I certainly haven't been rude or patronising, Lizzie - just tried to give my own reasoned response as a practising paid and unpaid musician.

I will just add one thing - which, believe me, is also not meant to be superior or patronising, and I hope you don't take it that way - as it's not always easy to explain.

Most people have a love of music. I've known the odd soul who has no ear for it and can't bear to listen to it, but, on the whole, the majority of individuals I know love it. But - and it may sound a patronising "but" - there's a big difference between loving it and listening to it, and loving it and playing it.

The act of playing, the physical and mental effort involved in doing it, in doing it well, and the things learned from doing so, make for a relationship with music which is different from the relationship for those don't play. I'm not trying to be egotistical or quasi-mystical here - just saying that the way I feel about music and the way I treat it is just not the same as non-musicians, and the same as many other musicians. And I guess that's the same for a lot of us.

Which is probably why you perhaps get a different set of reactions towards the money aspect of it than you might have expected. Music is NOT plumbing, and it's NOT building. It IS a different sphere of technical and artistic endeavour - and has different rules. It's not easy to put this down without sounding pompous - but that's how I see it. When we feel the need to be paid, we work hard and get paid, I can assure you. But sometimes the money just isn't the point.