Once upon a time, music was my passion, that was until I discovered wildlife. At age six I was learning the violin, but at age seven I had found a common lizard in my sand pit, and I suppose that was when the die was cast. That is not to say I gave up music. I plugged away at the violin, tried out the oboe, but by thirteen or fourteen, I was pending far too much time looking after my myriad of pets, and as soon as I was allowed, cycling off birdwatching. I was never going to make it as a violinist, and so I changed to viola, and straight away I was in the school’s First Orchestra. In those days (probably not the same now) many viola players took it up because it was not as demanding as the violin. I carried on, thoroughly enjoyed my music, got on a European tour with a youth orchestra, played in the Royal Festival Hall, and at one time nearly opted for a career in theatre pit orchestras. But luckily, got a job offer from the Natural History Museum (in those days only 4 or 5 “0” Levels were needed at entry level). And my career, such as it ever was, got on track. I kept my interest in music — and now my holidays invariably include a visit to the Palermo Opera house, but there was one other important lesson that I learned form music: and that is Form. Sonata Form, has a beginning, a middle and an end. Symphonies are often three movements, a first movement, a slow, thoughtful movement, followed by a rousing finale. And the classic format for classical music is an eight bar statement, followed by an extensive development of the tune, and then a recapitulation. And this has been at the back of my mind always when writing. Even a short caption to a photograph should if possible follow the same pattern. But I suppose the most important lesson that I learned was that you should follow your passion and, in the case of music, recognise that if you are not outstanding by the time you are a teenager, there is not a great deal of hope you ever will be. But you can enjoy it for evermore. So as I sit and write about wildlife, I invariably have music playing; the only problem is that all too often I have to stop and listen. With music that I really like, I cannot just have it in the background. And writing about music, reminds me of my folk music collecting days… but that is another story.
John Andrew Burton 