The Essay

As part of BBC Music Get Playing, supporting amateur music making around the UK, 5 leading writers and artists contribute an Essay in this series, in which they talk about their little-known passions for playing an instrument.In the second programme, the award-winning novelist Joanne Harris (best known for her novel "Chocolat") describes how she learned to play the flute as a child. This was followed by the bass guitar which she began after falling in love with a drummer in a band and wanting to join. When she heard the story told by her grandfather of how he had refused to hand his double bass over to a Nazi soldier in occupied France, the young Joanne Harris realised that a musical instrument could be a powerful force. She began playing herself, first the flute and then, as a 16 year old, the bass guitar. She's continued to play both instruments and is now developing a way of telling stories in performances which incorporates music. In this Essay, Joanne tells the story of her performing life and considers