Emma’s Articles

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.

  Sometimes in musical performance everything flows effortlessly and you have a feeling of being at one with the music and the audience. You are in commune with the listeners …

Article commissioned by Gramophone blog to accompany the release of English Fantasy. ‘Let’s encourage composers to embrace melody, harmony and pulse again before the audience is alienated altogether’ ‘We’d like …

When M&S announced recently it would no longer have piped background music in its stores, there was a mixed reaction.

With the death of Prince the recently I found myself thinking how liberating it could be to change your name as he did. Would people treat you differently? Would things go better or worse for you?

Visitors to my music room sometimes look alarmed when they find themselves face to face with a human skeleton standing in the corner…”Am I to be the next victim?” you can see them wondering!
They needn’t worry; the skeleton merely stands there as a constant reminder to me about that essential element of playing an instrument well, or of doing just about anything well come to that: good posture.