Steve Robinson: Difference between revisions

“When my wife finally retired from work in 2008 we found ourselves looking to buy a property to settle in for our "golden years". On moving to Robertson I was approached by the financial director of Graham Beck Wines to set up a music school on their wine farm called The Graham and Rhona Beck Music Academy. Our main objective has been to empower the Graham Beck farm workers children by giving them musical instruction and by way of that to create a situation that would not only occupy their minds and provide an alterative to crime and drugs but to improve their self esteem and even provide later job opportunities. The school will celebrate its fifth anniversary in July of 2016 and during those five years I have had a lot of children come through the doors to the school. Some of them have fallen by the wayside but most of them have stuck to the program and are now at what you might call a semi-professional level. These kids have gone on to perform at many gigs and events in the community and are now rehearsing for a big gig at the Town Hall here in Robertson next month. I suppose that this is really the pinnacle of my career and that to give back to others what I have learned along the way is just the way it should be. This might be a small and insignificant thing for others but to be honest, I get more pleasure out of seeing a face light up when that person finally understands what I am trying to impart to them than anything else I have done musically in my life. I'm not a Sam Holdsworth but for me he started this process a long time ago and I hope one of my kids will do the same for others in the future.”

"Still Outside the Shop" - Composed on the 8th of August 1981. The title of this tune comes from a funny conversation I had with Allan Holdsworth in 1980. Allan would say to me that he was still on book one of the guitar instruction books and I countered with something like, “You think that is bad, I'm still outside the shop waiting to go in and buy book one".