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As for my professional colleagues, it’s a disastrous time. The If you think this may be of interest in your local community,
latest report is that up to a third of freelance players have now do contact me via my website contact form
taken different jobs just to survive - driving food delivery vans, www.laurenceperkins.com/contact
stacking supermarket shelves, working in call centres, and so
on. Some have been totally unable to get jobs of any kind. The one place it will not be available is on-line - this is about
Personally, I have never earned so little in all my working life LIVE performance, something that desperately needs to be
as this year! However, tricky though the financial situation is, re-started at the moment. If the overall response is
the biggest loss for me is playing concerts - that wonderful sufficiently good,
sharing with a live audience which is so special to listeners
and performers alike. So, knowing that the telephone is not ‘Beautiful World’ is not a concert programme title I would
going to be ringing with offers of gigs for some considerable normally use - it reflects where we are at the moment, in
while, an extended period of global crisis when our inner resources
are stretched to (and sometimes beyond) their limits. It’s
I have gone ahead and set up a series of my own concerts all about inspiration - a reminder that despite all that is
in venues around the U.K. To start with, these are solo happening around us, this world is still a beautiful place.
concerts, as I could not ask a professional colleague to share
the risk in what at the moment is a very unknown quantity. This is where music - and especially LIVE music - can be
However, initial enquiries to key contacts around the so incredibly powerful, partly in its healing qualities for
country indicated a huge amount of enthusiasm for such our shattered emotions, but also for its motivating and
events. Therefore, I’m going ahead initially with a handful energising aspects to help us all to move forward. In this
of concerts, starting in central London on Monday 23rd ghastly situation, all musicians have a golden opportunity
November at St Pancras Old Church - two 1-hour performances to bring all this into focus for everyone around us. Sadly,
(no interval) at 4.30pm and 6.30pm. This will then tour there are now huge numbers of people for whom music
around the U.K. into early December, and - if the response has become a free on-demand on-line commodity, and
is good - into the early months of 2021. Current health and we are living in an age where authorities pay lip service (if
safety regulations will of course be observed, with social that) to music education in schools, at the lowest possible
distancing achieved via 2-seat ‘bubble’ booking. Tickets are price they can get away with. All this needs to change.
sold on-line in advance, with prices set to be as affordable
as possible, given that many people are confronting The music world will wither and die if professional players
financial challenges at the moment. Drinks will be served - and music teachers cannot earn a living from what we do. It
where allowed, audience members can bring their own! won’t change on its own - and it’s not “someone else’s job”
to make these changes. If you (as I do) value music as an
You may now be wondering “hmm, solo bassoon - what would essential and enriching life force, and live music-making
that offer for an hour in a live concert?” Well, thanks to the as one of the most fulfilling experiences one can ever be
incredible versatility of the bassoon, plus the fact that I’ve involved in, then it’s up to you, me, each and every one of us
done this sort of performance presentation before (the on-line to go out at this time, share this incredible musical magic,
series tapped into that experience), in a short time I had a new and bring about changes in how music is perceived and
concert programme with a huge range of musical styles, valued.
moods and sound-worlds that I could perform entirely on
my own. Each one of our tiny individual contributions will collectively
add up to a significant and influential movement. For the
The programme is called ‘Beautiful World’, and it is literally foreseeable future when orchestras and the bigger musical
a one-hour musical journey around the world, starting in the operations are largely out of action, ‘small is beautiful’ - and
British Isles and travelling to America, Mexico, South America, this is our cue! I’m doing what I can in the way I know I can do
the Far East, Europe, and finishing out in the ocean. For this best - so now it’s over to you to have a good think about what
performance I use backings - some are musical exploring you can do to help put live music-making and real musical
both traditional and new sounds using clever technology, appreciation back on the map. It’s an exciting challenge
and others are soundscapes featuring original recordings of for us all!
natural sounds that I have made over the years, including
birdsong, the sea, rivers and the sounds of the wind. It’s I will be very excited to open this up to including ensemble
quite an experience, and it will be available well into concerts involving other players - an important way forward.
2021 - it can be performed in any venue, large or small.

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