Emma’s Articles

Planes, Shower Curtains and Clarinet Reeds…… This may seem a disparate list of objects, but all of the above have an important thing in common: the Bernoulli principle. Bernoulli realised …

Recently at a pre-concert talk a young clarinettist asked me how she could begin to express more emotion in her playing. This set me thinking and in fact the best …

Every now and then, to refresh my soul and rejuvenate my being, I listen again to Glenn Gould playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations. It is the recording I return to more …

For years scientists have been predicting that computers will eventually take over all the work in the world. Visions have been painted of humans in the future putting their feet …

Towards the end of his life, a sure way to make Beethoven angry was to tell him how much you admired his Septet Op.20, according to the English composer, Schultz, …

15 minutes jogging:           120 calories 15 minutes walking:         50 calories 15 minutes swimming:     105 calories 15 minutes vacuuming:    53 calories 15 minutes climbing stairs: 120 calories 15 …

When Albert Einstein died, scientists looked inside his brain expecting to find abnormal numbers of neurons but were perplexed to find instead that it contained a greater than normal amount …

Until recently birds were underestimated, even by biologists – “bird-brained” was by no means a complimentary term – but opinion is gradually changing as publications such as The Genius of …

Question: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” Answer: “Practise”. But this only tells half the story. Sometimes the most nerve-racking part of giving concerts is actually getting to the …

In the week when her album of classical and jazz favourites, Clarinet Goes to Town, is released, Emma explores the roots of trad jazz in New Orleans.