Still ill. I can just about do one thing at a time, but my usual multi-tasking is completely out of the question: walking and talking are a bit of a struggle. So this morning I managed to alternately proofread the Kellie CD booklet and look after a sick child; this afternoon was so fragmented I'm not sure I can piece the memory of it together.

RRR got a 5 star review in the Scotsman today (and we got a very nice email from Alexander McCall Smith earlier in the week saying how much he likes it). Still on the subject of CDs, 'a source close to Linn Records' today told me a wonderful story about a public figure listening to Mungrel Stuff in a very particular environment, a story which I'm certainly not going to tell here, or possibly anywhere else. 

[Ahem.]

I found out today that in amongst the other music that I'll be playing with some of the SCO principals and Giovanni Antonini in March will be the Bach E major violin and harpsichord sonata with Ruth Crouch. I was sure I'd played it before. I checked, and it's the only one of the six that I haven't played countless times with either Lucy or David G. In fact I've never played it in public at all - I looked at my copy and it's got one fingering written in (that's not unusual, I don't use pencils much anymore), and that fingering doesn't work (so it serves me right for writing it in). 

It's not an easy piece, so I'd better start practising again. I was just getting used to not being a 'serious' performing musician, and quite enjoying it. 'If I want to make music I can whistle' was my reasoning this morning. Then by teatime I was whiling away convalescence time by slowly sightreading through the Bach. Sure enough, my fingers won't do many of the things that part of my brain wants them to: it's been a few months since they were really up to speed.

But one of the joys of being a keyboard player is that it doesn't take much work to get everything moving again. So I'm not anxious, I'll just gradually work it back up. And if it doesn't all come back, well, who wants to be a virtuoso anyway? Which would I rather be, a musician or a performing monkey? Sackfuls of technique are only a requirement for expression in music that is technically demanding, and most music isn't. I never had any time for the 'you must practise at least three hours a day' brigade. Get a life.

Oh, and Vanity Fair came out in the UK today. Will try and get along next week to hear which bits of Reese Witherspoon's piano playing are really me.

Meanwhile, the funniest thing I've heard for a while is Go Home Productions's 'Crazy Little Fool' - available here - almost too witty.