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• Simon Hewitt Jones, Violinist

  English concert violinist. Asking essential questions about what's happening to music and the arts, and the role of the violin in contemporary world culture.

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Palestinian Resistance: A Short History

1948 - throw rocks
1967 - fire guns
1987 - shoot missiles
2000 - detonate suicide bombs
2003 - start a viola ensemble

Whilst in Boston, I’m staying with my Artistic Director from Al Kamandjati Camerata, Peter Sulski. He’s an ex-London Symphony violist (now a collaborative chamber musician) who is engaged in creating new community-based models for bringing international-quality music performances to specific areas. In his case, that’s three places: chamber societies here in Worcester MA, and in Sussex (in the UK) where we took the Kamandjati Camerata a few weeks ago, and of course for the Al Kamandjati Festivals in Palestine).

I like to think of Sulski – and people like him in other places – as custodian-advocates of musical life for the communities in which they operate. But what’s interesting about his model is that it works in a way that’s massively beneficial for the community, yet is entirely sustainable. Sustainable, because it creates enough paid performance opportunities for seriously good musicians to commit to regular performances and education work in a single community. Which means that rather than rely soley on the fly-in-fly-out visitations of artists from further afield (which is no doubt important, but shouldn’t be the whole picture), a loose collective of artists create a growing bond with and between members of the local community, at a much higher level (in every respect) than traditionally has been the case.

[The UK has always had a large number of outstanding musicians in all areas of the country, and perhaps it’s a much more competitive environment as a result, even in regional areas. But in the USA, the standard of artistic work outside of major metropolitan areas has not always been so consistent. This can have a detrimental effect on musical life in an area, because when musicians become uninspired, so do audiences…]

This also provides considerable new possibilities for the employment of musicians in a sustainable way that maximises their creativity and performance skills (not even a job in a top orchestra can do that). Deployed widely, this kind of setup could really do wonders for the development of cultural and educational possibilities at a community level.

Additionally to this, and from the performer’s perspective, I believe that if this happened more consistently throughout the world of classical music promotion, the possibilities for touring of concerts would be far easier, more artist-led, and decisions would be informed more by the art itself, rather than commercial allegiances and obligations.

I’ll blog more on how this model actually works sometime soon, but in the meantime I’d be very pleased to hear from anyone who has created similar structures in their own communities.

A key part of what I’m going to be doing imminently with this tech startup I’m involved in is identifying what’s lacking at community levels in terms of the infrastructure and resources that are needed. Then, the challenge will be to try and find a way to build an international infrastructure to help create the solutions that will solve those problems. Hopefully I can try and find a performer’s perspective on that, anyway.

Most people don’t seem to know how to use New York properly. Almost everyone I meet here seems to fall into one of two categories: either they’re engaged in that cliched daily material-struggle, desperately trying to live up to what they think the city demands them to be. Or, they’re way over-engaged, hoovering up experiences without allowing the space and time for them to be savoured properly (I know I’m often guilty of the latter).

When we have infinite choice, infinite opportunity, infinite information (digital world), it takes great strength to start to choose between things and narrow down the focus of your experience, but there comes a point at which the need for quality of experience over quantity of experience demands that choice.

That’s the beauty of a big city; there is so much choice that when you do finally decide what you want, it’s there, ready and waiting.

But the beauty of a big city is also its downfall; infinite possibility can become a trap, not an opportunity.

Same is true with music.

Did you ever read any of my old blog posts? See the first few paragraphs of this one: http://www.simonhewittjones.com/blog/2007/11/15/creative-tension-in-free-markets-long-post/

OK some of it is perhaps pretentious waffle. But have you seen the stock market indices of the last few weeks… are they not the most perfectly thrilling structures, full of uncontrolled adrenaline, like a 1^st year undergraduate virtuoso rushing through their end-of-year recital exam with brilliant, earth-shattering technique, yet not a shred of musical humility or stylistic integrity?

I bet you any seriously good musician who had enough time on their hands could have predicted last weeks’ market crashes, if only they had been able to sit down with the last few years’-worth of data from all the various companies, housing markets etc etc. Even with a layman’s knowledge [ha! Lehmann. No pun intended!], and without being able to explain it properly, they could have sensed it, and also sensed roughly when it would have occurred.

Let us hope a little proportionality is now introduced back into this world…

Writing this from the library of the Juilliard School, who seem to have their own Conservatory Penguin. Nice.

I’m in New York briefly, to lay down the groundwork for some future projects, and then I’m relocating straight away to Berlin. I’ve been very fortunate to gain the support of the Leverhulme Trust, and so I’ll be attaching myself to the Universität der Künste (University of the Arts), to research things there whilst continuing to develop concerts and recording projects in the UK.

There are also some bigger projects that I’m working on - contributions to infrastructures far bigger than my own little violin-orientated sphere - that will hopefully have a big impact on the future of Classical Music. I’ll tell you more about those things in a few months once they’re fully up and running.

***

I spent the summer travelling; working with young Palestinian musicians in London, going to the Dartington Festival, playing to fascinating violinists and musicians both at home and abroad, and doing preparatory work on new projects for the forthcoming year.

These kinds of opportunity always open your perspectives further, and I’m really pleased to see that the overarching trends of change in music, certainly in the Classical tradition, are becoming ever clearer. We are finally beginning to see, as a result of the uptake of new technologies, a new set of social dynamics that are transforming the way that social cultures are created and consumed. And it’s all good, so far as I can see.

Over the next few posts, I’ll begin to explore further what that might mean in practical terms for Classical Music. I’ll also be thoroughly attempting to understand the trends and relationships - as personified by the arts and especially music - between the UK, the USA and Europe (using London, New York and Berlin as the benchmarks). In particular, the relationship of Berlin to Germany and indeed to the rest of Europe is going to be a fascinating one.

The thesis of the scholarship itself is that there are emerging contrasts and similarities between international and local trends in classical music, including how it’s performed, presented and consumed, that are constantly changing, in no small part due to technological innovation. The idea is to understand how the cultural life of Berlin has been, is being, and will be affected by the social and economic upheaval that’s been going on since the wall came down.

That unique situation (particularly when the economy there is taken into account: a long stagnation that may possibly begin to see some growth in the next year or three) is going to present a load of interesting possibilities for music’s role in society.

These possibilities will be especially interesting in terms of how they relate to the German tradition (which, though one of the richest cultures, does have a tendency to embrace bureaucracy and small-c conservatism). Or rather, how they are able to integrate and balance contemporary international influences with the best of the existing traditions, and how painful a process that will be for those involved!

Anyway, more on that soon.

Some big concerts in 2009. Hope to see you at one of them! Details here.

The most boring of problems… a connection failure with the server (don’t ask me what that means).

Anyway, sorry if you didn’t get the webcast. But we did tape it, so highlights may/will follow.

As I begin working towards bringing you a constant stream of live performances and videos, I’m going to test-webcast a couple of concerts, including a trial broadcast tonight which should be watchable via the internet TV thing on this page.

No guarantees - this is purely a test, so there may be transmission problems - and there’s only one camera too. But assuming everything vaguely works, do tune in at 7.30pm UK time (2.30pm EST) for piano trios by Kenneth Leighton, York Bowen and Frank Bridge.

And of course if you’re in or near Edinburgh this evening, do come along! St Mary’s Cathedral, Palmeston Place, 7.30pm - www.cathedral.net

I stopped blogging when I was in Palestine, and that was over a month ago. I will start again soon.

In the meantime, I’m delighted to announce that the Imogen Holst CDs will be released very soon, but early copies are now AVAILABLE (yes! really!) so if you’d like to be one of the first to buy one before we release them to the world in general, just click on here: http://www.imogenholst.com/

We played a concert in the Centre for Jerusalem Studies in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem. The venue itself was a derelict spa awaiting restoration, and a beautiful underground space (if horrendously dusty!). The centre staff decorated the hall with candles and some kind of incense. A special atmosphere is very easy to create in Jerusalem! (Though no less easy to ruin with cellphones and loud talking than any other venue…)

In Ramallah now, it’s so easy to forget that you’re in a conflict zone, because during the day everything is so vibrant and normal-looking. But take a step outside the city and you can run into trouble.

It’s early Sunday morning here, and our (American) artistic director just came into the office (Sunday’s a working day here!). He’d gone out for a morning run, and ventured a little further down the road than normal, past a Palestinian checkpoint and down a beautiful country lane.

Unknowingly, he passed an Israeli army camp, and within seconds, he was surrounded by young army-ites, who beat him with their weapons and marched him at gunpoint to be interrogated. Thankfully, one of the young Israelis spoke English and cleared up the situation very rapidly, but thank goodness it wasn’t more serious; ‘beat first ask questions later’ could so easily be ’shoot first ask questions later’.

You do wonder though, quite how stupid/stressed/unstable these poor young guys must have to be to feel the need to attack an unarmed white guy who is quite obviously dressed in running gear.

But ultimately the people who suffer the most are the Palestinians trying to get on and live. I can’t overemphasize how normal it seems here, when you forget about the occupation. This isn’t some weirdly un-understandable ultra-arabic place where everyone walks about in long robes chanting religious things! It’s a perfectly ordinary city, with shops, taxis, people, familes, children, banks, companies, hotels, schools, etc. etc. etc.

And a great big wall.

What so many people don’t seem to understand in the west is that there isn’t just ONE wall or border. Almost all of the ’security barrier’ is inside - ie dividing - Palestinian territory, as are the checkpoints and the illegal settlements, and it cuts up the land, all but preventing peoples’ freedom of movement . People can’t move about their own country. And when they try, they are subjected to racist apartheid by unfortunate young Israelis, most of whom are losing three years of precious youth to enforced ignorance.

Until the walls fall within Palestine and racism and apartheid is ended, there will never be normality here. Yet the walls are still going up, even today. The world has not learnt from South Africa and Berlin. Unfortunately, the educated Palestinians; the businessmen, the teachers, the doctors, the lawyers, and all those who actually understand how to do good things, and work towards positive integration of new social structures, cultural and educational development, and all kinds of economic development projects, do not have the power or ability to change things, because of the obstacles that exist.

Security for the beautiful and wonderful state of Israel is an unalienable right of every Israeli and it should be upheld without question, so that every citizen can live in peace and prosperity. Those who threaten the security of a nation should be hunted down and brought to justice. But I am struggling to see how creating racist policies and abusing the human rights of another race whilst violating international law is the most productive way to do it.

The educational structures and musical experiences that are being instigated in the West Bank by Al Kamandjati, Barenboim-Said Foundation, National Conservatory etc. [and indeed in other countries by other organizations and individuals] are, when done right - and things aren’t always yet done right - the most direct mechanisms for instilling creativity and a thirst for knowledge and understanding in the latest generation of children.

Why are they the most direct? Because music engages people emotionally AND intellectually. For most people, that’s difficult to escape. You can’t give children the same intensity of creativity-orientated experience with an educational system that doesn’t include the arts. [I refer you again to Ken Robinson]

I didn’t do any teaching beyond the occasional masterclass during the last few times I was here. But this time, I volunteered to teach for a couple of afternoons.

It took me at least half an hour with the first student to realize that calling the strings ‘G, D, A, and E’ wasn’t going to cut it. It wasn’t just that the student didn’t speak English; the problem was that they are all trained in solfeggio - C is ‘Do’, D is ‘Re’, E is ‘Mi’ etc. etc….

With the help of a translator (and not a little use of my favourite two languages, Gesture and Euphemism) I finally cracked the communication difficulties, and with some of the older students - whose english is excellent - there were no problems.

What irritates me and what becomes immediately clear, is that many of the young musicians are not taught to practice - they are only told ‘how to hold this’, ‘how to play that’. That’s not teaching. What people need is to be able to think for themselves and solve their own problems. Violinistic and musical principles should be imparted as part of that process of awaking and becoming aware of possibilities.

[It’s not a problem unique to this place, of course. Brainwashing creativity-free teaching of this kind is rampant in the west, even in many top conservatoires. People are just not focused on anything other than the details of the ‘how to’. If you concentrate and practice hard, you can get all that done very quickly. What makes a musician is the power to question, to search, to pursue understanding. Teaching of music should be primarily about that, I think.]

Resources are getting much better now at Al Kamandjati, but it’s still a hand-to-mouth survival; funding grants tend to be specific and time-sensitive, and there’s not always budget for the things students need. Almost every violin bow that came into my teaching room was in desperate need of a rehair, but without access to money, skills or the hair itself that’s not going to happen. One of the students didn’t have a shoulder rest as he couldn’t afford it.

I’m wondering if creating an international partner program with the help of Classical Music UK wouldn’t go amiss. A kind of peer-to-peer network for individuals to donate instruments, accessories, and other much-needed things to worldwide music organizations, and in return see the great effects of their work at first hand via multimedia content on the internet. It could be a place for exchange of ideas and best practices too, of course. Any ideas welcome; my email address is on the left.

There’s something in the air. Ramallah is much more awake than it was a year ago. It’s very subtle, but it’s noticeable. Leisure facilities are open that weren’t before. Trading is fractionally busier. New restaurants have opened up. Prices are higher (though fuel counts for a lot of that). The expat community and the business community mingle more. There’s more order in the streets. Tiny signs, but good ones. Of course, all that can change in a moment.

Back in Ramallah for some concerts, & also some teaching this time which is interesting. Concerts in Ramallah / Jerusalem on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Nice to see they’re laying down arms for a bit. Hopefully that means that some of the 1million Gazans will have at least something to eat/cook/fuel/treat diseases with…. I’m very hopeful that it will last… for at least 24 hours . Place your bets now…

Cynicism aside, I am struck again by the buzziness, the relentless optimism, the unfailing quest for musical dialogue here at Al Kamandjati . So little bitterness, so much positivity, so much energy. What are they on? I want some!

For all of you who’ve been waiting for the Imogen Holst String Chamber Music disc - perhaps the most jinxed project I’ve ever been involved with (not least because of my own inexperience) - it is ALMOST here. Just don’t ask me to pin a date on it :). We’re on the home straight now. Days not weeks.

And yes… consensus here says it WILL be worth the wait.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZJR-XlUT4

I believe this is actually a recording of me playing when I was very young, though I don’t remember who the pianist is or where or when it was recorded. How it has turned up on some weird animation mashup beats me.

I was amused by this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7400109.stm

Wine can affect the way music is played too.

I was talking to someone the other day actually, about an event, and I had to explain that I was attending in a ‘professional capacity’. They didn’t seem to understand what it meant, so I defined it as being able to play in tune after five glasses of wine.

If you’re wondering why I’m such an itinerant blogger, well… I’ll tell you the full story some day. But some month soon, I’m going to commit to it full time. It’s not for everyone, I know. But it works for me. So let’s talk again in a bit.

Once upon a time there was a boy who really liked buses. He really, really liked buses.

He loved the way they turned. He loved the way they parked. He loved the way they moved gracefully in the hands of the right driver.

As soon as the boy was old enough, he learnt how to drive, and started to work for the local bus companies when they needed an extra driver. He was very happy. He worked and worked and saved as much money as he could, and eventually - with some help from his friends - he managed to buy his very own bus. Now that he could work for himself, he started to build his own set of regular customers. Some of them gave him tips about his driving, some of them helped to maintain the bus on his days off, and some of them helped to spread the word and find him even more passengers. Many of his passengers became friends, and he was very grateful.

As the years passed, the man (for he was no longer a boy) got better and better at driving. Every few years he would trade up to an even bigger and more powerful bus. But the more he found out about how to handle powerful buses, the more the man felt that something wasn’t right with the roads.

Why didn’t the roads take into account the needs of modern driving? Why didn’t the people who fixed the roads talk to the people who made and ran the buses? What was the point in having such a nice bus if the roads weren’t advanced enough for him to use it properly? The more questions he asked, the more questions he found: Why were the traffic cameras not linked to the bus shelter timetables? Why didn’t the people who made jeeps and luxury cars swap ideas with the people who made the buses? Why didn’t the passengers get a say in what was happening?

After a while, the man realized that if he was going to get the best out of his bus, he was going to have to fight for the best roads he could find. But the thing was, he didn’t want to leave his roots. Sure, he could drive over to a country where they did have the most modern roads and the most sophisticated traffic systems. But then he’d have to leave his passengers, and all the experience and knowledge of the local area that he’d built up over the years. Besides, he loved his area so much that he couldn’t bear to see it get left behind whilst all the other countries bounded ahead.

Figuring that he wouldn’t be alone in his frustration, the man made a ridiculous decision. He was going to build his own roads. Everyone told him he was crazy, but the man thought otherwise: if he built new roads in his area, soon the other bus drivers would see what he was doing, and they’d start to build their own roads too. If they were good enough, soon all the drivers in the area would start building their own roads. Then the council would have to take notice and put up financing for all the new roads, and then the rest of the country would decide to switch to the new roads too!

The man’s regular passengers were divided. Half of them told him he was crazy, stupid and naive. "You start building your own roads" they said, "and we won’t travel on your bus again". "Fine." said the man, pulling over to let them off. He figured that if they really meant that, they probably didn’t appreciate his driving anyway.

The other half of his passengers - including his friends - said to the man: "What on earth are you doing? It seems crazy and we don’t understand it. But if you really believe it will work, we’ll help you try". The man saw they meant it, and was very happy.

The man started work on the new roads the very next day. But he was still young, and he hadn’t trained as a road-builder. And of course he had to drive his bus during the day, and keep it well maintained too. He ended up building roads during the night, so that he could be ready to drive his bus the next day.

As the man started to work on the new roads, he got very very excited. He started to see how amazing the new roads could be. They could have the latest technology to improve the bus ride even more than a more powerful bus could. They could incorporate some of the new discoveries that road builders in other countries had made… without affecting the local ‘identity’ of the roads. He was convinced that the roads would change the way the local bus services ran forever.

But because the man was a bus driver, and not a road-builder, he soon ran into problems. He didn’t have enough money to get the raw materials to build the roads, but he managed to win some sponsorship from a local company, who liked his ideas. However, although he knew how to manage a bus, he didn’t know how to manage a team of road builders! So by the time he had bought all the tarmac for the new roads, he didn’t have enough to pay the road builders, and the new roadbuilding came to a halt.

"I know," said the man, "I’ll put on a big bus fayre to raise some money". He thought it would be a good chance to show off the new roads, too. All the local passengers and bus drivers turned up, and they had a great day out. But because the new roads weren’t finished, they looked just like the old roads, and several people didn’t even realise they were using the new roads. Not only that, but the bus fayre had cost him far more than he had hoped for. The man was frustrated.

For the next year, the man realized that he couldn’t make the new roads happen just yet. He was sad, but he didn’t give up. He knew the new roads were good, and he knew that one day they would catch on. So he kept on honing his driving during the day, and tweaking his designs for the road at night.

As his plans for the road developed, he noticed that he was starting to drive in a way that would suit the new roads. A couple of his passengers started to comment that his driving was developing in a strange manner. They didn’t like it. They just wanted to get from A to B. "Don’t worry," said the man, "one day we’ll all be driving on the new roads. I’m just getting ready to make sure I can drive really well for when the new roads are finally finished". But some of his regular passengers didn’t like it, and some of them started drifting away.

The planning for the new roads was going very well, and the man had started to hear from bus drivers in other countries and other regions who were also working on similar ideas. He was excited - the ‘new roads’ had momentum! But because he had to pay for running his bus, he still didn’t have enough money to do all the work on the new roads that he’d like to do.

He knew that before long, he’d have to get the new roads out to a wider audience, otherwise nothing would happen. So he decided to put on a roadshow. For nearly three weeks, the man drove up and down the country talking to people about the new roads, and showing them all his ideas from an exhibition he had put up in his bus.

But almost nobody listened. Noone knew the man, and noone knew anything about him. Who was he to turn up and tell them about ‘new roads’ when they had perfectly good old ones? The man was starting to get worried. He had spent a lot of money on the new roads, and yet still he couldn’t make it work.

But the man wouldn’t give up. For a start, he knew his ideas were amazing. But also, the people who really had listened to the roadshow - just a few people in each city - had really loved it. Really, really loved it. He still had hope. Besides, his regular passengers from home (who had become friends) had sent him some beautiful messages of support. They still believed in him, and it gave him strength. Even though it hadn’t worked out this time, he decided to persevere.

The man went back home and started again on his work. Not long after, one of his regular passengers phoned. There was some interest in his new road designs from the council department who maintained the old roads! They didn’t completely understand the new roads, but they’d heard about them… and they really wanted him to come and work with them for a few months and see if he could help them improve the old roads with some of his ‘new road’ ideas!

The man was happy to hear this, and said he’d come straight away.

But as before, things didn’t quite work out as the man had hoped. The effort he had put into the new roads and the roadshow had taken its toll, and there was no money left once he had maintained his bus. He couldn’t pay any of the roadbuilders to bring the new road ideas to the council in time for their deadlines. And not only that, but the mechanic who usually kept his bus on the road was ill, and the man just couldn’t make anything happen.

By now, some of the man’s old passengers had drifted away, and although the bus companies he did freelance work for were still very supportive, he realized that without any more funding, he just couldn’t get any further with the new roads. But despite this, he was still hopeful. Some of the man’s best passengers and closest friends had really understood what was going on with the new roads, and they kept encouraging him. ‘Get through this’, they said, ‘and somehow you’ll find a way’.

And the man knew they were right. Because at the council, and at the bus companies, people were beginning to listen. He knew the new roads were good, and for all the pain and frustration and difficulties and challenges that had been thrown his way, his dream of driving his ideal bus along the most advanced roads in the world kept growing stronger and stronger.

So once again he gritted his teeth, got back in the driving seat, and went back to work.