The Life of a Minstrel

As a musician, there are very few people who can claim to have a ‘place of work’ in the traditional sense. We all travel for work, for gigs, for rehearsals, for masterclasses. A musician spends a lot of their time on the road, on the train, plane etc.

I’m not the world’s best traveller. I love to travel, it’s just the travelling that gets to me. I’ve travelled in America and Canada a few times and saw some fantastic places and the travelling didn’t get to me. I think it was something to do with the inbuilt entertainment Greyhound provide on their busses in the form of nutters. They’re harmless, but the bus in America (Vermont Lines were even stranger) has a truly random selection from the extremes of society. Even airports in America, and I’ve slept in a few, have something to take your mind off the process of travelling.

However, I find it hard to travel in Europe. Tomorrow we’re heading off to Jersey for a week to play in the Symphony Orchestra there. Jersey’s a lovely place, with a lot to do. However, even the short 45 minute flight fills me with dread. The people on it will all be too nice. Too normal. It makes the travelling tedious and arduous. It gives you more time to worry and get bored.

If I was a musician a few hundred years ago, this constant travelling would be my life (except minus the flying, obviously). Yet in reality very little has changed. A musician must still travel widely – there will rarely be enough work to keep you in one place.

The posts over the next few weeks will be via moblogging – excuse any problems with layout. I’ll post some of the better photos when I return, but I’ll try to keep up a mini-travelogue in the meantime – I like trying out new technology!