Well - that's quite a mixed list of dislikes.

I have to say I'm quite fond of the occasional mass tune-up and mini-practice by orchestras before the leader appears and they tune up properly prior to playing the first piece. To me it's a pleasurable cacophony of anticipation, and I like picking out the individual bits. Great fun.

As for the radio, I don't listen in the house because I'm usually playing or practising or arranging my own stuff, but a long car journey can produce some new finds, depending on what you listen to. And I like a classical music programme or a jazz programme while I'm cooking. I also like friends sending me material or playing me sounds they like if I'm at their house.

Good grief, how would we learn about different music and new, potentially interesting music if we didn't expose ourselves to other sources of sound information? I can play my own choice of music on CDs, SDHC discs or my iPod in the car any time, but I can also weary of just hearing the music that I've collected constantly played back to me. There's nothing greater than hearing something that you've never heard before, something interesting that tickles the music buds and makes you want to hear more, to get home and get an instrument out and play it or research it.

Which is the joy of a good session. We can beat up the same old tunes every time, but it's always a treat when a stranger introduces a new tune, or one of the regulars plays something new and we all say, "Hey, what was that called?"

If we're lucky, we never stop learning.