Improvisation and Routine: Interview with Sheku Kanneh-Mason

Do you have a special ritual before going on stage?

My warm-up programme is always the same: I start with a few long notes and improvisations to get a feel for the instrument and its different sounds and to feel free with it. I do this through improvisation, often playing some of the Bach suites. Then I play a few passages from the piece that are going round in my head. Usually slowly. I find that when you do things slowly, you have the chance to think them through in detail.

Do you like routines?

No, actually not at all. I am very persistent in my way of working, but it’s rarely routine. I think this is largely because my cello lessons as a child were so unconventional in many ways. That has informed the way I learn and practise. If you want to learn something, the best methods are often those that are a little more creative than doing the same thing every day. Because that way the mind goes on a constant journey of discovery and finds things.

What about other aspects of life? You come from a large family. Do you have any rituals together?

At Christmas, my brother, sister and I often play Rachmaninoff’s second piano trio together. That’s an enormously powerful piece; we are all obsessed with it. We’ve never performed it in public yet, but we’ve been playing it at the end of each year for a long time.

Do you also have a common ritual that has nothing to do with music?

Yes. One of the things we do regularly is play board games, especially word puzzles. We all enjoy that. I think Isata, Jeneba and I can’t stop doing it. In any case, we are definitely very ambitious and argue a lot because we all want to win.

Is there competition among you and your brothers and sisters when making music?

That’s not competitive. I would describe it more as mutual support. This also has a lot to do with the nature of music. It’s always better to be loving towards others and think the best of them. That unites us. We inspire each other and spur each other on.

There are many conventions in classical music: One of them is that you sit quietly and only applaud at certain points. What is your opinion on that?

We play a lot of music that was composed a long time ago. That’s why its presentation sometimes focuses on preserving tradition. Many of these pieces require a high level of concentration. If you want to achieve this, people may not feel comfortable. But at the same time, I think it’s important that the room is still, that people don’t take out their mobile phones, don’t take photos and don’t distract others – out of respect for the audience, the performers and this music, which is often very subtle with a lot of detail. It’s important to me that music conveys something to us. And I think more could be done to really communicate the music and make it reach people.

What does music mean to you?

I’m obsessed with music; it has so much to offer. It can teach us a lot and move us in so many ways. Listening to or playing music can crowd out everything else. You can escape or better connect with your surroundings and look at things in a different way. The beauty of music is that it can take us to totally different levels from the other stuff in our lives.