Why do the wrong people travel?

Here's something else they don't tell you at music college.

6 hours travelling to get to do a concert. In fact, this was a workshop AND a concert, so it was a pretty long day. I'm with Hatstand Opera today for a concert in Wales. Up at 6.30 to get the train/tube/train through London to Shrewsbury, changing at Crewe, then picked up in the car and driven 1.5 hours across the Welsh countryside to Dolgellau.Arriving just in time to do a schools workshop at 2, then a rehearsal and concert at 7.30. 6 hours travelling back the following day, then another early rise to get to Gatwick Airport for the tour.

(And we thought that travelling on a Sunday morning through Gatwick would be a good idea. Luggage conveyors broken, a powercut since 8 that morning, and about 50,000 people wanting to get to the other side of the concourse at the same time. And then there was Security... )

Anyway, one of the joys of performing is the chance to get to meet new people. Lovely B&B, chatty people, and 14 different types of cereal to choose from. And the sight of a hawfinch feeding outside the window.

Ah yes, anyone who doesn't know Hatstand Opera (and me in particular), after more than 11 years touring as a group, we usually remember where we have performed by the food we were given.. it's "Yes, we've played here before,it was beef bourgignon". Or "oh yes, this was the homemade chocolate cake". Or occasionally "oh no, it was the chutney quiche".

So the message to potential bookers is Remember to feed us well, we'll remember you for years.

Jeremy is the co-author of Successful Singing Auditions

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