Forget book groups, why not set up your own music group?
And here’s how to do it
Confession time. I don’t belong to a book group. I’ve never fancied it. I find it hard enough to find time to read the books I’ve accumulated without having to read the ones other people want me to read. But when a friend told me about his music group, that sounded right up my street.
He and his musically minded friends in North London (where else?) have been meeting up for almost twenty years now, five or six times a year.
They each choose two tracks, one of which needs to be new or new to them, the other to fit in with the theme the group has chosen - in the case of the meeting to which I was kindly invited as a guest, transport such as cars, trains and planes.
It’s great because it only needs a bit of forethought, not extensive homework in the way of reading. And introduces you to new music, not all of which you will necessarily like, of course, but at least it’ll only be a question of a track or two rather than spending a couple of hours discussing a book whose heroine (or hero) drove you mad.
I thought Bristol was exactly the kind of place to host a similar club so randomly asked a few people at a Christmas party I went to last year (2023) if they’d be interested, immediately found three and we took it from there.
We only meet every 2-3 months so as not to make it too burdensome. It’s tough finding a date in everyone’s busy diaries but amazingly most have managed to make it. Late afternoon/early Sunday evenings have turned out to be the most popular time.
We’ve adapted it slightly from the approach of the original group. Here’s how we go about it and what works for us.