The passion players: amateur classical music in the UK

The passion players: amateur classical music in the UK

"Nearly two years ago, I started to play ­chamber music. I had been one of those schoolgirl ­music nerds who had let ­playing drop in adulthood. Picking up the violin again wasn't easy: the digits had lost their acrobatic ease on the strings, but with time and patience and practice, things began to fall into place again. Some friends and I started a Sunday evening ­chamber group – sometimes it's a ­quartet, sometimes a piano quintet, sometimes a sextet. Some of the time we sound pretty ropey. But once in a while, something amazing happens: the endless complexity of those threads of Brahms, Schumann or Schubert come together and our individual lines ­become one. It's almost embarrassing to use the word, in our cynical times, that best describes this feeling: joy.."

From the Portal:

A very nice article from Charlotte Higgins. I have gone back to playing the violin again, inspired in part by family and friends and partly through the spontaneoues purchase of a strad copy which I adore. I remember well the amateur scene after my college days and it was a great arena for me to cut my teeth in my early days of conducting and a great way to inspire people in music making. There are many groups out there making music and I encourage you all to go out and get stuck in.

The Portal of Healing.