I am delighted to announce that composer Charlotte Harding and I have been awarded a grant from the Vaughan Williams Foundation for our new collaboration. Charlotte is writing me a piece for solo (unaccompanied) flugelhorn, based on the ideas of openness, connection and flow. I thought it might be helpful for me to give some context to this new work, so here goes…
In 2019 I was offered funding by the Royal Philharmonic Society as part of their ‘Allianz Mentorship Scheme’. I was keen to make the most of this brilliant opportunity and to think outside the box in terms of whom I might ask to mentor me. After discussions with the RPS, I chose three people to work with during the year: trumpeter Huw Morgan, bass singer Brindley Sherratt and sports psychologist Dr Pippa Grange.
For anyone unfamiliar with Pippa Grange’s work, she is a psychologist, author and, until the end of 2019, she was Head of People and Team Development at The Football Association. Pippa was credited by Gareth Southgate (and many others) as a driving force behind the England men’s football team’s success in the 2018 World Cup after she worked with them to improve the mental side of their game. The RPS came up with the idea of me working with Pippa as there are so many links between the psychology of sport and music and, thankfully, it was something that Pippa was as interested to explore as I was.
The first of my two sessions with Pippa was in January 2019 at her home in the Peak District. She was so generous with her time and we spoke about many different aspects of performance. Something that really stayed with me was our discussion about the problems that come with aiming for perfection. It became clear that much of my thinking was very inward-looking, obsessing over playing something ‘perfectly’/trying not to split any notes and chastising myself when I (inevitably) failed. Pippa helped me to reframe my thinking and turn my focus outwards, concentrating instead on the experience of the audience. How did I want them to feel? What atmosphere did I want to create in the room?
Turning my attention away from myself in a performance helped to free me up in my playing - I felt more willing to take risks and dare to go to the extremes, since my goal was now to create different waves of emotion for the audience. Pippa helped me to realise that the onus for perfection couldn’t be all on me. Instead I could think of myself as a vessel through which the music flowed. The notes on the page already existed. My job was to stay open and help breathe them into life.
In early 2021, Pippa released a book called ‘Fear Less: How to Win at Life Without Losing Yourself’. She got in touch with me to ask whether she could reference one of our conversations in the book. I was sent the chapter by Pippa’s editor and I helped to re-word a few phrases to make them more musically idiomatic. It was so exciting to later receive my copy of the published book and to read the rest of Pippa’s brilliant writing.
In March 2021, I was driving up to Nottingham for a concert. I enjoy listening to podcasts while driving and one of my go-to podcasts at the time was ‘Dare to Lead’, hosted by Brené Brown (her guests include Barack Obama, America Ferrera and Simon Sinek). So you can probably imagine my excitement when I scrolled through to find to that Brené’s latest episode was an interview with Pippa about her new book! Almost an hour into the interview, in the final section, Brené asks Pippa about “one more story” which she “thinks about a lot” and I was bowled over to discover that it was the chapter about my conversation with Pippa. It was an amazing feeling to hear my own story being discussed (albeit anonymously!) on one of my already-favourite podcasts.
Skipping forward two years, in March 2023 I was at a party with Charlotte Harding for our mutual friend’s birthday. Charlotte and I had previously worked together with Paraorchestra and more recently for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s project creating anthems across the country in the build-up to the 2022 Women’s Euros. Charlotte and I got chatting about the relationship between sport and music and I told her about my sessions with Pippa. I sent Charlotte the link to Brené/Pippa’s podcast episode the next day and she replied saying that she felt the concepts of being an open vessel and breathing something into life would make the most amazing premise for a new work. She was keen to draw on the links to sport/performance and to “create a linear, beautiful, vocal shape that grows in energy and freedom.”
I was immediately invested in this idea and set about finding funding for Charlotte’s commission fee. We are both hugely grateful to the Vaughan Williams Foundation for believing in this new work and for giving us the opportunity to create something very special together. I am also incredibly thankful to the RPS for giving me the opportunity to meet Pippa in the first place and spark this friendship. Pippa has since worked with brass students at the Royal College of Music in London and her impact on the FA is evident in the prominent role of her character in the current West-End play ‘Dear England’.
I will be performing the World Premiere of Charlotte’s piece, ‘…To Stay Open…’ in my recital for the Romsey Chamber Music Festival on Sunday 30th June 2024. We will also be recording and producing a video of the piece which will be available on YouTube later in the year.
For more info, follow these links:
Brené Brown Podcast Episode (feature from 58:30): https://open.spotify.com/episode/10Xj93VCNNvioiivCNFg1f?si=8967a3f31b434e73
Charlotte Harding: https://www.charlottehardingmusic.com/
Dr Pippa Grange: https://www.instagram.com/pippagrange/?hl=en
Charlotte’s proposal for the Vaughan Williams Foundation:
“I found Imogen’s story and conversation with Pippa incredibly moving, as I wholly empathised with the notion of perfectionism, delivery of excellence and artistic expectation in relation to my journey as a music creator. I was inspired by Imogen’s openness to gaining a different perspective - in particular looking for answers in an area outside of music - to enrich, enliven and empower her practice, allowing her to reconnect with herself, her instrument and her audience.
‘…To Stay Open…’ will be a work based in connection: skin to brass, soundwave to space, head to heart. Through developing melodic gestures that flow with increasing confidence, ownership and individuality, the notions of ‘being open’ and ‘connection through creation’ are explored and joyfully celebrated.”
My visit with Pippa, January 2019
Charlotte and me, celebrating our award from the Vaughan Williams Foundation!