic benefit though; every day at the Barbican develops my industry knowledge, business sense, relationship building and communication skills improving my freelance work. In this economic and political climate, it is not only organisations which have to raise their standards, diversify and find different ways of funding the future – individuals must too.

A benefit of HR as a profession is that it exists outside the arts industry making me employable should I have to, or chose to leave the sector. Similarly I sometimes wonder whether that freedom could tempt me away from the arts. Such moments are, at this point in time, just that – momentary. Seeing reactions from Barbican audiences, I feel immensely proud that I am a small part of giving people these experiences. Furthermore, I can’t imagine working in HR for an industry that doesn’t have the same kind of drive, commitment and passion that the staff at the Barbican Centre demonstrate.

There Are Worse Things I Could Do

I was delighted to be invited back to Pewsey Vale earlier this month to perform in the band for Grease and to assist the musical director. Having worked on the previous shows, Annie and Bugsy Malone it was wonderful to be back in the school working with the kids. The vast majority of this cast were new faces but there were some familiar ones in there too looking incredibly grown up and making me feel old. Well, older. With a relationship with this school that dates back to 2006, the return visit has prompted me to really think about how I have changed or grown as a musician or a freelancer in the last 4 years.

Looking at the kids it is easier to tell how they have changed; they are taller, look older, act more mature and more confident, but for me I suppose it is more difficult. Firstly, I can tell the difference in my sight-reading and my flute playing generally. In previous years I would probably have had to at least hear the music before being able to sight-read it but now I can confidently play from sight and this is obviously a great advantage in my line of work. Secondly I think my technique is better and I am not shying away from some of the more challenging sections working the upper part of the top register. All those years in wind bands like Beenham Band where the flute music is about playing high and playing fast has paid off. I’ve noticed a change in the way I work with the kids. My client (and now friend) remarked that I am a lot more confident when I direct them and that I am less self conscious and I care less about what they think of me. Again these are good things and perhaps this is because I have learnt to trust my knowledge and my judgment a whole lot more.

What I found most refreshing about the production week was that for the first time in a very long period I have not been an HR guy. With a full time 9-5 HR role (albeit at the most amazing conservatoire and arts centre in the UK) and the part time masters, it is easy to forget that I am also an instrumentalist and a freelancer. This has been particularly true with my exams in January which meant I was revising constantly after full days of work.