Top Takeaways from the UK's spectacular culture of creativity

The More the Merrier

When our family moved to Surrey, a warm tradition of musical inclusivity and spontaneity greeted us. Town orchestras invited me to perform everything from Purcell to Vaughan Williams with them. To this day, a joyful welcome extends to both players and audience members of all ages and backgrounds. Across the UK, local choirs prepare weekend concerts and wait for families and friends to pour into the cathedrals. Pop-up orchestras accompany the choirs, bringing both traditional and contemporary works to life for the evening.

Keep Striving

The late and much-beloved violist Levine Andrade understood the difficulties in learning new music yet always emphasized the excitement that would soon follow. When I struggled with daring passages in the Walton Viola Concerto at his Guildford studio, Levine would call out, “Keep going! That’s very nearly very, very good!” At first, his words perplexed me. Was my playing good? Almost good? Almost very, very good? I soon realized that Levine meant that I was on to something, and while our work wasn’t yet complete, he could already envision the results. The takeaway here is that one needn’t settle for good when one can persist and aim for “very, very good!”

Melodic Spirit Inspires and Endures

The UK’s rich musical history means that its instrument shops are filled with stunning older instruments just waiting to be rediscovered. My own violin, a 1750’s Thomas Smith instrument I first played in Cardiff, has become my voice and my dearest partner over our years together. Its adventures will outlive me, too, and its story and song will shine on through future generations.

Beyond instruments, strong musical traditions are a steadying hand through difficult times, a moral reassurance of sorts. My father’s recommendation when I struggled through rough moments at university? “Put on some Holst and get back to work.” With familiar melodies from works like Walton’s Spitfire Prelude and Fugue and Elgar’s Chanson de Matin, the UK’s finest composers uplift all with shared musical spirit.

Though my family is stateside again, British creativity fills my parents’ home every Sunday morning. Sounds of Jenkins -- sometimes Katherine, other times Karl -- greet me at the door as Mum’s latest inspiration from the Great British Bake Off rises in the oven. Tea is brewed and melodies hummed, and I muse that perhaps this week my students should study Britten.

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