Wrong Sex, Wrong Instrument

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Category:	Biography
Author:	Maggie Cotton
Publisher:	Apex Publishing
Price:	£9.99
ISBN:	19044443717
Pages:	386
Reviewed in issue:	11

This book depicts the personal and professional life of Maggie Cotton, a professional percussionist for the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. It begins with Maggie’s childhood in Yorkshire, her early interest in classical music and how through determination and hard work she gets her foot in the door of a male dominated profession in the 1950s, and continues with a remarkable career spanning some 40 years.

I did not have any background knowledge of classical music or the workings of a symphony orchestra and feared I would find the subject matter uninteresting. I am pleased to say my assumptions were wrong and that the book will not only hold interest to those with a love of classical music, but also to those with little or no knowledge of it.

Maggie Cotton is an inspiring woman. She gives us not only a detailed insight into the behind the scenes workings of an orchestra, which is absorbing of itself, but also her personal anecdotes of her travels, family life, and the time she has given generously outside the orchestra in helping others to have a greater appreciation of music. Most notable in this respect is a project undertaken with young deaf children devising systems of giving them the opportunity to understand and experience music.

The only small criticism I would have is that the final chapters are not chronological and therefore do not flow as well as the rest of the book. Overall the book is well written and worth its £9.99 cover price.

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