The Pianist - Part 1

I have always admired, albeit with a tinge of jealousy, people who say they are in their dream job. For me, that would involve drinking too much coffee, bashing out a couple of thousand words daily and being taken to lunch by my literary agent at Shoreditch House or the Ivy Club – well you’ve got to aspire haven’t you. Much as this is something that I am ever so slowly working towards, I have on occasion been disheartened by the pessimism of others. A friend recently said “Do you realise how many people want to be writers and how few actually succeed?” blah blah “You’re not getting any younger... maybe you should stick with what you’re doing.” This coincided with a manic period at work where I was doing two people’s jobs. The longer hours and extra responsibility combined with the voice of my friend in my head began to sew seeds of doubt in my mind. Was he right? Maybe now in my mid-ish thirties I had missed the writing boat. Should I just work harder, push myself more and take on extra responsibility forging a career where I am? Whilst not being a dream, it would at least be a career and would pay well. I couldn’t just do that though. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you’ll know that’s just not me. I needed something to help me see that I might not just be pissing into the wind and that with perseverance I might just get somewhere. I needed a renewed inspiration, and boy oh boy did I get it.

Imagine that from a young age, you have a dream and that you work as hard as you can in trying to achieve that dream. Imagine then discovering that, however obsessed with your passion you are, and that however many years you’ve been working towards it, that your technical abilities aren’t good enough for what you want to do. That you might as well give up and go and do something else. Imagine then that you then opt for a career in the City in the belief that earning lots of money might make up of the abandonment of a career in something you had pursued since childhood. And that ultimately you are boring yourself stupid and knowing that you dreamt of a different outcome. After 10 years in your career, would you give it up and go back to try something you once destined yourself to do?

Well it’s not mere imagination, for the person I’ve described is real and is called James Rhodes and it was my brother who first introduced me to him through the power of You Tube. When he was young he started playing the piano and his dream was to be a classical pianist. He walked away from it though at the age of 18 and in the 10 years since he went to work in the City, he hadn’t even been within touching distance of those 88 keys that are now the tools of his trade. After he quit his job and practised and practised, he randomly met someone in a cafe who heard him play and offered him the chance to make an album and now, in only a few short years, he has a 6 album deal with Warner.

As I watched him talk on You Tube about his passion for the piano and the boredom of working in the City, I immediately got what he was talking about. It had taken a truck load of work to get to where he is now, but he had done it, is doing it and it gave me an inspirational focus on what I knew that I wanted to do.

I saw that he was playing a concert in London at the Ambassadors Theatre and booked tickets. It was fantastic. I’ve always enjoyed classical music although have never been to see a classical pianist before. The image of such is traditionally a formal affair with a guy in white tie and tails who plays and plays and plays without saying a word to the audience before eventually leaving the stage. With James Rhodes however, he walked on stage and chatted with the audience. He introduced every piece of music with a clear passion and gave you an understanding of what exactly it was he was about to play and what the composer was doing in his life at the time of composing it - be it a period of great sadness or youth and frivolity and so on. The intimacy of the venue combined with the way James spoke to the audience between pieces, almost made you feel like he was playing in your front room.

I went home feeling energized. What would I write next? The evening had given me a renewed optimism and I wanted to tell someone about it. The next day, I was flicking though Twitter when I saw a post by Iain Dale the blogger and radio presenter on LBC: “Have you seen a good concert or film this week and would like to review it on the show? Get in touch!” Perfect – I picked up the phone and dialled the number...