Sunday 13 May 2001

I'm sitting out in the garden in the blistering hot sunshine, and there's a marching band rehearsing in the playing fields across the fence. I've never heard a marching band rehearse before and it's quite an education. They don't play much music, just an awful lot of scales and exercises, and occasionally they stop and run round the athletics track. I suspect the conductor is a sadist: he certainly shouts a lot, but then that's open air rehearsals for you. When the enormous percussion section rehearse on their own it sounds like a lost Steve Reich piece from the 1970s.

Anyway, yesterday we set off for Melrose a bit late, as our car was smelling strongly of burnt rubber and I didn't want to take the risk of getting stranded halfway there with Greg and Kate Bott, and having to wait for the AA to come and rescue us. So a visit to the local car hire company started the day. 

One of the many nice things about playing in Melrose is that Burt's Hotel does really exceptional bar meals, so the day's work schedule always includes lunch before the rehearsal to get us in the mood. The Parish Church is a beautiful building from 1810, with the perfect acoustic for what we do, and it's up on the grassy hill above the main street, so in the break we could all lounge around on the grass in the sunshine while Katy, a keen Arsenal supporter, listened eagerly to the FA Cup Final on the radio. It was all going fine until Liverpool scored twice in the last 8 minutes, just before we rehearsed the Vivaldi Gloria Patri, so the flute solo was particularly poignant. The last movement of the Laudate Pueri is a rollercoaster coloratura on the word 'Amen', and Kate toyed with the idea of replacing it with 'Arsenal' in the concert if they won - perhaps it's just as well they lost.

Just time for a fine bag of chips with the McGillivray sisters in Melrose's Harmony Garden before the gig, which was a cracker (if I say so myself). Kate sang wonderfully, Katy played her concerto with great finesse, the strings sounded fabulous, and not a dry eye in the house in Ich habe genug. But the best thing about it was that the music just felt like an extension of the social part of the day: when we played in Melrose two years ago, our contact at the Scottish Arts Council was in the audience, and came round to the dressing room at the end to say 'that wasn't a concert, it was like coming to a party', and this time was even better. 

So the party continued in the hotel bar well into the night, with Nicolette, Alison and I making a brief excursion at one point back across the road to Burt's where the beer was better - we share the notion that the first sip of beer after a gig is a sacred moment to be treasured. What a happy band we were: driving back with Greg this morning, he said he hadn't laughed so much in ages.  He's off playing tangos with Mr McFall's Chamber tonight at the Bongo Club in Edinburgh.  Speaking of which, do yourself a favour and buy their CD 'Revolucionario' (produced by yours truly) at www.mcfalls.co.uk.