In a world where mistakes are inevitable, and can even be helpful, why are we so scared of them?

 

There is a word that strikes fear and terror into the hearts of most humans. You may want to close your eyes before you get to the end of this sentence – but here it comes… MISTAKE. Awful, isn’t it? Did you feel a frisson of fear as you saw that ghastly word hovering there like Hamlet’s ghost? Somehow we have talked ourselves as a society into the belief that mistakes should never happen, that they are an assault against the natural order of the world. If a politician or a person in public life puts a foot wrong, the media swoop in like Nazgul (Tolkein) or Dementors (Rowling) shrieking with glee, and we all watch with delight as the perpetrator is torn to shreds.

Musicians are trained to live in fear of mistakes. The bogieman of a bum note, the spectre of a memory...