January year is a time when we look back at the old year to take stock, as well as looking ahead to the new year stretching out ahead of us. My musical activities over the last year came about because of the Covid-19 pandemic. While this wretched virus has done its best to wreak havoc, for me it’s had one huge upside - meeting you! Of course, I already knew some of you personally before this all started, but it’s been a huge pleasure to get to know new names and faces, through the gift of your emails, cards and letters. Of course, I do most of the talking in our ‘conversations’, writing to you every 14 days. But I really look forward to finding your side of the conversation waiting for me in my email inbox. It’s been a joy to meet some of you in person and I’ve made so many new friends - thank you.
To start the new year I thought we’d continue the spirit of getting to know each other. Much of what you’ve learnt about me so far has been about my current musical life, so I figured I could share some more of my backstory, musical and otherwise. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a full autobiography, but merely a few (hopefully) interesting and sometimes quirky glimpses into my life. I’d love to learn more about you too, so please do read to the end and get in touch.
Where it all started…
I grew up in West Sussex, on the south coast of England and, aside from my college years, I remained there until we moved north to Essex in 2013. It’s ironic really – my parents moved to Sussex in the 1960s from Essex, and I’ve now followed my roots back again! It’s been a big adventure moving away from my home territory, and without it I’d probably still be teaching in schools and wouldn’t have met you!
One of my favourite places in my home county of Sussex - the village of Bosham
My start on the recorder
Like many children of the 1970s I started playing the recorder with the rest of my class at primary school. I began at the age of seven, led by my teacher, Mrs Cureton, who I naturally assumed was an expert on the instrument. It was only when we met again many years later that she confessed she’d only been a couple of pages ahead of the class! When it came to shifting from descant to treble recorder, there weren’t enough treble recorders to go around, so I was entrusted with a sopranino instead. Now that was either a very foolhardy decision, or perhaps someone had realised I was the one least likely to make a screechy sound on this shrill instrument of torture!
My final year at primary school brought me the opportunity to play another instrument. I really wanted to play the flute, but the teacher was oversubscribed so I plumped for the clarinet instead. Moving to secondary school I continued to dabble with the recorder, playing in the school ensemble, but the clarinet had become my main instrument. It wasn’t until the 4th form when my music teacher, Mrs Lloyd, asked if I fancied taking a grade on the recorder as she was entering some of the other girls for exams. I thought, “Why not!” and started working on the pieces. This was the moment I saw the light and realised that not only was the recorder a ‘proper instrument’, I actually preferred it to the clarinet. From that moment I was completely hooked, and the rest, as they say, is history…
I never intended to be a professional musician
Through my school years I enjoyed music and loved the gang of friends I’d made through music making. But I never had any intention of being a professional musician. Naturally, school careers advisors warned against trying to make a living through music, so it simply never occurred to me that it was even a possibility. During the 1980s the WISE campaign (Women in Science and Engineering) was launched so I was encouraged to consider careers which followed that route. For a time I had ideas about becoming a physiotherapist or radiotherapist, but music continued to play a big part in my life. By the time I moved on to the local sixth form college I had decided to become a music librarian, hoping to work in this field with one of the big orchestras. Fortunately, my parents could see how much I enjoyed the practical element of music making, and they encouraged me to go to music college rather than following a purely academic music education at university.
My first wooden recorder came via an unexpected raffle win
Sitting on my motorbike in my parents’ garden
At the tender age of thirteen I helped my Mum man one of the stands at an event organised by the local police to raise awareness of safety when riding bikes. The day included a raffle, so my Mum bought a ticket and put my name on it. You can imagine the conversation that evening when we got a phone call from the police asking to speak to me… It turned out I’d won first prize – a motorbike! I repaid Mum the fifty pence for the ticket and claimed my prize, which I couldn’t yet legally ride! With no use for the bike, we sold it and a couple of years later that cash paid for my first wooden recorder – a rosewood Moeck Rottenburgh treble. The recorder is well past its best these days, but it holds such happy memories I’ve never had the heart to part company with it.
Magic musical moments don’t always come where you expect them…
The most joyous experiences in music making are often the ones you don’t see coming, which leave you soaring on a cloud. Playing in an exciting concert can keep me awake for hours, on an adrenaline high. But sometimes those highs come when you’re least expecting them.
About a decade ago I conducted a playing day with the Suffolk branch of the Society of Recorder Players. We finished the day with Steve Marshall’s Sinfonietta No.2 – a piece for three equal choirs of recorders. It finishes slowly and quietly, and players often lose control, rushing the moment. On this occasion though the massed players (about 50 people) played an absolutely blinder, performing the final run through with enormous poise and musicality. As we finished you could have heard a pin drop as the perfection of the moment sank in. It was one of those once in a lifetime experiences I know I’ll never replicate. As I drove home afterwards I recall grinning like a loon and it left me on a high for days!
I once gave a concert to 350 people and an eagle owl
Strange, but true! Anyone who lived in southern England in 1987 will no doubt have vivid memories of the great storm, which felled millions of trees and did enormous damage to homes and businesses. A wildlife centre near Chichester was damaged by the high winds and during the night an Eagle Owl escaped its enclosure. It subsequently spent many months living in the environs of Chichester Cathedral, feeding off vermin in the cathedral close.
One evening in February 1989, as the west doors opened after evensong, the owl flew into the Cathedral and refused to be captured by the vergers. By chance, the following day, I was due to give a recital there, so my audience of 350 was augmented by one more, of the feathered kind. Fortunately, Oswald (he was christened so as he’d flown in on the eve of St Oswald’s day) slept through the whole thing, perched in one of the arches above the lady chapel. One can only imagine the chaos that would have ensued if he’d chosen to exhibit his six foot wing span by flying down the nave mid-concert!
A few days later, he’d become hungry enough to be tempted down by a tasty morsel and was finally returned to his aviary at the sanctuary. Oswald’ adventure was subsequently immortalised in a children’s book by the actor and director Patrick Garland. I’ve since given several more concerts in Chichester Cathedral – all of them to even larger audiences, but sadly none of them had feathers!
A more recent concert in Chichester Cathedral. A packed audience, but none with feathers or talons!
The adventures of a magazine cover girl
I’ve had the honour of appearing on the cover of The Recorder Magazine not once, but twice. The first time came in 1993, when the magazine was relaunched by Peacock Press, just after I’d left college. The photographer Robert Carpenter Turner was tasked with the job of finding a photogenic recorder player to appear on the inaugural cover and somehow he found me!
Thirteen years later one of our crazier Parnassian Ensemble publicity photos took pride of place on the cover, to celebrate the release of our CD. The shot selected featured the four of us lying on the floor, with our feet up on the harpsichord and, because I was closest to the camera, my legs take centrestage! Needless to say, this isn’t a photo we use in our publicity much, but it was huge fun to create, as I think you can tell from our expressions!
I’m a photo addict
If you’ve been a subscriber to Score Lines for a while you’ll already know I’m a keen photographer from the photos I share with you each week. However, you may not know the true extent of my photographic addiction…
One of my most recent photos, taken in Peterborough Cathedral
Back in 2007 I started a blog as somewhere to share my photos. By the end of 2008 I was sharing at least one new photo every day and decided I’d keep doing that for a year. My training as a musician told me if I practised regularly I would improve. Why shouldn’t that also be the case with photography? Sure enough, after a year I was making better photos and was thoroughly hooked. I decided I’d miss my daily dose of photography if I stopped so I kept going…. for ten years!
In 2018 I decided the need to find a new photo every day was limiting me, so I took the decision to free myself of that requirement and just take photos when I wanted to. I still use my camera most days, even now, but I’m able to be more experimental, trying different styles, such as the pinhole photography I’ve sometimes shared with you in Score Lines. If I’ve learnt one thing from my photography addiction though, it’s the fact that regular practice really does make a difference, whatever skill it is you’re trying to acquire!
With a little help from my friends…
Music making is almost always a matter of teamwork and nowhere is that truer than when you’re making a recording. I’ve been involved in a few recording projects over the years, but there are two I’m especially proud of. In 2009 Steve Marshall persuaded me I really should record a CD and the result was Helen and Friends. Featuring a wide variety of music, from solo unaccompanied repertoire to consort pieces and a performance of Steve’s Concerto No.2, which he composed specially for me. Lots of my friends appear on the CD, including the Phoenix Recorder Orchestra. Here’s one of my favourite tracks from the CD for you to listen to straight away. There’s another track over in my Members’ Area for Score Lines subscribers to download and keep.
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Encouraged by the experience of recording my own CD, when the Society of Recorder Players asked me to produce a CD of music in memory of Brian Bonsor I leapt at the chance. In collaboration with Brian’s widow, Mary, I chose a mix of his music then set about recruiting a handpicked ensemble of players who I knew could learn and record the music without needing vast amounts of rehearsal time. I’ll be forever grateful to the friends who agreed to take part in the Bravo Bonsor! project, for giving their time and talents so willingly. Musical teamwork at its best.
The need for speed
Over the months I’ve shared photos from a huge variety of places, but some of my favourite locations to shoot are places which are home to fast cars. I grew up watching motor racing with my parents, as well as attending events at the motor circuit at Goodwood. There’s nothing quite like the smell of the mineral oil used in old cars and the roar of an engine to get the heart beating that little bit faster!
Fortunately, Kevin is also a petrolhead so we love spending summer days attending car shows and race meetings with his beloved 1965 Mini. I adore old cars in particular and I have even been known occasionally to pass up the opportunity to play my recorder in favour of a weekend watching the action at the Goodwood Racing Revival!
Wheel to wheel action on track at Goodwood
Of course, speed doesn’t have to happen at ground level. Over the years Kevin’s love of old aircraft has also rubbed off on me. I relish the challenge of photographing them in flight, even if I can’t always remember their names. This May, as a belated celebration of a significant birthday we both had in 2021 we’ll be taking a ride in a North American Aviation Harvard, a WWII training aircraft, in the skies over Bedfordshire. Naturally, I’ll share a photo from the day with you after the event!
The very aircraft Kevin and in which Kevin and I will be taking to the skies - named ‘Wacky Wabbit’!
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So now you know a little more about me – some of it musical, some of it not. Now it’s your turn… Why not get in touch to tell me something about yourself – it could be how you came to recorder playing, or maybe something completely unrelated to music.
While you’re there, do let me know what you’d like me to write about here on the Score Lines blog in 2022. I’ve got lots of ideas, but I’m always open to suggestions. At the moment I have some longer term themes in mind which I’ll cover over several posts, including technique tips, practice methods, repertoire and some interviews.
But what would you like to read about? You may have ideas I haven’t even considered yet? This blog is for you so the more information I have about you and the things you’d like to learn the better I can tailor it to your needs. All you need to do is leave a comment below, click reply to any issue of Score Lines or ping me a message via my contact page. I’m already looking forward to seeing my inbox contains next time I check….