Author: Harvey

My last Diary entry suggested a new departure – so here goes! I want to share with you some of my inner feelings, resonances and emotions, in the remaining pages of my Diary.  And today I am beginning with a performance of ‘A Mass of Life’ in which I took part recently. [You all will… Read more

Yesterday a close friend made a fabulous suggestion! Now that I have reached the present day in my Diary, why don’t I try to reflect upon specific pieces of music encountered in the past 210 years, and then share insights about how it feels for me in my body and frame – with all the… Read more

Since 1810, I know that the sounds and echoes of an amazing array of famous people have reached me, reverberated in me, and become injected into my sonic frame, over these 215 years. In order to prepare for a bodily exploration of  Delius’s ‘A Mass of Life’, I need to carefully consider the ways these… Read more

With all this talk of the Body and its importance, I want to invite you to think with me about a particular musical composition – ‘A Mass of Life’ by Frederick Delius. You will recall I am very familiar with this extraordinary work, and that, at the beginning of the 20th Century, I met it… Read more

It was not long before Harvey’s teacher noticed how his body was full of nervous tension, while he played his new instrument. A few years of total abstinence from playing, his memories of ‘failure’ in the past, his preference to regard himself as ‘second fiddle’, his sense of insecurity while playing fast and high-pitched notes,… Read more

One of the first things Harvey did with his newly-bequeathed violin was to go ‘back to school’.  He asked a local professional violinist if she would give him monthly lessons, so that he could begin to relearn his technical abilities after all these past years of neglect. His teacher was interested to hear that Harvey… Read more

After a long and tortuous period of time, I was eventually sold – along with my precious Tubbs bow and my ‘Certificate of Authenticity’ from W E Hill – to a member of a famous London orchestra for an astronomical figure. A deal had been reached with great difficulty, with at one stage Harvey even… Read more

In September 2013, after Harvey retired from his ecumenical job, I was handed over to a violin dealer in Farnborough, near Bromley, who began to look out for potential buyers for me! As you know, I have changed hands numerous times in my long life, and it has never really bothered me – until now.… Read more

Harvey now became a ‘supernumerary’ minister, moving with Carol from Croydon into their retirement home in Shepherdswell, near Dover.  Although he had been granted permission by the Methodist Conference to ‘sit down’ from his Methodist ministry obligations, Harvey was still able to take a part-time job as the County Ecumenical Officer for Churches Together in… Read more

In August 2005, Harvey was appointed superintendent minister for the Croydon Circuit, and Carol and he moved into the Manse in Shirley with me and my bow. Although I was taken to Parson’s Noyse practices, usually by bus and train, I began to notice that Harvey’s ‘heart’ was not in his playing.  His body was… Read more