11.11
Hotel Acceptable, Tallinn.
Morning View I…
II...
III...
A final gentle breakfasting, with lotsa people at the feeding trough. The two large cruise ships would account for the numbers at breakfast. T noticed the smell of alcohol in the lift on her way down to the Trough.
Final Packing I…
II…
21.26 Bredonborough.
Home!
Checking-in at Tallinn, and what a difference to Heathrow on our outgoing flight: security procedures were mellow & relaxed in comparison, and no press of people. A 25-minute hop to Helsinki & then connecting to our Heathrow flight. The transit lounge in Helsinki was not a protected zone & bottles of water were carried onboard. But missing from my single carry-on was an i-Pod that had fallen out of the computer case. So, I was unable to listen to the Estonian Churchscapes during the 2.5 hour returning. Pooey pooey.
Initial reflection on the tour: a rare conjunction of music, musician, audience & performance places. I have known the conjunction of music, musician & audience, and when these come together in a right way. Mostly, these conjunctions were in public & took place between 1969-84, in venues that were not necessarily appropriate, often inappropriate, and simply the places that those kinds of performances took place. These were rock shows, events that took place within the broad outlines of a contemporary popular culture, the performers & audiences much of the same generation (16-30), organised & mediated by commercial interests. That is, the places were chosen by industry.
The Churchscapes performances took place outside the world of rock music & popular culture; and mostly, outside commercial culture. The promoter. Mrs. Anne Erm of Jazzkar is a professional promoter, but is a promoter whose default instincts are cultural. She anticipated losing money on the tour, so I am happy that the tour was (in terms of ticket sales) a success.
Mostly, Churchscapes take place outside the world of the professional musician. If the aim of the professional musician is to profess music, then the performances were within that world. If the professional musician intends to get paid for their work, then the Churchscapes took place outside that world.
Personally, these performances were a validation of the sense that this is right music for me to be playing, after several years of being rebuffed, and often volubly. But, in order to “work”, Soundcapes need a supportive performance context, protected from the demands of commercial culture.
The tour was also a pointed stick: live performance continues to be entirely contrary to my personal inclinations.
The question remains: how to earn a living as a professional musician? No idea on this, other than to follow the injunction: act rightly, and the right consequences follow.
