The music room

On Saturday my husband bought me a tambourine to cheer me up. Now I can accompany him on guitar! He is from a musical family, his Dad is an accomplished organist, his brother's a brilliant drummer, and JP of course is one of the best guitarists in the world.

All attempts to make me musical so far have failed. Of the many instruments in this house, three are officially mine; a violin, a penny whistle and a ukulele, none of which I can play. In the 80s, Jules and I once sang backing vocals for a Nottingham band called Big Day. (Remember them? No?). I can still recite the lyrics. Our lines went: "It's Friday night/too tired to face the crowds/where's your party dress?/you used to like your music LOUD!" Sadly Big Day never made it Big and they didn't ask us again!

Now percussion is a different matter because all you need is rhythm, so I have high hopes for the tambourine. And it seems to have worked, because things steadily picked up as the weekend progressed - I can almost feel those good cells multiplying.