Working with Live Music Now

If you have ever browsed through our Outreach pages, you will have seen that we are involved with Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now Scheme. Since we were invited onto the scheme we have performed through the North of England and London, and have tours coming up in Wales and Yorkshire.

Going on tour with a small group is often fun and so far we haven’t had any major bust-ups, despite spending a ridiculous amount of time in Nicole’s lovely but pokey car. During a long drive to Cumbria we considered entering the Name Game World Championships, and I can still recite the “I went to the shops and bought…” that we did on the drive back from Manchester to London.

I’d obviously prefer to travel in a tour bus complete with driver, sleeping compartments and mini TVs, but what with it being a charity I don’t think they would agree. And i’m not sure if many Classical Musicians get that kind of treatment! I must ask Vicky if she had a luxury tour bus when she was doing McFly.

LMN is a very different kind of work to recitals and commercial work. Typical venues include day care centres, special needs schools, and pupil referral centres. Some of our audiences had never seen trumpets before or listened to Classical music, so we try to make our recitals fun and varied so that everyone enjoys themselves. Our audiences are completely uninhibited and will let you know very clearly what they enjoy. The venues are really welcoming every where we go and make the whole experience of performing great. At the end of some of our concerts we feel more like pop stars than Classical artists.

It’s amongst the most rewarding work I have ever done and it makes me really proud to have choosen to be a performer. As musicians we want to reach out and connect with people. We chose our instruments and practiced them every day so that they are a part of us and our personalities, allowing us to express ourselves through the instrument. When we perform for LMN I feel very happy because I know I am showing how much I love performing music and that the audience can see and appreciate that.

For that opportunity it is worth being squeezed in the back of Nicole’s car with seven trumpets and Vicky reciting “I went to the shops and bought a packet of crisps, a bar of chocolate, a hairbrush, a handbag, a pair of socks, satalite navigation…”