This webchat was originally published at About.com several years ago.

Biography of the Guest

After graduating from Manchester University with a music degree, I took a six-month postgraduate admin course and immediately got a job at the BBC.   Worked as secretary to the General Manager of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, then moved to Cardiff, Wales as a TV Production Assistant in the Music Department at BBC Wales. Projects included Proms, Cardiff Singer of the World competition, documentaries, series
with singers such as Stuart Burrows, Dennis O’Neill and Aled Jones.

Subsequently worked as Unit Manager and Business Manager, and was acting Manager of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. From 1993 worked as Production Associate on various music and arts TV programmes, including an award-winning arts magazine programme. Currently working in BBC Online, producing the website for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Cardiff Singer of the World, and a site for teenagers on the
paranormal.

In my spare time I sing with the BBC National Chorus of Wales and a small chamber choir, take my two Tibetan Terriers for walks, go to concerts and the opera, play the piano and cook for my friends.

Webchat

1. What exactly do you do?

At the moment, I produce BBC websites for an orchestra, a singing competition and for teenagers interested in the paranormal! Before that I managed TV classical music productions, amongst other things.

2. I’m a songwriter surviving on film and movie $. I write country and pop. Can you
suggest a supervisor I should submit to?

If you want to do stuff for TV, particularly TV dramas, try BBC Head of Drama - the person here in Wales, UK is Matthew Robinson. I could forward on an email to him. But if you’re from US, there may be a Union problem here.

3. How much education do you have? Also, how did you get started (ie. how did you get her foot in the door)?

I got an Honours degree in music from Manchester University, then did an admin course and came in as a secretary to an orchestral personnel manager. That’s 20yrs ago though - there’s much more opportunity now, with school and college work placements. And in those days it was hard to break out of the secretarial mould.

4. Did you choose from an established catalog, or recruit custom-writes for projects?

Any music we recruited for the programmes I did tended to be for opening titles graphics - the stuff in the body of the programmes was mostly classical performances of opera, symphonies, songs etc. For the most part, we’d commission from a group of people that we knew, who specialised in that kind of thing. But also you’d hear stuff on other TV programmes and make a note of the composers, plus people would send in tapes and CVs of their stuff, and would be recommended by others in the business.

5. Is there a market for online music for websites with non-music themes?

Good question. The paranormal one I’m working on at the moment has a couple of bits of music - one is a midi file of spooky music which loads with our Ghostcam. I personally don’t like it much - I get a shock when music plays when I don’t expect it! The only other music is background to audio clips - more like special effects.

At the moment my personal preference is to turn sound on if I want to, especially if I’m listening to the radio online at the same time. 

6. How well can you live on what you make?

Not as well as I’d like to! but that’s always the case. But I can afford a quite nice house, I run a car, I go on holiday once or twice a year. Well enough for me, but I don’t crave yachts and diamonds (Just as well)

7. Why did you make the switch to websites?

Apart from getting into a bit of a rut, this time last year I worked as I always do on the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. For the first time, it had a website, and I was involved a little bit with getting material for it during the competition. It was a really [great] site, with a resident expert giving comments each day, with audio clips,  interesting information etc - and it really opened up my eyes to the possibilities. Especially when the expert’s comments were being put online during the live transmission of the TV programmes - really impressive.

Apart from that - it’s a whole new future which I wanted to be part of.

8. Are you concerned about Mp3 and Napster? Have you changed your practices due to the copyright concerns they create? Are the British p.r.o.s enacting legislation to protect the rights of writers/musicians?

I think this is part of the whole new world of the Internet and the copyright difficulties that result generally, with images and print material as well as music. I’m not an expert, but I know the whole area is being examined here the same as elsewhere.

As far as the BBC is concerned, we always have to be squeaky-clean when it comes to any kind of copyright, and as far as music goes what we can do is governed by Union agreements and agreements with the various agencies which protect the rights of the writers, record companies etc.

9. How do you go about marketing your services?

If you mean how do I market the websites I work on, well, I get in touch with people like Cheryl at about.com to see if I can get the URL onto her list! Seriously though - the Internet is such a big place, you can’t rely on search engines and you have to go out and find the sites that you’d like yours to link from.

If you mean me personally - I network a lot, and after 20 years in the BBC I know quite a few people!

10. What do you like best about your job?

Difficult question! I really like the exchange of ideas, leading to the creation of something that wasn’t there before …. I like the people I work with, and the quite relaxed atmosphere here, which really is a breeding ground for new ideas. Oh - I don’t know - I like most things about it really!

1892: (Victor Antoine) Édouard Lalo, composer, died.

1906: Eric William Fenby, composer, music writer, born.

1912: Kathleen Ferrier, contralto, born.

1916: Yehudi Menuhin, violinist and conductor, born.

1956: Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor, born.

Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, U.S.A. He attended Harvard University, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Tanglewood Institute. His teachers included Walter Piston, Fritz Reiner,
Randall Thompson, and the conductor of the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky.
He later became Koussevitzky’s conducting assistant.

In 1943, he took a position as an assistant conductor at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. It was there, on November 14th of the same year, that he famously  substituted for Bruno Walter at short notice for a concert at Carnegie Hall. This concert was heard on national radio broadcast and garnered Bernstein great recognition. Bernstein accepted the position of Music Director for the New York Symphony Orchestra in 1945.

In 1951 he took charge of the conducting and orchestral departments at Tanglewood, and in 1958, he became the Music Director for the New York Philharmonic. He was in high demand for conducting appearances around the world and had the opportunity to conduct Maria Callas at the Teatro Alla Scala, becoming the first American to conduct at that theater.

Bernstein is also remembered for his compositions. His work was prolific and wide-ranging including everything from songs for voice and piano and musicals such as West Side Story, to full-scale orchestral works, including symphonies. His music is still regularly programmed worldwide. In addition, he regularly performed as a piano soloist in his early career and championed the works of other American composers, notably Aaron Copland. His reputation as an educator was legendary, with his well-known masterclasses, and a series of “Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts” that influenced generations of musicians and other young people. Among his many awards were a Tony Award for Distinguished Achievement in Theater, the National Fellowship, and the Praemium Imperiale for lifetime achievement in the arts. He died of a heart attack on October 14, 1990.

1899: Randall Thompson, composer, born.

1895: Premiere of La Bonne Chanson, song cycle by G. Fauré (poetry by Verlaine).

1943: John Eliot Gardiner, conductor, born.