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Originality

No one ever became original by trying to be original. Besides, originality is highly overrated. It’s an ephemeral thing which only really exists as a by-product. If you try too hard to grasp it you may only be left, at best, with a passing style, at worst, with trite novelty.

Whilst “people watching” at a wedding recently I patronisingly noticed that each of the guests (myself included) could easily be slotted into a category of wedding guest that I’d seen at about every wedding I’d ever attended. Yet, as often happens, once I got chatting to people and sharing stories I realised how facile my shallow categories were. Each “type” of person had a story that was unique in the telling and my quick reference label told me very little about who they really were.

Being original has nothing to do with the external elements we present to the world and everything to do with our internal story. When our internal authentically becomes our external we are functioning as artists.

Which musician doesn’t start out copying? In composing we begin by aping a style we love (I wrote two pages of a bad pseudo “Brahms” Piano concerto when I was 12) In Jazz we learn a favourite solo from a player we want to emulate. As performers we either absorb or reject the sound and style of those we hear.

This is a natural and healthy way to develop as an artist, but surely imitation doesn’t bode well for originality? This is where an artist can take a wrong turn.

If you learn a language the next step isn’t to subvert or manipulate that language, but simply learn to tell your story with it: your unique story that only you can tell. Yes, it may be true that in the process you may have to develop that language, or even extend it, but that will only be because the story requires it in the telling.

Today we create and recreate our music in a world where almost any style or interpretation can be accessed at the click of the ubiquitous mouse. Maybe the originality of a Haydn or a Bach was easier to nurture when the field of play was so much narrower. Such composers had relatively very little to influence them, but far from creating parochial music of its time, they wrote universal music for all time. 300 years later we keep listening, not because they were different but because they were themselves.

We hear Charlie Parker or Jascha Heifetz and of course we hear originality, but I suspect neither of them was seeking that. Rather they were finding their voice and in the process the language had to be developed a little further. As Thelonious Monk (allegedly) said “A genius is the one most like himself”.

If we ever meet at a wedding and get chatting, don’t try to impress me with something new or novel, tell me your story; it’s the most original thing you possess.

 

Simon Hester, pianist & composer

Simon Hester was born in Sheffield and studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Geoffrey Pratley and Jean Harvey winning many prizes for his performances both as a soloist and accompanist.

His career has covered a wide range of musical worlds, and his versatility is much admired in both classical and jazz repertoire. He gives recitals throughout Great Britain and has appeared at the Bath, Edinburgh and Exeter festivals and has toured throughout the UK and abroad with the highly successful show “All You Ever Wanted to Know about Opera”

Simon performs frequently with the violinist Carmine Lauri, and has also worked with the distinguished violinist Maurice Hasson having appeared with him in recitals throughout Europe.

www.simonhestercomposer.com

 

ON ACQUIRING A PIANO. A question might be: “how long do you want a piano to last?” That suggests a new piano is a better choice than an old piano. But of course there is no definition of “a better choice.” A newer piano with its more recent manufacturing techniques will likely last longer than the gorgeous sounding antique with the hand-carved legs. But we buy pianos for their sound so that’s the important part of the equation.

About brand names: I’ve heard about pianos made, for example, by Blüthner and how special they are. I think Brahms and Schumann preferred them as the piano of choice. But every piano is an individual. So auditioning instruments raises a fundamental essential question which is how do you decide? One answer is you don’t decide. Or “you don’t pick the piano. The piano picks you.” Brand name is of secondary importance if it’s important at all. And of course Blüthner makes wonderful instruments.

Playing and assessing pianos are two different activities with some commonalty between them. Meaning knowledge in the one area doesn’t necessarily convert to the other. Therefore patience is a virtue when selecting a piano and choosing an instrument is a learning experience. The longer we learn the more we know.

A month before I acquired the piano I now have, I visited Steinway Hall in London because, well, “How could I not go there?” So I went and played six wonderful instruments, each one mind bending in tone and action. My metric on that visit was: Could I play without getting distracted by tone or touch that wasn’t to my taste? A few seconds with each piano was enough to believe any of them was the best of the lot.

These were the instruments–6 great pianos that I could play one after another–that led me to know “what’s what” – the qualities I wanted in a piano. Because after playing 6 excellent pianos I saw patterns and I could describe them. Previously I could “feel” the patterns–I “knew” what I wanted  but couldn’t put them into words.

My ideal piano has

  • strength and character to be summoned rather than faults to be hidden.
    an expressive action connecting to warm, round sound.
  • presence at soft dynamics.
  • pitches that sustain and taper with the ineffable proportion of “perfect.”
  • an una corda pedal with a pronounced timbral shift.
  • clarity at high and low extremes of the piano.
  • overall presence rather brightness
  • general character to inspire exploration of sound and artistry as the reason to have a piano.

Acquiring a piano, whether new or used is a learning experience. The more time we take in the selection the more we learn about the pianos from which we’re choosing.

Mark Polishook Known as a diversely talented artist with boundary-crossing projects, Mark Polishook is a pianist, a jazz improviser, a composer, and a music technologist. He teaches in those areas to individuals and groups in his Leicester studio and to students around the world through Skype. In addition to individual and group teaching, Mark’ also available for master classes and artists’ residencies and for consulting on music and art-related projects and initiatives.

www.polishookpiano.com

 

A colleague of mine suggested that, as a concert reviewer, I should write an entry on Opinions….

Opinions are curious things. Personal and often highly subjective, commenting on a musical performance may simply be one person’s taste 636026058822784511-855769937_opinionsversus another’s. There was a time, not so long ago, when a critic’s or opinion-former’s comments could make or break a career, but in our social media-dominated age, now everyone can be a critic and offer their opinion on a concert. I really enjoy reading people’s tweets and Facebook posts immediately after a concert – there’s a wonderful immediacy as people share their reactions to what they’ve heard, and these opinions often feel natural and very spontaneous. Such people may not be “experts” or “professional journalists” but their opinions matter (in my humble opinion!) and they have as much right to express them as anyone else. When I write a review I do so with the conviction that my opinion is just one of many.

In the world of piano playing, people have opinions on everything – whether or not Bach played on the piano, whether Bach played on the piano should be pedalled, the correct use of tempo rubato in Chopin, which is the best Urtext score to use, what is the greatest make of piano – and opinions change with the times, drawing on performance practice, new scholarship, “traditional” ways of doing things and the wisdom (or otherwise) of teachers and mentors. We can form our own opinions about the music we are playing by listening to recordings, listening around the music (other works by the same composer, works by composers from the same period), going to concerts, reading about the music, talking to other pianists and musicians, and studying performance practice.  Learning to take on board or take with a pinch of salt a teacher’s opinion is an important part of our pianistic development: never be afraid to challenge a teacher’s view if you do not agree with it or do not understand it. Always bear in mind that there is often no absolutely “right way” of doing something: listen to the opinions of others and make your own judgement. If you play with conviction, your opinions about your music will come to the fore.

Frances Wilson (AKA The Cross-Eyed Pianist)

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Understanding and coping with the stress of performance

We all have a tendency to post-mortem our performance after a concert, audition, or exam, focusing on the negatives and the errors rather than the good things, and in the heightened state of sensitivity that often accompanies such occasions, small errors can become huge. Of course it is important to review what happened and to reflect upon it, for this informs our future practising, but dwelling too long on mistakes is not healthy as it can  negatively colour our attitude to our music making.

Wouldn’t it wonderful if we could see into the future and predict what is going to happen in a performance? To be able to look ahead and figure out all the things that could go wrong, and try to work out what you can do to prevent those things from happening. We might call this a “pre-mortem”.

The “pre-mortem” technique of risk assessment was devised by research psychologist Gary Klein who found that “prospective hindsight” – imagining that the event has already happened – increases and improves our ability to correctly identify reasons for future outcomes. We can use this technique to help us prepare for stressful situations – such as performing – and a pre-mortem ahead of that potentially high-stress situation can ensure that rational thinking and reactions are available to you despite the inevitable physical and emotional side-effects of stress.

As musicians the single most important thing we can do to protect ourselves is good preparation. This is not simply practising at the piano but also recording and filming ourselves, playing to other people (teachers, friends, colleagues), playing other pianos, giving practise performances ahead of the big day, visualising the performance and imagining the sounds of the music in our head before we play, recalling previous successful performances, and engaging in positive, affirmative and mindful thinking. This is the musician’s “prospective hindsight” toolbox.

Managing our anxiety is another important aspect – and I refute anyone who says they do not feel nervous ahead of a performance, whether they are a world-class internationally-renowned musician or a young person taking Grade 5. Being nervous is normal; it is also a sign that you care about what you are doing. Understanding why we are nervous is also important: when asked, most people will respond that it is fear of making a mistake that fuels the anxiety.

Fundamentally, performance anxiety is fuelled by straightforward fear, and this is hard-wired into our physiology. There’s an evolutionary reason for this: when face-to-face with a predator, the body goes into “fight or flight” mode and releases stress hormones adrenaline, nor-adrenaline and cortisol, which cause certain bodily systems to shut down (for example, the digestive system, the libido, and the immune system) to focus on supplying the brain and muscles with much-needed blood, glucose (sugars) and salts to enable the body to react immediately: stand and fight that sabre-toothed tiger or flee from it as quickly as possible. The physical symptoms of performance anxiety – racing heart, sweating, nausea, trembling – are entirely due to the release of stress hormones, and one’s anxiety can actually increase by worrying about these symptoms.

In a performance situation, the body reacts in exactly the same way as in the sabre-toothed tiger scenario, and the physical side-effects of stress hormones flooding the body can be extremely unsettling when we are trying to be as calm as possible in order to play accurately and well. Many of the techniques suggested for alleviating performance anxiety are to do with “kidding” one’s mental state – positive affirmation (“I can do it!”), Neuro-Linguistic Programming, mindfulness – which can distract one’s mind away from negative thoughts and damaging self-criticism. There are also some very useful physical strategies, including deep-breathing (Pilates-style thoracic breathing) and power poses, which have been proven to reduce cortisol and increase testosterone. In addition to the unpleasant physical symptoms before the performance, many of us also suffer afterwards due the depletion of sugars and salts during physical effort, and the effect of the stress hormones leaving the body and the body settling back into its normal state. frustrated-piano-teacherThese symptoms, which may linger for a good 24 hours post-performance, can include tiredness, grumpiness or depression, and physical aches and pains. Personally, I have found these symptoms more unpleasant than those of pre-performance anxiety. That is until a pianist friend of mine, who is a medic at a leading London teaching hospital, suggested I try using an isotonic sports drink before and after a performance.

Sports people use isotonic drinks, which contain similar concentrations of salt and sugar as in the human body, to help fuel the body when exercising, and to replace electrolytes and carbohydrates which are depleted during exercise. These drinks (the leading brands are Powerade and Gatorade) have also been proven to help patients recover more quickly after undergoing complex colorectal surgery (surgery which puts the body under significant stress) resulting in reduced morbidity rates. I used Powerade before and after a recent concert and took note of the effects. Certainly, I didn’t feel as physically or mentally tired after the performance (c45 minutes of continuous playing of advanced repertoire), and by continuing to drink Powerade on the drive home after the concert seemed to reduce the post-concert slump and the aches and pains I usually experience the day after. An understanding of what my body was undergoing physically before, during and after the performance certainly helped too, and I think if more musicians appreciated the physiological effects of stress they may be better equipped to cope with the psychological side effects too: it largely is not “all in the mind”, rather it is “all in the body”.

Until fairly recently, performance anxiety was a taboo subject for most musicians. To discuss it openly may betray a weakness which might lead to loss of work and by default income. Today many of the leading conservatoires and music colleges have courses, workshops and practitioners in place to help students understand and cope with performance anxiety: the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, for example, offers a course in mindfulness for performers, while the Royal College of Music has a dedicated Centre for Performance Science. I believe that a better understanding of the physical effects of stress combined with a positive and sympathetic approach to the emotional and psychological effects will enable musicians to not only discuss performance anxiety more openly with teachers and colleagues, but also put in place effective personal strategies to enable them to play with confidence, fluency, expression and vibrant colour.

 

Further reading

How to stay calm when you know you’ll be stressed – TED talk by Dr Daniel Levitin

Your body language shapes who you are – TED talk by Amy Cuddy

Science finds new way to overcome your performance anxiety

 

(Header photo from livescience.com)

 

 

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Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music?

My mum is a huge fan of Rock and Metal. In the late ’80s she started playing Guns n’ Roses in the car, and once my ears had heard that, there was simply no unhearing it: all this swearing, and amazing guitar solos! I just wanted to be Slash from that point onwards, perhaps eclipsing my previous desire to be Indiana Jones. Only recently it occurred to me that there was a second, more important factor involved. My little sister had just the year before decided she wanted to learn classical piano, and had begun taking lessons. Without this, I don’t think it would have occurred to me that learning an instrument was a possibility. So credit (or blame?) is definitely due here.

Who or what were the most important influences on your musical life and career, as both guitarist and composer?

When I went to university I’d already been playing the guitar in bands and writing songs for about 10 years, and I felt pretty confident about my musical abilities. This American dude who lived in my halls very kindly lent me a cassette of Pierre Bensusan’s album ‘Intuite‘ which, as a guitarist, was pretty much like a kick in the face. So I got to work putting a lot of things right about my approach to the instrument. Come to think of it, this is quite possibly why I messed up my Psychology degree…

In terms of composing, I was always more influenced by piano music than guitar, and often tried to emulate that expansiveness as best I could on 6 strings. Rachmaninov’s preludes were like a gateway. Soon after, I bought a fantastic double CD of Debussy’s piano works performed by Pascal Rogé, which I played interminably. But it was a few years later again that I went to see (and this is probably such a cliché) Ravel’s quartet performed by the Tokyo Quartet. I can’t explain how much that instantly changed everything, another massive kick in the face. I realised that for me it wasn’t really about the guitar, but the music I was writing.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

Probably making that transition from what was becoming a very promising solo guitar career to starting from scratch as a composer. I’d always written music in one form or another since I was about 10 (in fact that’s all I really did), but leaving the guitar and myself as a performer out of the equation was at the same time incredibly liberating, and an enormous learning curve.

I’d also never formally studied music, so when I began to get private composition lessons to try and clear some things up, my head was suddenly filled with all those crippling doubts and questions that you probably get from going to music college (which is essentially what I was getting at in my article for Sound and Music). Overcoming all these questions – or at least to an extent: I think it’s important and healthy, in fact, to question what you do – was probably the next major challenge!

Which performances/recordings/compositions are you most proud of?

Although it’s now some years old, and in a style which is like an old musical version of me, my album ‘Nymph Suite & Other Stories‘ is probably the recording which I’m most proud of. Every few years I come back to it, and I’m always pleased that it’s mine.

Otherwise, it’s generally my latest few pieces that I’m excited about, inevitably. I’m currently working on a piece called ‘…and the stars were like pinpricks in the black fabric of night…‘ for Ed Hughes’ New Music Players (premiered in September 2015). I also have a number of EPs containing some of my music from the past 5 years, which I’ll be releasing over the coming months, so this is quite a focal point for me at the moment.

Which particular works do you think you perform best?

Recently, the musical project which has been getting the most attention and outings is my trio Le Juki

It’s not necessarily very technical guitar work, but I really love the music we write, and we’ve put a lot into our live show, so this is probably where my heart currently lies, performance-wise.

How does your performing influence your composing, and vice versa?

As I was teaching myself to fingerpick, I would let the music I was writing dictate which skills I needed to develop in order to make this happen. So it was always this way round: rather than using the tools I had available to write some music, I would invent new tools to fulfil my musical ideas. Later, when I started composing for other instruments, I actually found that my playing began to influence my writing too much. I had to really abandon the guitar as I couldn’t help but think of music within the bounds of what was possible on the fretboard.

At the same time, some interesting things have come of it. In my guitar music I have a strong tendency to play melodies across the strings. By this I mean that each successive note is played on a different string, providing the greatest possible resonance, akin to the sustain pedal on a piano. When I write for more than one voice, I often find this tendency feeding into my work, with melodies sort of hocketed between the players… kind of a pointillistic approach to single line, perhaps.

What are the particular challenges and pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?

I’ve had the real pleasure of being involved with the organisation Sound and Music for the last three years, and through them I wrote for the London-based choir MusArc – here’s the piece I wrote them –

]. They’re an amateur experimental choir, so the real challenge posed here was trying to guage the overall ability of the singers, and to balance sections when you never knew how many people from each would turn up! At the end of the day though, as well as being an exciting choir, they’re really a fantastic group of people to work with, so this was an amazing experience. Currently I’m working on a new piece for vibraphonist Joby Burgess, so it’s a completely different game: solo, professional musician. There are still challenges, as there are in writing any piece, but in a way it’s much simpler. There are far fewer uncertainties.

Over the past few years I’ve been working with geometer Sama Mara on a project called A Hidden Order [http://musicalforms.com/]

In short, this involved exploring the relationship between music and geometry, through writing a suite of chamber works that directly translate into geometric forms. This collaborative compositional process meant that I would draft a score for a piece, and Sama (who isn’t a composer: he deals with shapes) would send back revisions like “could you change the second note of every bar, as it will improve the symmetry of the image”. So you can imagine this posed enormous compositional challenges! This was really a unique way to work, and not always easy, but I think what we ended up with is something really very special, and quite honestly unlike anything else I’m aware of.

But in general, when we talk about pleasure, I mean, I have to write music, it’s like an innate need, and if there’s not music going on in my life then pretty fast I become unhappy. So writing music, it’s more than a pleasure, it’s all I want to do.

What are the particular challenges and pleasures of working with other musicians, ensembles etc, as both composer and guitarist?

I come from a background of playing in bands, where we would rehearse the same material for 2 years, and gig it every night for another 2. Similarly, playing my own music on the guitar, I would rehearse it until I felt it was ready to perform. That’s just not even nearly the case in the world of new music, and I still find this lack of contact and rehearsal time very frustrating. But that aside, it’s (almost) always an enormous pleasure to witness your music come to life in the hands of others. When you’re in the act of playing it yourself, it’s impossible to hear it with the same ears.

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?

I really don’t think it’s about the venue, but the audience. I’ve had the fortune to play some fairly big stages and some prestigious venues over the years, and these can be great fun, but probably my favourite to date was a solo guitar gig I gave to an audience of about 15 people in a small cafe in Folkestone some years back. It was so intimate and relaxed, by the end of the gig everybody knew everybody else. And someone even bought a whole box of my CDs for all their friends who couldn’t make it! So that was pretty cool too…

Favourite pieces to listen to?

I mean, how long have we got?! I listen very, very widely, and not always to things I like, which is a part of exploring what’s out there. But currently my favourites include Martin Suckling’s ‘Candlebird‘ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKQUiu_v8cA], Poppe’s ‘Welt‘ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QLGUDzpevI], some of GF Haas’s works [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YseRwBugmeU], early Britten [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Szv5TEBhg&list=PLXIW-zGxtii0JxJW4UAYcSlgrW-u5H2lf], lots of music by Kit Downes [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWiDlVRQR5k], Nik Baertsch [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4jlBEGLtWw], Kurt Rosenwinkel [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucMGT3jvzZo] (a lot of Jazz, in fact), early Smashing Pumpkins [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SmOcvLBVoI], James Orr Complex [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8NqyfVbcJg], Meshuggah [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmpUNQYwxBg], Kate Bush [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWy8nONlh_Q], J Kriste Master Of Disguise [https://soundcloud.com/louvana/kindness], the Sutartines of Lithuania [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byf4aZ1AdW0], Martin Butler’s ‘Songs & Dances From A Haunted Place‘ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nb77gx3K38]… Ravel’s chamber works are never too far away… I’m also really enjoying WQXR’s ‘Meet The Composer‘ podcasts [http://www.wqxr.org/#!/programs/meet-composer/], and Bob Gilmore’s ‘Tentative Affinities‘. [http://www.bobgilmore.co.uk/]

Who are your favourite musicians?

Again, this could potentially be a big list… Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares (obviously that’s a whole choir, but they knock the socks off just about anyone else), Pierre Bensusan, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, McCoy Tyner, Yamandu Costa, Magic Malik… man, when I read this, I know I’m gonna be like, “why the hell didn’t you mention these guys?!”… In fact, there are a number of players more local to Brighton who have not just been hugely influential to me, but are also some of my all-time favourite musicians, including flautist Philippe Barnes and violinist Ben Sarfas.

What is your most memorable musical experience?

My recollection of my life to date is pretty much a long stream of musically-related experiences, so I’m not sure I can single one out like that…

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?

I teach a lot of guitar. If I had to summarise what the number one goal was when I teach, I would say it is to develop musical independence in my students so that they no longer need me. Basically, doing myself out of a job. The most important skill, I believe, is being able to teach yourself what you need to know, because then really there are so many doors open to you. I also think learning this skill from someone is key, so I’m not advising people to just teach themselves from scratch – you can develop some pretty inhibitive playing habits that way.

I would also say that, alongside having some kind of specialisation, it’s very important to listen as widely, and play as much music of as many different styles, as you can. And that goes beyond music. I always remember this quote of Lichtenberg (I can see this sounds unavoidably nerdy) that goes “He who understands nothing but chemistry does not truly understand chemistry either”.

Finally, a friend once told me this very useful concept. To get by as a musician (or perhaps anything), you need to have any two of the following three things – you don’t necessarily need all three, but one on its own won’t do: a) be good at what you do; b) be a nice person; c) be reliable. You can work out the combinations yourself…

Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?

I’d like to still feel inspired, still be learning, and hopefully watching my kids get into music too.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Probably that point in the compositional process when everything’s like “YESSSS!!!!”, which usually occurs just before everything’s like “NOOOOOOO!!!!!”.

What do you enjoy doing most

I love riding my bike, it makes me feel like a kid in summer holidays again, and is synonymous in my mind with freedom. So riding my bike around town with my daughter Alma on the back singing songs to me is pretty high up there on the list of ‘Best Activities Of All Time’.

What is your present state of mind?

Mildly drunk, and in a dense mist of fatigue.

 

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Finding clothing to perform in which is stylish, flattering, and, above all, comfortable and practical can be tricky and high street stores tend not to cater that well for performers. We need clothes which allow freedom of movement, which do not distract us when we play (there is nothing worse than a tickly label or zip), which look good when we stand to take a bow and when we are seated at the piano. The type of venue and time of day also dictate what to wear: one does not need a full-length evening gown for a lunchtime concert, for example.

It’s much easier for the men. Now that the very formal attire of white tie and tails has largely disappeared, men can choose to wear a dark suit or dark shirt and trousers. Some favour a dark tee-shirt under a dark jacket, others tend towards the Nehru jacket. .

Women, on the other hand, are still expected to turn out in full-length gowns which hark back to the age of Dame Moura Lympany. There are of course exceptions: the Chinese pianist Yuja Wang has made a name for herself almost as much through her daring dresses and vertiginous stiletto heels (how on earth does she pedal in them?) as through her playing. She has been criticised for her risky hemlines, but as she herself says “I can wear long skirts when I’m 40”; she is a young woman who clearly loves fashion and has an enviably svelte figure.

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Yuja Wang (photo: The Telegraph)

Sadly, I do not have the body and legs of Yuja wang, so I prefer concert clothes which cover my legs, draw attention away from the “lumpy, bumpy” parts of my middle-aged body, and which make me feel graceful and elegant and, importantly, comfortable when I perform. Tight bodices or restrictive sleeves are a no no, as are strapless dresses (and frankly I don’t have the gym-honed arms for such attire). The British women’s fashion chain PhaseEight creates elegant and affordable maxi dresses in a fluid silky jersey fabric which are flattering and comfortable to wear. They also offer more formal full-length gowns, embellished with sequins and beads, for special occasions. I have also worn long skirts by Ghost: their signature “bias cut” dresses and skirts suit most sizes and shapes, and their crepe fabric packs well for travelling – another consideration if you’re a musician who lives out of a suitcase.

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‘Kathleen’ dress
Alert to the needs of musicians, a new clothing company called Black Dress Code has launched a collection especially for musicians. Those who play in orchestras or sing in choirs are well aware that a fairly plain black outfit is the dress code for such organisations and Black Dress Code has created stylish and practical clothes with this in mind. In addition to the very elegant full-length black ‘Kathleen’ dress, there are midi dresses, a jumpsuit and palazzo pants (especially useful for cellists and bass players), simple black tops with 3/4 sleeves and silky sashes to enhance skirts and trousers. The designers have clearly thought about what musicians do with their bodies when playing and how clothing “interacts” with gestures and movements. There is a small range of skirts for girls, and a men’s range is in preparation. My only criticism is that the largest size is a UK 16 (because, sadly, some of us do not have the slim proportions of Yuja Wang or Khatia Buniatishvilli). If you’re looking for something to wear for an audition or ensemble work, I would certainly recommend taking a look at Black Dress Code’s collection. When I posted a link to BDC’s site on Facebook, many of my female colleagues and friends reacted very positively and enthusiastically to the collection.

View the Black Dress Collection here