Conflict Between Good and Evil

You may have read in the press recently the incredible story of the public-spirited Japanese who handed in to the authorities millions of pounds worth of money and valuables discovered in safes, bags and wallets amid the appalling devastion that took place as a result of the earthquake and tsunami. The country may have been traumatised by the death of tens of thousands of its citizens who lost their homes, jobs, family and friends in the tragedy but this doesn’t seemed to have affected its sense of right and wrong. Police used other documents found amongst the valuables to trace the owners with the result that as much as 96% of the money – possibly as much as £50 million – was returned.

Mind you, we do have some generous-hearted individuals in the West who have given back some of their hard-earned cash to the community. Andrew Carnegie amassed huge wealth by dabbling in steel. He funded public libraries,  universities and schools across Scotland and America, including a nice little concert hall in New York, eventually giving away £190 million. And of course don’t forget Bill Gates the founder of Microsoft.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation focuses on health and population control and so far has given away the staggering figure of $28 billion to charity. 

The obvious contrast to these stories is the recent looting that took place in the UK where several thousand people, some of whom were in their early teens, have been detained by the police with charges brought against them for theft, violence and civil unrest. Not much sense of community there. But perhaps the rot had already set in with the MPs expenses scandal. Just in case you had forgotten here are a few examples of the community spirit that seemed to be lacking amongst our elected elite:

Gerald Kaufmann, a veteran Labour MP was alleged to have claimed £1,851 for a rug imported from a New York antique centre and tried to claim more than £8,000 for a television. It was also alleged in The Daily Telegraph that he entered a claim for £28,834 – more than £15,000 of which was paid – for improvements to his London home after telling officials he was ‘living in a slum’. Poor fella…..

John Prescott,  the former deputy prime minister, claimed £312 for the fitting of mock Tudor beams to the front of his constituency home in Hull. Not unreasonable you might think for a man who was the proud owner of ‘two jags’……

Margaret Beckett, an ex-deputy leader of the Labour party, got herself into trouble with the Fees Office after attempting to claim £600 for hanging baskets and pot plants. An official informed her in a letter that expenses had to be ‘wholly and exclusively and necessarily incurred to enable you to stay overnight away from your main home’. Hmm……. She also claimed second home allowances of £72,534 despite having no mortgage or rent to pay on her constituency home in Derby. Nice one Madge……

It’s not just MPs who tried to get away with some dodgy dealing. There have been some musicians whose idea of creativity hasn’t stopped at the concert hall or recording studio:

The man with the big voice, Luciano Pavarotti, provided high drama when he was stung for millions in unpaid taxes at the turn of the century. Our favourite tenor agreed to pay the Italian government 24 million lire and so was acquitted of charges that he filed false returns. As the taxman must have told him: it ain’t over until the fat man sings (ouch……)

Dionne Warwick should have known better. Her father was an accountant. The dozens of hits she had throughout her career earned her a fortune but it wasn’t enough to keep her from featuring on California’s list of questionable tax payers, owing the government over $2 million. There was at least a happy ending as Warwick’s publicist said she was  working with the Californian Tax Office to correct her ‘oversight’. That’s nice……

The conflict between good and evil is certainly a topic which regularly occurs in literature, art and music and and it seems that this conflict is just part of the human condition. It can be difficult to describe what these words mean but we understand the impact they have on our lives. It’s as if good and evil happens by emotion rather than reason or analysis. With hindsight our MPs probably regret their actions and, perhaps, even our looters might think again before engaging in that particular activity once more.  Philip Pullman, the author of the award-winning trilogy, His Dark Materials, places the choice of good or evil firmly at the individual’s door when he says ”I stopped believing there was a power of good and a power of evil that were outside us. And I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are.” (The Amber Spyglass)

There may be a small percentage of those goodly Japanese folk who regret handing in the valuables they discovered. A chance in a lifetime to make some easy cash. But perhaps the final word should go to  Mae West,  the American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol who, first and foremost, was an  independent woman who became an icon simply by being herself. “When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I’ve never tried before.”

English Brass Academy, Grubser’s Music Academy and other assorted Academies

Well, the English Brass Academy Summer School, which took place at the end of July at the Purcell school, Bushey, was a triumph! The course was brilliantly organised by human dynamo and trumpeter Tom Rainer and assisted by Ann Wight whose administrative abilities ensured everone was in the right place at the right time.

The course, catering for the 8 – 18 yrs age group identified the similarities between music and sport and so the participants not only rehearsed and performed their instruments they were also encouraged to be active in team-based games to maintain their fitness and to develop interaction with a group of children of variable ages. All useful skills for the portfolio careers that now seems to be the future.

Let’s move from Bushey to the Monument in the heart of the City of London. The very spot where, on Sunday 2nd September 1666 a fire began in a baker’s house in Pudding Lane lasting three days, consuming thousands of houses, hundreds of streets , the City’s gates, public buildings, churches and St. Paul’s Cathedral. A few yards from this spot, in Fish Street Hill you will find another another academy of music, one I’m sure you will not be familiar with, called Grubser’s Music Academy. This private initiative begun by a French concert pianist caters for the musical needs of city workers by offering them the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, enjoy a cocktail in the bar and to meet and socialise with other high flyers who also love music. Nearly 100 students have now signed up to the various courses on offer at the academy all geared to the requirements of its students. Well worth a visit if you’re passing by.

Scattered throughout the rest of the country we have the other academies, of course. The ‘centres of excellence’ that offer  ’artistic excellence’, training musicians for ‘international careers’ in ‘world class facilities’.

Many of these creative hothouses benefit from having talented musicians  cross the threshold into this utopian world of artistic endeavour, free from the fetters of the outside world, a few years away from the glamorous career that awaits them. Some undoubtedly will become the stars of the future, with agents, concert promoters and adoring fans at their beck and call. The dream come true.

This message of fame and fortune will be backed up by institutional  publicists proudly presenting alumni who bestride this international arena, thus confirming the exotic pronouncements crucial to any self-respecting academic website  that one day, my child, all this will be yours. The dream come true.

But dreams don’t come cheap. Centres of excellence with world class facilities cost money and don’t grow on trees. One esteemed educational establishment boasts 1000 undergraduates. A nice little earner you may say especially in the brave new world of clients…..sorry, students…. who are required to part with their hard-earned cash earned from their day jobs. After all, ‘student loans’ rolls easily off the tongue and these two words, each in their own way much maligned in past years, seem to be made for each other. The gateway to heaven. The dream come true…but it will cost you.

This dream, the illustrious career, the rewards for talent, hard work and self-denial. If I pay my money it will come won’t it? Let me check the website….nope…no bad news, no rejections, no failures. ‘World class performances’, that’s what it says….

Back at Grubser’s the businessman parts with some of his hard-earned bonus. He’s no fool. He’s the CEO of a multi-million pound company. He eats shareholders for breakfast. He knows what he’s in for. Hard work, self denial and, if he can conquer those nerves, the adrenalin, the fear and the shakes, he might, just might, get the thing he so craves: the Associated Board Grade 3 certificate. He’ll learn about himself, he’s back on the work floor, a beginner.

The English Brass Academy is also a  beginner. A new venture that, on its first outing, hoped to establish an ethos based on a sense of fun, happiness, concentration and focus. A community that emphasised the importance of teamwork. Those youngsters eagerly eyed the tuck shop, dealt with the complexities of friendships and coped with the funny old people tutoring them. So much energy expounded on listening, concentrating, performing, running, swimming, thinking. It’s the time for development, for laying the foundations, for establishing values and  understanding the value of commitment.

The parents, they too hand over hard-earned cash. But as with Grubser’s there are no losers or failures. Everyone is an individual, with different goals and aspirations. The realisation of their own dreams is dependant on this aspiration and ambition and, of course, that indefinable quality we call talent. We are all equal and all opinions are important. That is until you’re bowled out first ball in the students vs tutors cricket match by a grinning 9 year-old with an evil glint in his eye. Then it’s war…….

Aldeburgh, the Home Service Band, Riots and Society

Aldeburgh, that historic contented town on the east coast of England, seems a good spot to take a few days relaxation (in other words early morning gym, 2 hours trumpet practice followed by the admin catch up so badly needed) before heading off for another gig with the Home Service Band.

The band, a collection of some of the best folk-rock musicians you could wish for, gleefully performs its ‘eighties’ music to the devoted supporters that seem to follow it around the UK whilst it performs at the summer folk festivals. Not having performed since those political days of Thatcher, Reagan, Kohl and Gorbachev there’s almost a child-like anticipation for the gigs by the musicians who see the band as their musical soul and perform as if it really matters. Unusual in itself for any group of musicians…

However, not all is sweetness and light for, as the waves gently lap on the pebbly beach of Aldeburgh, that home of the quintessentially English couple, Britten and Pears, and the queue for the highly rated Aldeburgh fish and chip shop curls down the High St, London is sufferung the aftermath of riots, looting, theft and thuggery which has been on the menu during the last week as the young folk from the London suburbs show the ‘establishment’ that things aren’t as cosy as they thought.

Political anarchy or simple opportunism for theft? Maybe a few race issues too? Whatever the underlying reasons it certainly allows the good folk of middle England to vent their right wing views about lack of discipline in the young people of today: send in the army, bring back national service and reconstitute hanging. One Facebook ‘friend’ even suggested dumping the rioters in the desert in Afghanistan.

As the politicians try and resolve the problem we can be sure that Dave, Nick, Ed and all their chums at Parliament will have our best interests at heart – just like they did during the murky period of the expenses scandal. Perhaps the logic behind the rioting was that if the politicians can grab what they can why can’t we? Over to the philosophers…

Meanwhile, the Home Service Band, with its songs of protest and political overtones refined in the eighties under the Thatcher government seems as relevant and potent as ever. She said there is no Society. Dave says we want a Big Society. Time they made their minds up.