A breather for the brain, in the middle of the digital day

I was at a delightful lunchtime flute recital in central London yesterday. A calm oasis of classical chamber music (two flutes and piano) in the heart of a busy metropolis.
The audience was made up of mostly retired people (as far as I could see) who had time on their hands and then there was me – a flute aficionado having studied the instrument for years and for my music degree. So I love to hear the flute repertoire and also support fellow artists.

I can highly recommend attending a lunchtime recital in London (or any major city). They abound everywhere worldwide. But you may have to seek them out. A simple google (or Brave!) search should sort that out. [Type in ‘lunchtime recitial’ + the date].
It offers such a wonderful respite in the middle of the day, an opportunity to switch off your devices and rest your eyes from a digital screen. Given the repertoire, it’s also a chance to step back into history for a bit.

If you’re not used to classical music, all the more reason to attend. One of the pieces Roderick Seed and Stephen Clark (flutes) performed was a trio sonata by Bach. Listening to this type of music is very relaxing, very soothing and you can gently allow your mind to wander and you might find it comes up with some inspiring thoughts!

The venue also makes a difference. Lunchtime recitals usually take place in old churches, which is quite fitting. As I sat yesterday on the (I have to say) not so comfortable wooden pew, I looked around at the marble pillars and high ornate ceiling of the 200 year old St Pancras church – I’d never been there before. The acoustics were great.

Mostly you’ll find these types of recitals are free. So as I sat there I wondered about this. It’s not as if they were student musicians needing performance experience. These were highly skilled world class professional musicians. They tour and teach globally and have dedicated their life to their craft. All three of them would have started learning music around age 5 or 10 and dedicated hours to practice over the years.

I wonder if in this new connected economy there will be creative ways for artists to be more fairly compensated for such public performances.

We need to value art and music MORE and things like ‘productivity’ and GDP, LESS. Perhaps that’s a discussion to get into another day.