What’s your favourite part of the process, and why?
Returning to a piece of work with a fresh eye. It can take a lot to wrangle research and interviews into something coherent that fits a brief. And in the middle of that process, it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. But leaving it and returning the following morning is the best feeling. The path ahead is somehow abundantly clear. I can simply thank me from yesterday and complete the task.
What’s the best bit of advice you’ve ever been given?
A memorable piece of recent advice: “The only way you won’t learn this is if you leave it in its case.” So said my saxophone teacher when I started learning the instrument. I was already in my 40s and had spent my life saying I wasn’t musical, thus erecting an arbitrary wall between myself and what I saw as this incomprehensible mystery. His advice pulled the wall down. You just have to show up every day. That’s where the magic lies.
Which words have always stuck with you, and why?
“Our job is just to listen to what people want to do and see if we can make it happen.” Back in the mid 1980s, a friend was asked to cover a music workshop for people with learning disabilities. Entering the community centre, he was met with what he described as “a cacophony”. But he had a nagging feeling the group was capable of much more, so he kept coming back and tried to do what people wanted. They were covering songs within a few weeks. Soon, one of the participants wrote lyrics of his own – the group’s first original piece. This was the start of HeartnSoul, a charity that’s given a creative lifeline to hundreds of people over the last 40 years.