"It is a lovely feeling when you get the balance of listening to yourself... and concentrating... and playing it... You get to this nowhere land where your brain is utterly disconnected, and I think...I think that [is at] the root of all this piano obsession. It's trying to get into that little slot of your brain where things don't exist and yet they're working perfectly. It's a sort of heaven. A nirvana." - Alexander Waugh
To understand my obsession, replace 'piano' with 'sailing my dinghy'.
It's a feeling. A place. A state of blissful nothingness and ease. I've previously struggled to define, let alone explain it to anyone.
This clip is taken from the excellent BBC FOUR documentary The Piano: A Love Affair, presented by Waugh.
As luck would have it Jo watched the programme with me, and so I now have some hope that she understands why I dash off to Suffolk at every opportunity to potter about in 14 feet of glass fibre.
As a sidenote, this programme is the perfect example of niche public service output which makes the BBC's archive so culturally valuable, if only we could unlock it. Well, today was the day that Ashley announced the BBC Archive Trial.
Sign up asap, since only the first 20k get to play.
