[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It’s been an interesting week. A week that has made me very proud to be a musician. It has made me cherish what it is I do.

Raff and Janet, my two guitar playing friends turned up to our last rehearsal before the start of our run of concerts really upset. Their friend, guitarist and composer, Phillip Houghton, had suddenly died. I had met Phillip through these guys – he was a kind, gentle man. He’d also written some music for us. The Aussie guitar ‘family’ is pretty close, but for Raff especially, Phillip was a dear friend, and he was very affected. We decided, as a tribute to Phillip, we’d change our encore – rather than playing the Bach piece we’d chosen, we’d play something of his. We’ll do this at every concert we play (this is in the present tense ‘cos they’ve not all yet happened). We’ve played one concert with this encore – and it was a very fitting way to pay tribute to an excellent man, and dear friend.

Also I heard from an old school friend that her mum had died. I used to stay at their house a lot growing up. I remember her helping me with a school project about the desert, and teaching me how to make flowers out of cake icing. She was a wonderful woman, and her family loved her dearly. The next day I sat and played a Bach suite for her – the same Bach suite that JSB wrote after his first wife died. It seemed the right thing to do.

And it got me thinking….. there’s not many professions that can do that. I can’t buy a house, well, really anywhere in a major population centre in this country. I’ll never have a flash car. But I will be able to pay tribute to people who are good and special in the world in the best way I know how. I will be able to honour their memory. And that means something.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]