I had a bit of a thought whilst meditating today – I suppose you could call it a vision in fact, since it was visual in nature, tho that conjures up all sorts of weird connotations.

I was imagining peeling off rusty plates of armour from a figure that had been buried a long time in the ground, gradually peeling off layer after layer and revealing what was underneath.

Im seeing the “self” as an encrustation of responses that have turned into defense mechanisms, perceptions that have ossified into beliefs and tendencies that have petrified into habits.

Coated in this fixed layer of solidified self, the being inside the armour has become mired in the morass of the society around it. Elements of the dense atmosphere has adhered to the surface of the armour, reinforcing its strength and further separating the being inside from the reality that surrounds it.

Sinking further into the turgid ground beneath it, the figure has become embedded and trapped, its movements gradually decreasing until it has become entombed and motionless, its potential for growth lying dormant inside.

Now the figure has been discovered and exhumed, the process begins of peeling off the surface to find what lies beneath – a simple being of infinite light, an indefinable process of energy and becoming.

Business is a covert form of warfare.

Warfare is an overt form of business.

Britain is a business.

Part of the job of the government is to sell us the idea that we need a government.

I came across Peter Cox’s music blog via a Yahoo egroup which I’m a member of which probably deserves a blog post in itself as its a valuable musicians resource – its a place where muso’s across the world hang out to exchange ideas and tips and music chat called Music Thoughts – and theyre a really friendly bunch of people.

Your Music Blog is a new enterprise and well worth checking out, particularly for rock music which is Peter’s own specialty (he’s in established rock group Chinawhite).

He’s given Valentine Court an interesting review too.  He starts with some kind words about the music and then goes on to do what many reviewers shy away from and gives some interesting critical feedback.  He suggests that I might consider experimenting with some pieces with fewer notes in the future, or putting it the other way around, with more silence and space.

This I found an interesting comment – composer/pianists I enjoy such as Satie (as Peter states) and also Ludovico Einaudi are able to produce much simpler and sparser arrangements than I and I wonder if this is partly me compensating for a lack of confidence by keeping things busy.  Or perhaps to put it another way, one’s music reflects one’s state of mind and to date I’ve had to work quite hard (in a way) to achieve space in my mind and I think thats reflected in my music – there are moments of relative stillness – particularly in the climax of Jewel and Namaste, but these tend to be hard won, coming as the result of a build up towards that moment.

Mind you, Satie was an absolute master of tonality and Einaudi has a remarkable ear for melody, so perhaps the relative simplicity they sometimes achieve is hung on those particular gifts.

One of the many musical ideas I have saved on my digital piano is a very still and simple piece with only two chords, so perhaps I will be exploring that territory more in the future.  Time will tell of course, but in the meantime, thought provoking comments from Peter.

My first gig for top Birmingham music promoters Capsule was a great pleasure yesterday.

For my set, I was a little taken aback at first by how quiet the audience were – very attentive and polite.  Probably because it was in a pub – albeit in the venue room of what is certainly one of Birmingham’s very bext music pubs – I suppose I expected it to be more lively – but actually the gentle mood suited the line up very well.

If the Capsule ladies ask me back, I may well with what was my first thought for this gig – since attendees at a Capsule gig are likely to be fairly seriously into music -  and take the chance to do a fully instrumental set, but instead I played what is currently my established set for acoustic nights and such – mostly my songs, with just a couple of my instrumentals.

Next Up – Friendly Fire built on the chilled mood, with moments of intensity and neat combination of modern, geekdom and classic 70s American folk rock.

Finally Phosphorescent took the stage – not totally at their ease for several songs, perhaps in part due to having travelled down from Glasgow in the day and arriving a bit late – but their relationship with the crowd progressed as the night went on.   Some superb musicianship was on display from all six members, comprising piano, soulful lead guitar, beautiful and haunting pedal steel as well as bass, drums and rhythm.

The sound was amazing – a great PA in there with Bartram ably and assuredly handling the controls as always.

Here’s a good review of the show, with pics by Katya Ogrin (one of which Ive borrowed for this post) over on brumlive.com

Really looking forward to my first gig for local promoter heroes Capsule on Saturday June 5th at the Hare and Hounds Kings Heath.

For those that may not already know, the Capsule ladies have a exceptional 10 year hisory of running extremely good concerts and also the Supersonic Festival – two of Birmingham’s finest.

On this occasion, I’ll be supporting Phosphorescent – an interesting touring outfit from America with a very nice line folky americana.

They are based around the work of Brooklyn, NY resident Mathew Houck and have released several albums to critical acclaim, offering something to fans of Dylan, Willie Nelson or the Fleet Foxes.

They are supported by Forest Fire – whose album Survival was one of Rough Trades top ten albums of last year.

I’ll be happily propping up the bill (so get there nice and early as I’ll be up soon after the 8pm start) tickets are £10 from the ticket sellers – but I have a deal where there first 10 people to email me a reply can get tickets for only £7 – so drop me a line asap if you can make it and I’ll sort you out.
Xx

I really enjoyed my week in Brighton playing piano for a theatre show.

We were based in Grand Central – see photo – right by the train station.  It could hardly have been better in terms of access – we were accomodated in rooms on the top floor, with the theatre space being on the middle floor and the ground floor being a really nice pub. Happy Days!  Also, as Brighton afficionados will know – the “laines” are great streets to go for a wander in either browsing shops during the day, or for a tipple of an evening.

The shows went really well – we performed around 100 in all – (remember each is only 5 munites long, we’re not superhuman) and audience reaction was very gratifying.

We got several reviews too – all four stars out of five – one of them even going so far as to give me a nice mention “The pianist, in particular, plays out a delightful low-key cameo, all wild-eyed enthusiasm as he hammers the ivories discordantly in the background.” (I hasten to add the particular piece that reviewer chose was called “the discovery of fear in the stomache” – a somewhat grizzly tale,  so the dischordant notes were (mostly) intentional.

I also got to exercise my rusty comedy skills, as we improvised a short passage in one of the pieces were I had a pretend strop and had to be enticed back into finishing the piece – great fun.  We played it like somewhere in the territory between Cooke and Moore and Morecambe and Wise!

The main performer Jake Oldershaw was very impressive, his presence comfortably dominating the space and enthralling the audience – given we were performing up to six hours per day and he had Mollie, his toddler daughter with us ensuring he didnt sleep in, the energy he put in was quite remarkable.

Jack our technical guy was very able and great company and Steven and everyone at the Nightingale Theatre were very warm and generous so combined with the enjoyment of being a professional pianist for a whole week, it was a great experience.

Im heading down to Brighton tomorrow to play piano in a small theatre production called “An Intimate History” as part of the Brighton Fringe.

When I say small, I do mean it – this is a show that is performed by one actor to one audience member at a time. You can’t get much more intimate than that!

The 5 minute pieces are inspired by text taken from Zeldin’s ‘Intimate History of Humanity’ – a fascinating sounding book which to quote an Independent review is an “audacious and thought-provoking work which presents history as a liberating force, one which can reveal the multiplicity of human possibilities, and thereby free us from the impasses of the present.”

Jake Oldershaw has written some absorbing and entertaining texts, set very ably to music by Derek Nisbet – who happily has a knack for writing music that is engaging and very tuneful and not too difficult to play.

Im looking forward to the experience – playing for up to six hours a day is going to be a challenge – Im not yet completely sure it wont drive me slightly mad, but its great to be earning a living for a week by playing the instrument I love.

I recently sent a copy of my album Valentine Court to a lady in the US called Rebecca Johnson, who writes regularly on a website called Seasoned with Love.  She is also a key player in the growing army of people with an interest in music, books etc who contribute to our growing global cultural wealth my regularly reviewing music on Amazon.

Its very hard for indie artists to get coverage in papers and magazines, so its very important both for the artists themselves and all those who are interested in discovering new art that might appeal, that people like Rebecca give their time and make their voices heard.

Rebecca’s certainly been hard at work, writing no less than 3,795 reviews on Amazon so far, placing her as one of Amazon’s  “Top 10  Reviewers”.

So what did Rebecca make of my magnum opus?  Happily, she has entitled her review Exquisite and Magical and goes on to write:

“Rich Batsford has created a relaxing and at times a profoundly beautiful moment in time for the listener. His timing is impeccable and his melodies are original and compelling. The entire time I was listening to this stunning album I felt a sense of happiness.

“Valentine Court” also awakens delicate emotions that enliven the soul. Rich Batsford seems to be completely absorbed in the moment as he plays. His music also has meditative qualities at times and can awaken the heart to beauty. If you love solo piano then this should be in your collection.”

Rather a wonderful review – I found it quite moving in fact – it means a lot to get this kind of comment and Im proud of Rebecca and everyone else getting on Amazon to make some critical comments which in her case at least, are undoubtedly seasoned with a little love.
Xx

Well, there’s been a development since my recent post about my efforts to follow a spiritual path – yesterday evening I asked to be Ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order.

Its an exciting feeling and also a very natural one – something I’ve built up to fairly gently over the last four years of my involvement with Buddhism and my gradual realisation that I am definitely Buddhist (and not merely Buddhish as Ive been claiming until recently )

In Buddhist terminology what this involes is going for refuge to the three jewels (the jewels being Buddha, Dharma and Sangha).

What this means is that I recognise the Buddha as a symbol of the ideal of human enlightenment, the Dharma (the body of teaching) as being the route towards that goal and the Sangha (the community of other Buddhists) as being the context in which I want to practice.

In a way, I cant put my hand on my heart and say Im really trying to become enlightened because if I was too make 100% effort to acheive that lofty goal,  then I’d probably be meditating all day, not just for one hour in the morning.  However, I do believe that any steps I can take in that direction will be of benefit to me and, since I believe we are all fundamentally connected, also to the benefit of all sentient beings.

The Triratna Order is a lay order, so I’m not going off to be a monk or anything, in fact little will change at first other than a strengthening of my resolve to work on myself to become a better and more compassionate person – as those who know me well can confirm, there’s plenty of room for improvement!

Anyway, I’ll share significant moments along the path here as I can, meanwhile, wish me luck!
Xx

I’ve been a bit of a seeker for many years and lately – in the last four years or so, have found Buddhism – particularly as taught by the recently renamed Triratna Buddhist Order – to be a very fertile ground for my journey.

In that spirit I’d like to share a few quotes I’ve come across that have struck me, from Subhuti a Triratna Order member, taken from a recent talk at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre (I’m paraphrasing slightly):

“Skillful action leads to a sense of fulfillment and a smoother, happier life.  Unskillful action leads to inner pain, and possibly outer, too.  In this way, morality is built into the universe.”

This is one way of looking at the essence of Buddhism, which Subhuti also refers to as “a radical exposure of the fundamental mutability of things”.

Interestingly, the Birmingham centre is kind of the hotbed of the Order, (tho this may soon change) – currently it is home to Sangharakshita, the founder of what is now a world-wide movemment, and also Dharmapala College – “a collaborative enquiry into reality and open-handed sharing of understanding and experience”.

In founding what was then called the Western Buddhist Order in 1968, Sangharakshita had a very radical idea – to create the nucleus of a new society – one not based on needs, but a free association of individuals with a common commitment to personal development.

My spiritual progress is very much just that – a work in progress, so I’ll close this post on a very reassuring quote from Subhuti taken from the same talk as the one above -”spiritual progress unfolds of its own accord, once one has reached a certain level of momentum”.  Something to look foward to then!

By the way – you can listen to the whole talk for free (or voluntary donation on the amazing web resource Free Buddhist Audio).
Xx