A slightly delayed blog relating to a piece I wrote in Saturday's paper arising from a session at the annual Association of British Orchestras conference around musicians and alcohol. I was hanging on, hoping to post alongside it a response by double-bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku to my article, which was felt in some quarters to have knocked the nuance out of the discussion. Nwanoku's response will run, I am told, in the paper early next week so I shall post a link to it then.
The reason my piece rather relied on the anecdotal evidence of participants in the discussion (some of which was rather hair-raising) was that, extraordinarily, there is little research into the drinking habits of orchestral musicians. And yet it has long been quietly known about: the fact that some – and of course by no means all, and nor is this a phenomenon confined to brass sections – musicians may drink before performances to calm the nerves; the fact that in some orchestral sections there is a group culture of drinking, whether it's a pint and a curry between rehearsal and concert, or nipping out for a swift one when you're not playing in a particular piece, or even having a drink in the public bar in the interval. When you are next at a West End shows, glance into the pit - you might well see a few pint glasses around the players.
The discussion was looking at the phenomenon from the point of view of what an orchestra's official policy on this might be. Is it acceptable for employees to drink during what is effectively the working day? What about health and safety – there are high, dangerous platforms, and fragile, precious musical instruments. Would orchestral musicians find it acceptable, said one participant, if they found someone with an office job in the same organisation working with a glass of wine at their elbow? What about the sponsors' drinks parties that are so often a feature of orchestral life – should the chief executive and development director stick to the water when they represent the organisation?
I have empathy with these dilemmas, because if there is another trade with a history of sometimes inappropriate alcohol use it's probably journalism - though thankfully the days of the "two bottle lunch" seem to have passed. In the old days, and maybe they still do, news subs might easily pop out for a pint between editions in the evening. Personally I don't drink during the day, but there have been dozens of times I've had a glass in my hand when representing the "company" in some way – whether at an awards ceremony, or a reception, or just in the interval at a first night. I suppose if there is a parallel, my rule is I wouldn't drink if I had to perform – and my version of performing is writing. (Though perhaps there are occasional exceptions - I shamefully admit I had a glass at the last Booker prize.)
