Soprano
Boolite-based soprano Sofia Laursen Habel is very connected to her roots in the country community where she first started learning music. Enriched by her Danish background, Sofia’s love of singing grew with the steady pace of rural life, with her passion as a singer residing in creating honest and authentic performance, while promoting accessibility, diversity and inclusivity within the arts.
Piano
Melbourne-born pianist Christopher Wong aims to captivate his audiences with his sheer passion and fiery temperament on stage. Christopher’s array of accomplishments includes first prize awards from eisteddfods and a Special Distinction Award from 3MBS’s The Talent.
He was awarded his Bachelor and Master of Music with First Class Honours from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and during this time received many scholarships, including the Grace Funston Scholarship, Katharine Ellis Memorial Fund and the Dudley William Gardiner Memorial Scholarship. His performing career sees his recent collaboration with Richard Davis in Britten’s Piano Concerto with the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Christopher hopes to continue to share his love of music authentically as possible and to connect with different people of all kinds to enhance his musical palette and imagination.
By Chris Wong
Like any other ambitious classical musician, I have always wanted to travel to Europe. I saw Europe as the ‘home of classical music’, the birthplace of so many composers whose works we still perform today. This triggered my idea of studying abroad, which my friends and family greatly encouraged. I wanted to hone my musical skills, but I also wanted to gain inspiration from a greater understanding of the world and most importantly, of myself.
During my previous five years of tertiary education, I constantly viewed myself as inferior to many of my talented friends, colleagues and teachers at the University of Melbourne. I was reluctant to give in to the music fully whenever I performed, afraid of disappointing the audience or my teachers. And I convinced myself I would be unsuccessful in gaining a career in music. After receiving an acceptance to study at the Sibelius Academy for a semester, I knew this would be my only opportunity to travel abroad in my final year of Masters. So, I took a leap of faith and hopped on the plane to Helsinki, Finland.
While I braced myself for challenges, and the idea of living far away from my family and close friends, I could hardly contain my excitement to arrive in Finland. Getting to set foot in the homeland of Jean Sibelius and see the sight of falling snow fired up my imagination. I would be in Finland for four months.
To say that I was fortunate enough to break out of my shell during my time in Finland would be putting it mildly. Despite the personal hardships I experienced during my time overseas, each day at the Sibelius Academy felt like I was living a dream. I found the process of settling into a foreign country daunting, but I was lucky enough to study with the best Helsinki has to offer. And I found that I made new friends very quickly. Not to mention the whole staff at the Sibelius Academy (including my wonderful teacher Hui-Ying-Liu Tawatstsjerna) were super friendly and down-to-earth! They brought out the very best in their students with their open-minded approach: to experiment with your own ideas and not apologise for reveling in the moment.
Every time I walked through the campus, I could not stop marvelling at the superb sights at the Sibelius Academy: from the sheer scale of the practice facilities to the grandeur of the concert halls, including the Helsinki Music Centre (Musiikkitalo), where the students and staff shared the stage with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. I was blown away by the level of quality, presentation and energy present in the Finnish music scene, where you could really feel their genuine love of music.
I could not think of anything more rewarding than this experience. During the semester, I focused on making the most of my studies by spending hours in a practice room honing my solo works and collaborating with amazing musicians, including Lizzie Stewart, Laura Leena-Pauni, Vivian Neff and Yu-chuen Huang. I was no longer the insecure bloke who fished for everyone’s approval.
It’s not only my artistic skills and knowledge which developed greatly through the process. In Finland I started to embrace the idea of staying true to who you are as an artist and a person. This has enabled me to express myself freely in more ways than I could imagine. I still have a long way to go, but I believe as long as you maintain an open mind to those who perceive music differently from the way you do, and you do not stop clinging to your hunger to gain knowledge and learn about different cultural experiences, this sense of inspiration will pave the way to greater success.
Fever Pitch Magazine enquiries can be sent to Stella Joseph-Jarecki through stellamusicwriter.wordpress.com
By Stella Joseph-Jarecki (Enquiries: stellamusicwriter.wordpress.com)
We all struggle to process constructive criticism. Particularly when the feedback is harsh or if it concerns an area of your life which you are passionate about.
But if you are going to fall apart whenever a teacher or director criticises you, you shouldn’t bother becoming a performer. The one constant factor in an incredibly unstable field, is that you will never stop receiving negative feedback and/ or rejection. The steel rod in the spine of a truly successful performer is the ability to absorb feedback, and bounce back from particularly harsh responses from teachers and critics.
I have come across some suggestions from teachers and music students on how to become more resilient in the face of critique. I thought it would be worthwhile to list the approaches I have found helpful.
Find mentors whose opinions you respect
It’s impossible to please everyone at once. But if you find a mentor who shares your artistic outlook and who vibes well with your learning style, you can trust their opinions. This will help you separate the helpful pieces of advice, from the white noise of hundreds of clashing opinions.
Separating your artistic practice from your self-worth
Think of your artistic practice as something you can work towards improving, like your fitness level. It is not indicative of your worth as a human being, only of your progress in certain areas.
Try to think of ‘being musical’ or a being a ‘powerful performer’ as more like a set of skills you can always work towards improving, not some intrinsically magical ability that is central to your value as a person.
I found it hard to hear constructive criticism concerning my singing voice because I treasured being able to sing, and thought of my voice as a special quality that I possessed. Almost as if it was a precious trinket I kept safe in a jewellery box. What helped me move forward was de-mystifying my voice. I got so overwhelmed thinking about my artistic interpretation of songs, when I really just needed to start by drilling the notes and learning the words.
By making the process as logical and practical as possible, I was able detach my emotional ego (mostly!) and think of constructive criticism as pointers to help me best use my instrument. Depending on who gave me the advice, I would commit to following it, experiment with it, or ignore it.
You are not an inexhaustible robot, aka take time for yourself
The high achievers in my life would often mention in passing that they didn’t understand why they were so tired, or why they couldn’t simply keep practising/ studying for hours on end.
Take breaks and rest days when you need them. It really helps to learn the difference between truly immovable deadlines, and jobs/ projects which can wait a day or two.
If you feel particularly rattled, investigate what exactly is bothering you
Introspection can be pretty uncomfortable because it forces you to confront your weaknesses and insecurities. But it is so important. Persistent feelings of anxiety or fatigue are often symptoms of an underlying issue.
Maybe you need a break from music and are scared of what that might mean, or maybe you’re feeling frazzled because you haven’t been able to establish a steady routine of work and study. Try to work out exactly what’s bothering you. Take some time to talk to trusted friends or family members, or a psychologist.
Take the diligence and enthusiasm of your work ethic, and apply it to the idea of accepting the natural role of mistakes and setbacks
You’re dedicated to becoming the best performer you can be. So apply that same dedication to understanding that the creative process is messy. It doesn’t move in a straight line.
With time and experience, you will become more comfortable with the idea that setbacks will happen (and are almost guaranteed). As long as you respond to bumps along the road with a cool head and dose of logic, things will work out.
Appreciate the fact that your artistic taste and instincts may be more advanced than your current capabilities as a performer
It’s so frustrating- you have a list a mile long of pieces you want to perform. But you know you’re not ready for them yet. Or you know that you’re capable of learning the pieces, but only capable of interpreting them at the most rough, rudimentary level. This is particularly true for young classical singers, who have to wait for their hardware development to catch up with their software development.
Constantly delaying gratification as a performer is tough. You have to learn to walk before you can run, but it’s only fair to want reminders of why you’re bothering to learn these skills at all. All I can say is, listen to your favourite music, listen to your dream roles, experiment performing and learning different kinds of music purely for fun. Remember why you enjoy music at all, and then you’ll be able to work out whether you can make the sacrifices required to perform music at an elite level.
By Stella Joseph-Jarecki (Enquiries: stellamusicwriter.wordpress.com)
I had the chance to speak to Bethany Clarkson, a young pianist and piano teacher currently studying at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. In September 2019, Bethany organised and staged an interactive music gameshow for children called The Treblemakers. This show was made possible through the efforts of a team of like-minded music students, and a grant from careers and entrepreneurship program MCM Ignite Lab.
I was so impressed by Bethany’s passion for music education when I saw her present at the 2019 Ignite Lab showcase, that I knew I wanted to interview her for Fever Pitch Magazine. Bethany currently offers piano lessons in Narre Warren along with a range of accompanying services. You can find her details on her website.
When did you start to realize that you wanted to pursue music more seriously than a hobby?
It was actually quite late for me. I initially thought I wanted to be an artist, because I liked to draw. Which is a questionable reason to want to take it to university!
My circumstances changed a lot when my own piano teacher passed on some students to me. She would always do stuff like that, she was forever a learner. So I took on the students. I was terrified at first, but I really enjoyed myself. And by the end of the third lesson I realized, this is what I have to be doing with my life. I was like, yeah, that’s it!
Then I was like, okay, what do I do now, where do I go now? I had to really assess where I would be studying next based on what was going to be profitable for me. I think I entered university with a different mindset to a lot of other students because I was very career-oriented. And focused on what was absolutely essential for me to become a music teacher. I’ve been sculpting my study experience that way.
So for you, a career in music education is definitely what you are striving for?
Yes! Even with my undergrad subjects, I’ve been very specific with selecting subjects with the focus of, what is going to be more useful to me. So no gamelan ensemble, stuff like that…
A lot of young people get thrust into the idea of, okay, you’ve got to go to uni now, while they’re still working out who they are as people. But thankfully I was given a bit more of a vision.
Are there particular areas of music education that you’re really interested, perhaps focusing more on the instrumental teaching side of things, or classroom teaching alongside instrumental teaching?
I love teaching from home because I love the connection that you can have with children. When their face lights up because they learnt something new and it was really cool to them. I’m also a massive music history nerd, I grew up listening to classical music from a very young age. My mum would just stick it on just as background music and I ended up getting really obsessed. So I love the chance to bring that to young students.
I would love to hear more about the interactive music show you created for children. You mounted a performance of this show in September 2019 with the help of a grant from Melbourne University’s Ignite Lab program (then run by Susan Eldridge).
So the show was called The Treblemakers, and it combined what I was speaking about before, the idea of music and music history being fun and interesting. I wanted to present those things to children in the form of an interactive games-filled show, incorporating fun characters and a lot of silliness.
The first hour was broken up into fifteen minute chunks. Each chunk was devoted to a different category of classical music. For the Baroque section we talked about Bach, the development of opera, stuff like that. And then we had a game where the children would all contribute their own sound effect, like a fart noise or clapping their hands or whatever they wanted, and then our sound engineer Dan Johnson turned it into music. Which they adored!
One little boy was hilarious, as soon as he heard his own voice being played back, he quickly blocked his eyes and ducked his head down. I was so nervous during the show, but one thing which cheered me up was hearing some child singing Hallelujah, *fart noise*, Hallelujah, fart noise* as their chosen sound!
For the Romantic era game we did a quiz where we played excerpts and the kids had to pick what the pieces were called from a list of names. So we played Chopin’s Winter Wind, which starts out peacefully and then it goes nuts, and the options for possible titles were Sleeping Peacefully, The Happy Little Thing, Winter Wind and Getting in Trouble, that sort of thing.
The show was made possible through the efforts of a fantastic team. Everyone had their own job and put in an amazing effort.
I had a representative from every instrument family. At the end of the show, we had a miniature recital where everyone played two pieces, one from the classical canon and one from pop culture. We tried to link the pieces with a theme. Uma’s pieces were Hadel’s Lascia ch’io pianga, which is about someone who wants to be somewhere else, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow which is also about someone who wants to be somewhere else! We tried to make it really clever.
Almost all of the children who saw the show expressed an interest in learning an instrument and could choose their favourite era of music. I heard from one adult in the audience that their child had been struggling after their parents’ divorce and had grown very shy. However during the show they were having a great time and even volunteered to come on stage!
What did the project teach you logistically? Because there’s so much involved in getting a project that size off the ground. And the amount of work that you have to do to wrangle/ work with other people, with no matter how fabulous or committed they are…
I’d never actually run a group of people like that before. Being a team leader is one of those things, as Susan would say, where you just have to do it! You say to yourself, I’m a team leader now.
There was a learning curve when it came to delegating tasks, and how that affected the group dynamic. Overall, I learnt the importance of being professional in everything that you do, in how you speak to people, in keeping really accurate lists… One thing I could have done better on the day would be the to-do list I kept, because some things got left out because I was just so stressed.
How do you approach time management as a student?
I put everything in a mental box. During the Treblemakers project I put everyone in teams, so that made keeping track of things much easier. So I would think to myself, okay, what is the marketing team doing right now? Then I’d move onto the creative design team.
Also, keeping to-do lists, not just on your phone, actually writing them down. I have a daily planner on my desk which I fill in every single day. Even if it’s just a day where I go to university, I put it there. So keeping lists and compartmentalizing.
What do you think are the essential qualities to be a switched on teacher who truly sees each student as an individual person?
It can be tricky with some students, if it feels like they’re not into it. So I needed to learn how to generate that enthusiasm myself so that I could pass that on to them. Regardless of how the student is tracking, I try to always be passionate about what they’re learning. Even if it’s a simple little nursery rhyme.
It’s important to know what you want your student to be. Which sounds controlling, but if you are only focusing on their exams at the expense of everything else, you’re going to stress out the student. I want my students to be well-rounded musicians who do music because they enjoy it.
I try to be there for my students as people. Coming to their music exams to help them stay calm, or helping a student organise a talent show… I’ve seen the same advice on a lot of teaching blogs, to listen to your students, be someone they can trust. I’ve had some lovely moments with my students, like when a student learnt a piece secretly to surprise me and played it for me during a lesson!
Did you have any teaching books that you would recommend for aspiring instrumental teachers or music teachers?
Melody Payne’s book Teach Piano Today. When it comes to dealing with performance anxiety, it’s got to be Bulletproof Musician. Tim Topham has also written some excellent resources.
Any final pieces of advice you’d like to add?
For anyone reading this interview, who might feel similarly to how I felt three years ago… thinking, I love music, I love working with children, I want to combine the two. The advice that I’ve received from Susan and from lots of other people, is to make your own opportunities. Try to be different in some way. I want to go above and beyond what the norm is. And to work with other people.
What tends to happen is, people go to university thinking their options are performer or nothing. And then they finish uni as a pianist, and there are four billion other pianists out there, so they can’t find work. So they settle for being a teacher, with little to no training in it.
It’s a very important job, it requires a lot of thought and training, but a lot of people just end up settling for it. I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want to think, ‘Oh I can kind of do this, I’ll get them through some exams and their parents will give me thirty bucks’.
I really love is the idea of the piano getting out of the studio, working with other instruments. AMEB recently updated their exam structure so that from grade five to grade eight you can do collaborative exams. So a pianist and a flautist can be examined together, or a pianist and violinist, etc. And that’s just so useful. Before I got to uni, I’d never played piano with anyone else.
I would love to see more interaction between music teachers, more of a sense of community. I know a local flute saxophone and clarinet teacher, and I collaborate with her. I’ll accompany her student’s exams, and we may do a recital with our combined students at the end of next year. It’s fantastic when music educators can work together to teach students to think creatively.
Pianist, piano teacher
Bethany Clarkson is a piano teacher working in Victoria with the aim of passing on a love for music and all it encompasses to the next generation. Inspired to foster lifelong musicianship, she feels called to create an impact in her students’ lives that includes — but also exceeds — learning how to play piano.
By Stella Joseph-Jarecki (Enquiries: stellamusicwriter.wordpress.com)
I had the chance to speak to James Farrough, trombonist and co-director of emerging jazz arts organisation, Jazz Melbourne. James co-directs Jazz Melbourne with fellow musician Toshi Clinch, and together they run multiple youth Big Band programs, as well as numerous educational workshops with Australian and international jazz artists. It’s wonderful to see the vast range of opportunities they are offering to young and developing jazz musicians, out in the real world.
Jazz Melbourne have a number of events coming up: their major professional jazz ensemble, The Jazz Melbourne Orchestra, will be making their debut at Chapel Off Chapel presenting the music of Dizzy Gillespie. Performances on Feb 28th and 29th, tickets and more information can be found here.
Both Youth Studio Big Bands will be performing soon at the Paris Cat Jazz Club: Band 2 will be presenting a program of video game music arrangements on Feb 23rd and 26th, more information can be found on the Facebook event. Band 1 will be performing a selection of famous film music on March 6th and 7th, Facebook event.
If you enjoy what you read in the interview below, you can sign up to Jazz Melbourne’s newsletter by emailing info@jazzmelbourne.org
How did you find yourself playing trombone?
I started playing trombone because I was lucky enough to go to a primary school that had a fantastic instrumental band program. The director there at the time, Daniel Neal, was a fabulous teacher and he gave everyone the opportunity to start learning an instrument from grade three. So I began playing the trombone in the school band program when I was eight years old.
I initially applied to learn trumpet rather than trombone, as being a typical eight year old boy, I thought it was the coolest instrument of the symphonic band. For whatever reason I ended up being assigned the trombone instead, but I think I was so excited to start playing an instrument that I didn’t mind not getting my first pick (and now I know that trombone players are in fact the coolest people in any band).
Did you have a moment, or series of moments, when you realised you wanted to pursue music more seriously?
I don’t think there was a particular moment that made me decide to take on a career in music. I certainly enjoyed playing trombone from the beginning, but it wasn’t until year eleven, when I was really started to get into practicing and improving on my instrument, that I truly felt like I had a passion for music.
There have certainly been highlights throughout the years which have inspired me. My high school, Eltham High, had a great instrumental music program, so I got to compete in Generations in Jazz every year, and go on international band tours with the school which exposed me to some amazing music and performers. The Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp this year was also a fantastic experience. Two weeks of meeting amazing musicians from all around Australia, working with inspiring tutors, putting on stellar performances, all while having a great time!
Can you describe the inspiration behind establishing Jazz Melbourne?
Jazz Melbourne began as an idea I had with my friend and fellow musician Toshi Clinch. We wanted to create a high level youth Big Band program, where the best students from Melbourne’s high schools and universities could come together to put on performances in a professional setting.
A key element of the program was that the students would get to workshop and perform with professional jazz artists from Australia as well as overseas. One of the international artists we brought to Melbourne was Rich De Rosa, director of jazz composition and arranging at The University of North Texas. While he was here, he worked with our youth bands and ran a personal development session on jazz improvisation which was very popular.
From the success of that workshop, we started hosting more educational courses. As the number of events in our calendar started to grow, we decided that we should become an official entity: Jazz Melbourne. From there we got involved with Ignite Lab, a great entrepreneurship program run through the University of Melbourne. After receiving a grant through one of Ignite Lab’s programs we were able to have a number of consultations with industry professionals on running a successful business model.
What kind of programs do you offer through the company?
Youth Studio Big Band Program:
The Jazz Melbourne Youth Studio Big Band program brings together some of Melbourne’s highest-level jazz students to work on professional sets of music, alongside local and international jazz artists. Currently the program includes two 17-piece big bands which are comprised of students ranging from the age of 16 to 21. The youth bands feature students from a wide range of schools and institutions around Melbourne, who are selected through an audition process.
Each band has five unique projects throughout the year, with each project including five rehearsals and two performances. This format creates a short time frame for the students to learn the required pieces, which lies between a normal school scenario and a professional scenario. Additionally, various projects feature local and international artists working with the bands.
Not So Big Band Program:
The Not So Big Band program is a scholarship program that features the top four students from the Youth Studio Big Band program, working alongside industry professionals in one small-group ensemble. Every month they play a different themed concert and to date have performed 12 different themes from Disney to Broadway, Classic Rock to Film Scores, and many more. In the summer of 2018/2019 the band recorded their debut album “The Hills are Alive”.
Educative Workshops/Courses:
Jazz Melbourne runs a number of different single workshops and short courses, ranging from Sibelius notation program workshops, big band arranging courses, music business skills workshops, to jazz improvisation workshops. A number of these are run by Jazz Melbourne’s staff, but we also aim to bring in high quality artists to share their knowledge in workshop settings. To keep up to date on the workshops running in 2020, sign up to our mailing list or follow our website to keep in the loop.
Jazz Melbourne Orchestra:
Like the Jazz at Lincoln Centre structure, Jazz Melbourne has aspired to create a world class professional big band ensemble that will regularly perform new and classic big band repertoire here in Melbourne. We are very excited to announce that the inaugural performance of the Jazz Melbourne Orchestra will be on February 28th and 29th, feat. Matt Jodrell playing the music of Dizzy Gillespie. The orchestra is made up of some of Melbourne’s finest jazz musicians including Ross Irwin, Nick Mulder, Rob Simone, and many more. Don’t miss the biggest big band event of the year: Jazz Melbourne Orchestra plays: Gillespiana!
What are some things you have learnt through running and organising the company?
One of the major things I’ve learnt through the process of starting up and co-directing Jazz Melbourne is to not be afraid of asking questions, no matter how silly they seem. When Toshi and I began the process of setting up Jazz Melbourne, there were so many logistical issues that we had had no idea how to deal with. But rather than be embarrassed or try to avoid the issues, we were honest about what we did and didn’t know and asked for help. We didn’t encounter a single person who snubbed us for our limited knowledge. Everyone we talked to was very generous with their support, which is a testament to the supportive arts network we have here in Melbourne.
I’ve also gained a new appreciation for the management teams of the music programs I’ve previously been a part of. It might seem obvious to us as musicians (and decent people!) that it’s important to be punctual, communicate absences and return release forms. But after working as the main manager for a youth band program and professional jazz ensemble, I’ve really come to understand how much of a nightmare it can be when people aren’t on top of these issues. I think musicians need to understand that if they are turning up late, or not communicating clearly with the management team, it doesn’t just affect the ensemble, but your employability in the eyes of the management. It’s something we’re told about in classes, but it doesn’t seem to carry the same weight until you’ve been on the other end.
Any projects coming up?
One of our first ambitions for Jazz Melbourne was to create a professional big band to eventually be similar in stature to the MSO. We are starting this process with the inaugural performance of the Jazz Melbourne Orchestra at the end of February. (More information can be found on Jazz Melbourne website here)
What do you love about the jazz scene in Melbourne?
I have found it really heart-warming to see how supportive most of the professional jazz community is towards younger players. From my own experience, as well as through watching professionals work with our youth programs, I’ve found that Melbourne’s professional jazz musicians are ecstatic to hear young players play great music, which shows how genuine their love for music really is. Most of the great players have had great teachers who guided them. I think it’s so important to continue to foster positive relationships between students and professionals, not only for the current generation of students, but to help maintain a tradition that can be carried on when these students become teachers themselves.
Trombone, co-director of Jazz Melbourne
Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, James Farrough is an emerging young composer, arranger, and trombonist. Drawing from his years of experience playing within various ensembles, James composes for a diverse range of instrumental genres from contemporary classical music to big band ensemble writing. Alongside his work as a composer, James has been involved in the Melbourne music scene as a performer for many years, playing in big bands, small groups, wind symphonies, and orchestral ensembles. James is actively involved in furthering the development of Melbourne’s music scene, having established and currently co-directing the jazz education and performance company Jazz Melbourne alongside composer and arranger Toshi Clinch. Currently studying Composition and Performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, James is working towards a career in film and video game composition.
By Stella Joseph-Jarecki (Enquiries: stellamusicwriter.wordpress.com)
I had the opportunity to speak to Tom D’Ath, a clarinetist who is currently completing his Masters of Orchestral Performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. As part of this degree, Tom has had the chance to perform in several concerts with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to playing in traditional chamber groups and orchestras, Tom performs newly composed works in six-four ensemble, alongside five other instrumentalists. Tom has amassed over 7,000 followers on his clarinetist Instagram, where he chronicles his progress learning repertoire and drilling his technique.
When did you realize that you wanted to pursue music performance more seriously?
I don’t know if there was a specific point where I went, okay, I’m going to apply to a music degree… it was sort of just the thing to do. I went to Eltham High, which has a very strong music program.
I got towards the end of high school and the decision was, was I going to take the jump into the music and study music properly, or follow IT, which was the other thing I could do. And really it came down to, I could do IT whenever I want… and I do. My IT job is the job that brings me money regularly. But I knew I needed to focus on music straight out of high school if I wanted to make it work.
In terms of when I got really, really serious about things- that didn’t happen until second year. After I went on a trip to the States to study saxophone. During that trip I met a whole lot of people that were really good at the saxophone and I made the assessment that I couldn’t do classical clarinet and jazz saxophone at the same time. So I had put the foot down on clarinet.
It was also around that time that I read Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art, which is the book that really made something click. It made me think, if I’m coming up with excuses to not work on the clarinet, then I shouldn’t be pursuing it. And that’s a book that I try to read once a year because every time you read it, you’re like oh, yep, that’s clicked back into place.
And so, once that happened people seemed to be like, ‘Oh Tom’s in practice rooms at dumb o’clock in the morning’. I’m a little more lax on it now that I’m further away from uni. But generally if I’m having a good day, I’m in a practice room at 7am. And then I’ll clock off at midday. And then I’m done. It’s not necessarily that I’m insane and practicing 7am till 7pm.
If you set your priorities, the practice comes first. Then you’ve gotten the stuff you need to do out of the way, and rehearsals can come up in the evening once you’ve had a rest.
You play in orchestras, chamber groups which explore more standard repertoire, as well as an ensemble dedicated to playing newly composed music, six-four. Do you have an idea of how you might like to combine these different kinds of music performance in your future?
I would love to hold some sort of orchestral position… To some extent, you have to take what you’re given. I’d take a principal clarinet job if I was offered one, but I wouldn’t be against the idea of a smaller, second clarinet position or bass clarinet position. Or even a job in a smaller orchestra where I am not necessarily required full time, so that I can do things like travel, have a chamber music series, or put on solo recitals, or teach… I really enjoy doing all of them!
I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but there are things you need to be conscious of. Like getting a job in Melbourne would be very different to getting an orchestral gig in the middle of the United States, where there isn’t as much funding for the arts, and there aren’t tonnes of musicians around who are prepared to invest in a chamber music concert series with me.
In Melbourne I can obviously be like, ‘I want to do gigs, I want to have a weekly residency where I play chamber music outside of orchestra gigs’. And I’d say that’s a fairly tangible thing to achieve if I wanted it.
One thing that has been amazing recently is, alongside the Melbourne University orchestra and doing a bit of work with ANAM and the MSO, I’ve still managed to take part in chamber music gigs and solo recitals, with something almost every week. Which has been really fun! How am I going to make it work long-term? I don’t know. Part of it is, how seriously do I pursue the orchestral job, alongside regular chamber gigs.
So you have a thriving Instagram account as a clarinettist, with around 7,500 followers. I’ve seen that you post videos of you playing, you’ve done Q & A segments, and its built up quite the community! Has that account challenged you in particular ways, or encouraged you to do things you wouldn’t normally do, or meet people you wouldn’t have met otherwise?
I would say it’s a double-edged sword. That’s not to say that I don’t like it, or don’t appreciate the fact I have a cool following of people who are interested in the stuff that I do… But there are definite challenges which come up, in choosing to be so public about everything.
If you read the description for that account, it was created as a means for me to document the progress I make on the clarinet. And already, I’ve found it very interesting, every once in a while a video will pop up that I posted a year ago, and I can go back and see how different my playing is… so it’s a bit of a selfish thing!
But then it turned out that people actually liked seeing stuff that I was working on. And I started gathering a bit of a following, which was super cool. Things opened up from there, like when D’Addario sent me the new mouthpiece they released at the start of 2019. Along with a couple of boxes of their reeds to try out.
The tricky bit comes with having your name turn into your own personal brand. A lot of criticism starts flying around, am I getting paid to represent a particular brand… so you have to be conscious of that, of not coming across like someone who’s just shilling for a particular reed or clarinet. I have to try to steer clear of too much ‘gear talk’, even though I genuinely love talking about gear, anyone who’s sat down to chat to me about it knows that.
There have been a couple of teachers around the place that I’ve been able to get in contact with. Which may or may not lead to something in the future, but no guarantees there. And being able to speak to other performers about their craft.
I used to use it as something that kept me really honest, as I would be trying to post something before 8am… so I would get to a practise room, warm up for half an hour, then try find something to play and post before 8am. I’m a lot less regimented about it now!
And now that I’ve had that account for a little while, the question becomes, how do I differentiate myself? How efficient can I become in producing things are relevant and coherent? I’ve been thinking that over and I have a podcast in the works…
What is your take on where classical music in Australia sits? Do you think there are younger audiences naturally coming in, or do you think some things need to change?
It’s a difficult question, and I don’t think Australia is the only one struggling with it. It’s really interesting to see how it functions over in the US, because it’s such a commercial operation.
As for the stats for symphony orchestras here: There are three types of funding that organisations get. Public funding from the government, private funding from business, so philanthropic, commercial, sponsorship… And lastly, ticket sales. Currently the MSO are aiming for funding to be split equally between those three sources. All of the state orchestras would have similar goals. The only orchestra in Australia that is different, is the Australian Chamber Orchestra. They are 90% privately funded.
But in saying that, it’s really interesting to go and take a look at all the US orchestras, because they are all privately funded. There is very little government funding available for orchestras over in the States. And so they have to take a very hard look at what is and isn’t working.
There’s a clarinetist over in States, Zac Manzi, who has done a whole lot of design thinking around concerts and audiences. He’s posted some of his findings online, about designing concerts for audiences. I would say that maybe the problem we have, is that we take ourselves incredibly seriously. Most of our venues have a very formal atmosphere. I believe there is an audience out there, but I think we need to casual-ise at least some parts of the classical musical performance experience.
Six-four ensemble have experimented with this, we had some concerts at the Classic Cinema in Elsternwick. I’m going to try and make that happen a bit more. It’s a lovely space to play in, and it can be formal or more casual. For some of those concerts we had really great turnouts.
Developing your audience outside of the stage is imperative. Invictus Quartet basically sold out the place when they came to play at the Classic cinemas. So I’d say it’s a two-way street with individual performers going out of their way to engage with people to come to their performance, and organizations choosing to engage with audiences in a more casual way through their social channels. To focus on actually engaging with an audience, talking to them about things, actively cultivating the art… not just churning out a lot of content.
When I played Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, we did a small explanation of some of the features of the work. Firstly, because it’s confronting and long. And because we wanted to contextualise the piece for the people who may only know it as the work that was written in a concentration camp. The instrumentation came from the instruments available, a whole lot of the thematic material came from the fact that Messiaen really loved birdsong. It’s not inherently that he was in that particular space, but it’s a feature of his composition. Talking to the audience about those facets of the work was really important.
So how do you persevere through self-doubt? And what do you think of the qualities that are essential to be a resilient musician and a successful musician?
I’ll take it back to that book The War of Art. During one of the chapters, Steven Pressfield explains what he does on a daily basis, the small rituals he performs each morning before he commits to doing work. One of them is pointing a toy cannon at his keyboard so it can shoot inspiration. And then he says that he sits down and writes, for a certain amount of time until the words stop making sense. Which is probably a little overboard…
His sentiment is, I don’t care what I’ve done, I purely care that I’m done. And that’s how I try to work through any difficulty that I’m having, and keep myself focused on ‘the game’.
I can be super excited about the concerts that I’ve done. And I am! The performances I have been a part of the last few months have been super fun. And I’ve been reasonably pleased with how I’ve been playing.
But at the end of the day, I have to get up the next day. And put my face up against the grindstone and keep improving. Part of me gets a little concerned that if I end up with a job, I might get a little lazy with trying to improve. Or the opposite might happen, that I might go way overboard and shoot myself in the foot.
I can have all the doubts in the world about auditions, but I know I will feel better if I’ve done the work leading up to it. That’s what gets me through the darker periods. In terms of stuff on a micro scale, like messing up in auditions, you just have to let the mistakes go as they happen.
And breathe properly! If you breathe properly, you might have nerves but they won’t seriously affect you.
Clarinet
Born in New Zealand before moving to Melbourne at the age of 5, clarinetist Tom D’Ath is currently studying a Master of Music (Orchestral Performance) at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, providing him with rich performance experiences with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Tom’s rigorous and diverse musical experiences through his childhood at Melbourne Youth Music and Eltham High School has given him the flexibility to enter any musical situation.
As an undergraduate at the Melbourne Conservatorium, 2018 saw Tom tour to Singapore and Shanghai with the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, attend the Australian Festival of Chamber Music Winterschool as a part of Ensemble Contineo, perform as a part of the Australian National Academy of Music Orchestra, and commission and perform new Australian works as a member of six-four. Outside of Tom’s busy performance schedule, he maintains a small private teaching studio, and records audio and video for many of his colleagues.
Fever Pitch Magazine 