The nightingale

Don't get me started on critics. A true creative artist has no time for them. OK, we've been misunderstood and misrepresented for centuries: but for me what matters is the music. Only and ever the music. What else should matter to a nightingale?

- As told to Simon Barnes

Monday

I prefer to sing at night. The competition has mostly shut up: it's hard work singing through a haze of wrens and chiffchaffs and other sub-standard performers. It was a still night: you could have heard me a mile away. What's more, someone did. Someone who actually matters.

Tuesday

I've heard it all. They say that a nightingale has a repertoire of 250 phrases made from 600 units of song. Rubbish! I've got far more than that. I'm a composer and a performer and every song I sing is a world premiere. Don't try to restrict me. It's not about arithmetic. It's about music.

Wednesday