Holidays Are About Experiences And People, And

I Walk Into A Kids' Store, And It's Amazing, The Types Of Instruments - Little Squeaky Things, Rattling Things, Spinning Tops.

Once You're In A Particular Country, And You're Surrounded By Musicians Who Are So Adept At Traditional Music, You Suddenly Realize How Much There Is To Explore And Digest And Learn And Experience.

A Large Part Of My Work Has Been Collaborating With Composers; I Think We've Commissioned About 140 Pieces Now, A Lot Of Them Percussion Concertos.

And As I Grew Older, I Then Auditioned For The Royal Academy Of Music In London, And They Said, Well, No, We Won't Accept You, Because We Haven't A Clue - You Know - Of The Future Of A So-called 'deaf' Musician. And I Just Couldn't Quite Accept That.

Apart From Scottish Traditional Music, I Wasn't Really Influenced By Any Kind Of Music. I Just Basically Followed My Own Instincts.