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Parkerville Amphitheatre: a brief history 1966-2001, info about a documentary which had its first three public screenings in July 2015, and some myth busting: www.parkerville-amphitheatre.com
Pianist, accompanist, composer. Teacher of piano, singing, theory, in the Perth area, Western Australia. Associate Composer, AMC. WWC Check.
Androgyne. Very early adopter of the honorific title Mx (or Mix) in 2002.
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You can develop musical skills and musical understanding through lessons with an experienced and qualified teacher.
With expert guidance you can learn to play with ease and avoid the pitfalls of faulty technique.
Make your playing a joy to listen to using methods based on natural, scientific biomechanical principles for use of the hands, arms, and fingers.
Expressive playing comes from combining easy technique with an understanding and appreciation of the languages of music.
I still have some hair (2018)
Little by little children and adults learn the nuts and bolts: note names, intervals, scales, chords, rhythms, and more. Each concept on its own is simple but the combinations give you a huge variety of music you can explore.
Most students also want to learn to read musical notation, which I encourage. I became extremely fluent at reading music but that’s a long term project for most people. So there’s a little reading, and ear training, in each lesson.
What music do you want to play?
Over several decades my students have learnt a wide range of piano music in many different styles.
You can bring sheet music you like to the lesson to learn, or I can get recommended pieces and books for you. Choosing the right music to work on is an art in itself so we always discuss it, and we don’t try pieces you don’t want. There is no shortage of music to choose from.
I teach piano and theory from age 8 to 88, including complete beginners of any age. Lessons are in the students’ own homes or online.
Please contact me if you want lessons for yourself or a family member. Mobile: 0414 374 701. Email: m, followed by the ‘at’ symbol, followed by: mixmargaret.com (there is no ‘au’).
Other info: Fees and teaching areas in the Shire of Mundaring (Perth Hills). If we have another lockdown your lessons can continue as I also teach online. Old page about my piano teaching. I also teach singing (but only for students over 18 years). My musical qualifications and WWC Check.
On the day of its Inauguration the Biden Administration added the choice of a non-binary title, Mx., to the White House online contact form.
BTW, Mx is best pronounced ‘mix’ and, like other titles, is written in the US with a full stop.
Despite what some say, Mx does not hide anyone’s gender—the user is assumed to be proudly proclaiming their gender identity is in some broad sense non-binary, non-binary transgender, or agender.
January 24, 2020
The revamped White House site now allows for “Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., Mx., Other, or None.”
In a major article I wrote: “To avoid customers feeling pressured into making mistakes, these three: Mx, No title, and Other, should always appear together along with the usual titles.” So it’s nice to see the new Biden Administration is using almost exactly what I suggested five years ago.
November 2015
This 2015 article clarifies many issues about Mx and debunks the misleading definitions in some dictionaries. It’s a thorough resource for anyone wanting to use Mx for themself or add it to their forms.
DEFINITIONS
When Mx first started being used consistently around 2002 by a few individuals, including myself, it was used by people who were known as transgender and/or intersex. In those days transgender was an umbrella term which included what is now called non-binary, which has itself become an umbrella term.
To this day Mx is still best suited to non-binary transgender people, broadly defined to include agender, and the few intersex people who are also non-binary transgender.
Obviously, Mx is of no use to binary transgender people and cisgender (ie non-trans and non-intersex) people. Note that some non-binary people do not call themselves transgender.
A useful definition could be:
Mx noun An honorary title used by some non-binary, non-binary transgender, or agender people, who do not self-identify as exclusively male or female, to indicate their non-binary gender identity.(Margaret Jones, January 2021)
Unfortunately, when in May 2015 an online version of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) became the first dictionary to include Mx, the OED stumbled over their definition, which may have had an unfortunate influence on other dictionaries. They used four real world examples but their definition didn’t match them. They now have nine examples including three of the originals (as at January 2021).
In 2015 they had these real world examples:
‘the bank is planning to introduce the honorific ‘Mx’ as an alternative for anyone who feels that they don’t, for reasons of undetermined gender, fit into being either a Mr, Mrs, Miss or a Ms.’
‘A council is to include the title ‘Mx’ on its official forms to be more accommodating to the trans-community.’
‘Brighton & Hove council adopted the trans-friendly Mx title in 2013, after an inclusivity panel made the recommendation.’
Since then the OED has dropped their fourth real-world example concerning one of the most well-known Mx users, Justin Vivian Bond:
‘To me, Mx Bond embodies the very best kind of girl a boy could ever grow up to become.’ (You can read more about Mx Bond in the main 2015 article.)
These are all non-binary transgender or intersex uses and not cisgender at all. They’re consistent with my experience and usage, and with my observations of how others have used Mx, but they quite clearly contradict the Oxford Dictionary’s own definition.
Mx noun A title used before a person’s surname or full name by those who wish to avoid specifying their gender or by those who prefer not to identify themselves as male or female. (As at January 25, 2021)
This is not even paying lip-service to the notion of non-binary gender identity and only serves to dismiss our reality. They blatantly ignored their own examples, in effect misleading their readers into thinking Mx could be used to hide one’s gender, which is not generally possible (though some may try, possibly influenced by the OED).
Dictionaries should restrict themselves to describing how words are really being used and should not venture into prescribing how they believe words ought to be used. It seems the OED in 2015 could not find examples of Mx usage to demonstrate their view of gender as always binary but, nonetheless, defined Mx their own way, contrary to how Mx was being used. They failed us in this respect and other dictionaries seem to have followed their lead, thus tending to negate the real world experience and even existence of non-binary people.
As I wrote in the major article of November 2015, any cisgender person (ie non-transgender or non-intersex) using Mx to refer to themself will be considered by others to be transgender or intersex, which is certainly not what they’re wanting. Using it to avoid specifying one’s gender is not going to work and like posting nude selfies on the internet it may be impossible to completely undo. Mx will inevitably continue to refer to an atypical gender identity, and that will be a gender which is not exclusively male or female.
Some cisgender individuals, and other dictionaries, may have been unduly influenced by the OED’s very misleading definition. Just because some cisgender people have been using or experimenting with Mx to somehow hide their gender does not mean it will work for that purpose, and does not mean such use will persist in the long run.
Of course, using Mx should be optional and not at all compulsory. Many transgender or intersex people will not want to use it. Mx doesn’t suit all people with an unusual gender identity so it is important that no-one assumes a non-binary transgender or intersex person wishes to be known by this title.
I am very heartened to see the new Biden Administration has implemented a very good way of using Mx in their online contact form, right from the very first day. That’s progress!
The Benefits of House Sitting in the Shire of Mundaring.
[This was first posted as a ‘page’ a few days ago by mistake.]
I type while a small bird in a cage at the other end of the table entertains me as I try to whistle in duet. At my feet is a lovely old dog. Rimsky-Korsakov is on the radio (yeah, I should probably stop writing and listen carefully).
I’ve finished the morning feeding & watering. Cows, goats, chooks, pasture for feed, some veggies, hanging plants and seedlings. Now the day is mine until the afternoon routine, which is less. With some other house sits there is almost nothing to do.
Selfie used with permission of the property owners
It’s almost idyllic. I get all the enjoyment of living with all sorts of critters and often in very nice homes and on fabulous properties, surrounded by forest, with almost no responsibility except to tend to them and keep an eye on how they are faring. No big vet bills, fencing repair costs or council rates for me! No complex decisions. Sometimes there’s a bit of troubleshooting or problem solving but I enjoy that so that’s actually a bonus.
In some places it’s like playing at being a subsistence farmer but it still allows me lots of time to work on my music (in between Facebook or writing articles). Which is good because I compose and write lyrics slowly.
Coming up in 2021 will be the tenth anniversary of when I began my house sitting lifestyle, although I did get the idea a few years before that when I was asked to look after a house in Karratha. That was such a great experience so, while living in the Flatlands after returning to Perth, I developed a plan to become a continuous house sitter in a forested area where I wanted to live but could not otherwise afford.
The plan worked like a treat: I took a long-term booking to house sit in Parkerville from May 2011. What a great start, Parky is where I grew up and where I longed to be. In anticipation of permanently house sitting up in the Hills, in the Shire of Mundaring, I took on lots of music students in the area from early that year. This meant a long drive each day to teach them for several months, but it was worth it in the long run.
Paid house sitting is a win-win-win: good for me, good for the home owners, and good for the environment. For the first six years there was one less house required on the planet because I didn’t have a home base.
Selfie used with permission of the property owners
There are some downsides. The frequent moving is a hassle and sometimes there are gaps or overlaps. In one three-month period some years ago I had about four long bookings cancelled at short notice (each for a different reason). Some of the cancellers were able to put me up for a while, which was very kind of them.
In the early days if there were gaps I would stay with my mother in her rented unit near Midland Gate. There wasn’t quite enough room to swing a …, er, better not say it as I often have felines to look after. If my brother needed a room for a week or two either he or I had to find somewhere else. Mum is now 87 and doing well in a nursing home, she’s the brightest one there. She loves seeing Facebook pics on my laptop of Dog Rock in Albany, near which she grew up.
These days I have my own home base as a boarder in a lovely place in Hovea so gaps are not a problem.
Of course, in early 2020 most of my bookings for the whole year were cancelled because of the coronavirus. Western Australia, the second largest state on the planet (ca. 3.5 times the size of Texas) also had regional border closures so for some months home owners couldn’t even take a long drive for a holiday. Eventually, this all changed and now I house sit for people taking caravan holidays or having working trips all over WA. Almost no-one is flying yet, which is partly why the virus is almost non-existent here.
Many years ago I taught piano, singing, music theory and vocal health full-time in my home studio in Claremont or Nedlands, 6 hours per day, about 36 hours per week. At noon I would do an hour’s piano practice, and another five hours from 10pm to 3am. Not recommended.
For the last ten years while house sitting I’ve had a much healthier teaching load and I mostly drive to the students’ homes or teach online. But even this was hit by the coronavirus pandemic. I have my fingers crossed it will also bounce back.
Meanwhile, I have lots of time to compose and record. I count my many blessings frequently.
Subject: Submission on Religious Freedom Bills – Second Exposure Drafts
To: Ken.Wyatt.MP@aph.gov.au, FoRConsultation@ag.gov.au Date: 29 January 2020, 5:53 pm From: Mx Margaret Dylan Jones (private individual)
Religious Discrimination Bill 2019 Religious Discrimination (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2019 Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Freedom of Religion) Bill 2019
Dear Sirs,
These conservative coalition government bills comprise a blatant attempt to proselytise the Christian religion and unfairly discriminate against a wide range of people.
The bills would be more accurately called ‘Extending Religious Privilege and Enabling Persecution of Non-Believers.’
These aims and motivations are unacceptable to the majority of Australians, who have historically always been in favour of democracy, individual freedoms, and the ‘fair go.’
Christian theocrats, who are strongly represented in the parliament and especially in the LNP, were stung by the overwhelming vote in favour of marriage equality in the 2017 postal survey and by the results of the 2016 Census which found religious belief in Australia is rapidly falling.
Theocracy, that is, government by religious law and ignoring secular views, the will of the people, and science, is wholly unsuited to our modern multicultural society and the increasingly complex and urgent challenges our country faces.
On a related note, the government’s long-running and expensive National School Chaplaincy Programme has, despite explicit regulation, enabled and possibly encouraged chaplains to actively proselytise Christianity in most types of primary schools and high schools. A Christian friend of mine, who applied to work as a chaplain in government schools, in a job interview was asked more about the strength of their faith and their ability to promote their religion than they were asked about their counselling skills. They said: “[I was asked] a high percentage of questions based on how i would communicate my faith as a christian to others and basically how i could convert and recruit people into becoming a christian.” Why should non-religious students, who are in the majority in Australia, have to suffer this Bible bashing and not have access to (possibly secular) counsellors with superior counselling skills?
Promoting ghettos of religious intolerance inside schools and workplaces can only serve to divide Australians from one another. The ‘othering’ of people as either devout, following a different faith, or blasphemous, must be resisted.
The disingenuous regard shown to everyday Australians by a tiny minority of religious people who use canonic verses to power and spread their own fear and hatred should not be encouraged. Freedom of speech should not be based on Biblical authority.
As an atheist I deplore these attempts to take us back to the Iron Age and I celebrate the fact that religion is declining in Australia. I deplore the trashing of science and the promoting and entrenching of anti-science philosophies, such as so-called creation science, which is a clear and present danger to our nation.
Pandering to the fears of conservative theocrats, who cannot abide science, non-believers and the contrary views of secularists and even the members of other faiths, is a poor governmental response to the issues of modern life. Diversity of ideas is crucial to the long-term wellbeing of society.
Respect should be a two-way street, and it usually is. I give respect to believers and consistently receive it back. I have born-again Christian siblings and I board with my born-again former fiancée. I’ve played piano for religious services and I use a church for my students’ performance practices. All these people know I’m atheist and humanist, and an androgyne, and yet there is no hint of a problem because we all show respect at the individual level.
Margaret Jones in a hired church venue
There is scant evidence that people of faith experience discrimination in Australia, but ample evidence that religious organisations actively discriminate against many kinds of non-believers. I have suffered strong institutional discrimination at job interviews where there was an explicit or implicit religious bias against transgender people.
These bills seek to bring in unnecessary changes and drive us back to a nostalgic vision of a fictitious monocultural and monotheistic world which never did exist.
If these bills become law they will stifle free expression and diversity. Please reject these unnecessary and detrimental bills for the sake of Australia’s future.
Yours,
Mx Margaret Dylan Jones (Mx* is title, pronounced ‘mix;’ Dylan is middle name; Jones is surname) MusB(UWA), DipEd, LTCL, ATCL, AMusTCL, AMusA AMC (Associate Composer), WWCC Hasluck electorate in Western Australia www.mixmargaret.com
*Mx (mix) is a non-binary transgender title I’ve been consistently using for nearly eighteen years since 2002.
======== end of email =======
LINKS for further study, and to make submissions to the government.
Religious Discrimination Bill 2019
Religious Discrimination (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2019
Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Freedom of Religion) Bill 2019
————————————————
Make a submission by 31 January 2020 to the consultation
by sending it to
FoRConsultation@ag.gov.au
Tell your MP why you oppose the bill:
https://equalityaustralia.org.au/no-to-discrimination-2/
Have you been denied treatment in healthcare based on a religious objection? Have you been discriminated against in healthcare? Write to us and tell us your story here: equalityaustralia.org.au/contact-us/
Well, that was different! Quite apart from having a nice little holiday in Hopetoun, I had a great time playing lots of piano in a long concert in the recently built Community Centre on 19 October. Despite coinciding with the local government election it was nearly sold-out. About ten percent of the local population turned up to this fundraiser for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which raised about $1,100. This will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a local mine.
Please note: in common with my other blog posts this is NOT a review. I’m a musician, not a music critic. This is simply a record of what happened with basic info about who did what. It’s only of interest to those who were there and perhaps their families. It’s a memento of an event we all enjoyed, the memory of which would otherwise be lost forever. Feel free to share and to make comments at the end.
Screen shot from the video
The concert promoter was the Qualup Choir, led by Richenda (Chenda) Goldfinch, a local artist and poet with endless energy and enthusiasm. And, I might say, she can conduct a beat better than many others, and takes a lot of care over shaping the music.
Mary Roberston. All photos by Sue Leighton except for screen shots (scrn).
I hadn’t met this community choir until a few hours before the concert but they had been working with recordings I’d made for them some weeks prior. After many years the regular accompanist, Mary Robertson, had had to withdraw her services due to ill health.
Toni Arndt
Toni Arndt, a wonderful soprano friend from the Perth Hills, drove me down. We were met there by other friends from the Hills, Jean and Henry Bourgault. In fact, there was quite a Hills contingent and I made new friendships with both Hopetoun locals and people from Perth.
Jean Bourgault at the Yamaha digital piano
Jean accompanied Henry for his songs and some of Toni’s. I accompanied Toni and the choir, and played several piano solos including two originals.
Toni singing “It’s a Fine Life” (scrn)
Toni wowed the audience with Seligkeit (Schubert), Porgi Amor (Mozart), It’s a Fine Life (Lionel Bart), As Long as He Needs Me (Lionel Bart), La Vie en Rose (Piaf and Louiguy), and Rien de Rien (Vaucaire and Dumont), with Jean at the piano. With myself at the keys she sang Liebhaber in allen Gestalten (Schubert), O Mio Babbino Caro (Puccini), Beside the Foyle (my very special arrangement with new music and new lyrics to the tune of Londonderry Air or Danny Boy, being the latest version with an extra verse with a new melody), Black is Beautiful (by Bruce Lawson and Toni’s late husband, Frank Arndt), and Bring Him Home (C-M Schönberg).
Jean & Henry (scrn)
Jean also accompanied Henry in two songs which brought the house down: O Isis and Osiris (Mozart) and The Song of the Flea (Mussorgsky).
Song of the Flea (scrn)
(scrn)
My piano solos were Rainbows Over Hovea and Puck at Parkerville (originals I completed in 2017), Song Without Words, Op. 19, No. 3 (Felix Mendelssohn), Solace – a Mexican Serenade (Scott Joplin), and the slow movement of Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata.
(scrn)
Chenda Goldfinch
Chenda has many talents. Months later I’m still slowly reading through her wonderful book of poems, photos, drawings, and paintings called Footprints of a Traveller (ISBN 978-0-9872072-7-2). See her Facebook, LibraryThing or GoodReads. You might need to get a copy directly from her. Great to read at the end of the day!
The Qualup Choir with myself at the piano
The Qualup Choir, led by Chenda and accompanied by myself, sang Some Enchanted Evening (Rogers & Hammerstein), Any Dream Will Do (Lloyd-Webber), As Long as I have Music (Besig & Price), Autumn Leaves (Mercer & Kosma), Can You Feel the Love Tonight (John & Rice), and The Ugly Duckling (Loesser). They began and finished with unaccompanied numbers: Kaya (Welcome Song, by Charmaine Bell), and There Will Be Peace On Earth.
(scrn)
The excellent compare for the evening was Coralie Daw.
My association with Jean and Henry is quite patchy but goes back a long, long way. In 1974, when I was in year 8 at Eastern Hills Senior High School (EHSHS), I was in the trumpet class with one of their sons, Phil. Our teacher was Sam Maher. He was no doubt a good teacher but I dropped out of trumpet after half a year.
Also in that year I was in Henry’s French class. I recall desperately trying to pay attention so he wouldn’t ask me too many questions, on the theory that he would ask questions of any student staring out the window as a crowd control technique. Consequently, he wrote glowingly of me in the end of year report, saying something about how keen I was. But as he said the other day, no-one remembers the foreign languages they learn at school. So true!
When I was in year 10 (?) Jean was (I think) the music teacher at the primary school next door. I recall showing her a theory book I’d been working through, standing outside near where the buses stop. She made some tactful comment along the lines of ‘you need to get a theory teacher.’ I don’t know why that did not happen.
Fast forward to early 2012 when I joined the Hills Choir Inc., based in Mundaring, and sang in the tenor section for a year. That was around the middle of Jean’s 13-year stint as conductor of this very strong choir. Subsequently, I’ve often accompanied them on piano at rehearsals when Libby Patrizi, the regular accompanist, can’t get there, and sometimes at concerts. (Libby is the daughter of Mary Robertson, mentioned above.) Sometimes I have played piano solos at their concerts at EHSHS, including originals.
But it was not until just a few years ago that I discovered both Jean and Henry had been students at Claremont Teachers College together with my father. OK, so now you’re wondering how old everyone is. Well, Jean and Henry are both 82 now but my father, John Joseph Jones (1930 – 2000), would have been about seven years older than they were when they were all at college as he was a mature age student.
Me, Toni, Jean, Mary, Chenda
Back to Hopetoun. What a lovely place, and such warm, friendly people. We all got lots of compliments and expressions of appreciation from the audience, which included tourists. I don’t think I was misgendered once, although, sadly, I didn’t get called by the singular ‘they.’ So much for dire predictions of stuck-in-the-mud conservative old folks. No, they consistently called me ‘she’ and were almost falling over themselves to thank and compliment me.
A big group of us did party, and went sight-seeing together. See my blog post Hopetoun Holiday.
Standing ovation
We made a video of the whole event but it’s just for training purposes and for those involved to keep as a memento.
Artwork on the Royal Flying Doctor Service at the front of the stage. (scrn)Sue is on the right. (scrn)
When I had more hair, less weight and sat too low, ca. 2002
It was with mixed emotions that I sold my 1903 Thürmer upright piano a few days ago after owning it for more than 30 years. It’s been like a family member since 1988 when I bought it from Dave Carlson, who was a president of the APTTA. Fifteen years later Dave and his wife, Wendy, surrounded by my piano and singing students, gave the piano a present for its 100th birthday party: a pair of new candle holders.
When I visited Dave’s workshop seeking to buy a piano this one had come back to him some years after a full recondition. He hadn’t recently tuned it and so did not fully know its value. Because it is hard to assess a piano’s quality when it’s not in tune, I struck (and I do mean STRUCK) a note, as loudly and roughly as I could, to assess what range of colours it might have. Dave must have been horrified that I would beat a key like that and he must have wondered about my piano teaching skills because of the raucous sound. However, ever the diplomat, he didn’t say a word. Suitably impressed with the piano’s responsiveness, I agreed to buy it for $2950, which was raised from small loans from a number of students. It turned out to be a great buy.
Pic from 2010
In those days old pianos could appreciate in value so a few years later I asked Dave for a valuation. From memory I think it was $3500 or perhaps more. Not long after that something happened in Japan and the value of all the old pianos in WA went through the floorboards.
In vague terms I think the Japanese economy slid down the slopes and disappeared under the sea. All over that country people were losing their jobs and eyeing off the excellent Yamaha pianos sitting in their loungerooms, unused since the kids left home. Suddenly, huge numbers of them were in sea containers headed for Australia which meant our lovely old European and Australian-made pianos were instantly devalued.
2018 in Jane Brook
Fast forward to 2011 when I returned to the Hills were I grew up. I resumed teaching piano, singing and theory, and accompanying choirs and exam students after a long break when I drove taxis in Karratha. I also took up another part-time profession, that of the house sitter (and pet visitor/plant waterer).
Instant problem: how do I teach and practice piano as a house sitter? The first part was easy: I teach in student’s own homes. The second part was quite difficult. For several years I paid removalists to shift the Thürmer from one house sit to another, often leap-frogging one or more short bookings. Then I got local Hills Choir stalwart and inventor, Ivan Halbert, to modify a trailer so I could shift the piano on my own with a hand winch and several bits of custom-made equipment.
Customised trailer by Ivan, seen here in GEH, Chidlow
Shift the piano on my own? I did try this once but then thought I’m never doing that again, so usually I slipped a few bucks to my long-suffering eldest brother, Lawrence, to help me move it. Because the equipment was quite different to what professionals use it always took at least three hours, anything up to five hours. We must have moved this piano (plus a few friends’ pianos) about twenty times and I’m SOOOO glad I won’t be doing that again.
Lawrence, 20132018
The trailer was sold six months ago so last week the piano was moved to its new home nearby by pushing it along the road.
Pushing the piano with supervisors staying well back (they learn fast)
The new owner got it as a surprise early Christmas gift from her husband. I am over the moon that the piano, almost human to me, has gone to a good home where it will be greatly appreciated and played so well.
At the birthday party in 2003 Dave & Wendy gave me this info: “At present Thürmer pianos are not commercially imported into Australia, however if you would like one, it could be arranged for approximately $35,000 to $40,000 Australian for an upright.” One of the best brands, for sure, and built to last in Meissen, Germany. With another recondition a decade or two from now this one might outlive the new owners and their children.
These days I practice and often perform on digital pianos. No moving or tuning issues and I can literally carry one under my arm! At night I can practice and compose with the headphones on if people are sleeping nearby.
My final play before selling, at a soiree in the Hills, November 2019
2015, me vainly trying to learn how to tuneAnd they say practice makes perfect. Hmm, maybe not.On the move, early 2018Storing in Toodyay, from mid-2016
In mid-October I spent several days in Hopetoun, a 7-hour drive down to the south coast of Western Australia. Population ca. 1,000. I went there to play lots of piano in a long concert (see my blog about the concert).
Heading west, you can just see the Hamersley Inlet, with one or two Mount Barrens in the distance (there are three of them overall).
My wonderful soprano friend, Toni Arndt, drove me down with her pets on the back seat and we stayed at her holiday home, next door to the holiday home of Jean & Henry Bourgault (performers aged 82). Long story right there (see the concert blog).
Henry, Toni, Jean, Liz, Judith. Our dinner spot near the Hopetoun Groyne.
We did lots of partying or sharing of meals (about four times), and lots of sight-seeing with about eight or so people, including Hanna Kleyn who used to be the principal at Eastern Hills Senior High School (but well after my time there). Her good friend, Adrian, remarkably attends about five or more live classical music performances every week in Perth.
Adrian, Liz, Judith, Hanna, Toni, Henry. Yours truely.Wallaby or small kangaroo at Cave Point. This roo was very comfortable with our car, which stopped right next to it. The roo posed in different positions for several shots but methinks one pic gives you the idea.Leaving Hamersley Inlet, pic taken through the windscreen.Looking west from the lookout on the eastern edge of Hopetoun.Looking west with the town in the foreground. This is Mount Barren East.Ditto.Qualup Bell, after which the Qualup Choir is named.
Royal Hakea, above Barrens Beach.
Sunset from our dinner spot, 6.12pm.Ditto, 6.14pm.Same spot, 6.40pm.Ditto, 6.40pm.Two jettys at the Hopetoun Groyne.
All pics on this post are by MDJ. Taken on a cheap & nasty digital camera at 350 dpi, cut down to 72 dpi and 60%, without cropping.
Finally, at last, my first tree planting session. I’ve been wanting to get into this for years.
And what did you do in the war on climate change, Grannie? “I helped to plant a trillion trees, while the Amazon was burning.”
Stevie with all the gear
This morning I went with a friend, Stevie Braun, to Trillion Trees’ Guildford Meadows 2nd Tree Planting in Caversham (just north over the Swan River from Guildford, Western Australia). We had a great time planting about 75 plants as a two-person team. Many people did it solo using the great equipment which does make it very easy.
Me. The figures in the distance are other planters, not livestock.
Next weekend they’ll be planting in the same place both Saturday and Sunday, 31 August & 1 September (Father’s Day) 2019. Apparently, they have several other sites on the go but they don’t seem to be on their website.
The whole event didn’t need to cost us a thing (though there is a donation tin). Our free lunch featured a couple of great soups, followed by some wonderful talks from a few speakers about the work. I wish a few young people I know had been there to hear them.
From their website:
“Guildford Meadows was first planted as a memorial planting on 14th August 2016 to celebrate the life of Barrie Oldfield OA. Barrie was a founding member of Men of the Trees, now known as Trillion Trees, in Western Australia and served as President for over 17 years. He was an inspiration to all who knew him – one of those extraordinary people who spread light wherever they go.”
Seedlings. Some will become trees, and others will be shrubs, grasses or reeds.
I once met Barrie when holidaying in Bali ca. 1999 with my partner at the time, Jean. We dined at a restaurant in Ubud with Barrie and his wife. This was maybe two years after I was on a committee at The Wilderness Society (TWS) trying to save old growth forests. Ever since those days I’ve wanted to plant trees because the planet desperately needs them. Everything gets back to trees.
Don’t bother looking for the origin of the quote about grannie and the Amazon, I made it up. But it’s true the Amazon is burning.
Please don’t wait as long as I did before you come out on a weekend and plant some trees, we all need to do this now.
What a great concert it was! Perth Discovery Choir’s 30th anniversary event had two guest choirs, two guest conductors, another former PDCconductor who didn’t conduct but played flute and piano (not at the same time!), and a wonderful bass-baritone soloist. Oh, and a sell-out standing-room-only audience. 3pm last Saturday, 10th August 2019.
PDC and Musical Director Louise Bell
MDJ conducting Beside the Foyle
It was a great pleasure and a privilege to conduct my Beside the Foyle. The tune is familiar as Londonderry Air or Danny Boy but this year I’ve radically changed the words and I’m glad to say I’ve had many compliments for it (this was the world premiere of these new lyrics). Perth Discovery Choir sang my first arrangement of this melody when I founded the choir 30 years ago in the Claremont Town Hall. Choir member Alan Hope sang it that year and got to sing it again on the weekend after he re-joined the choir recently.
MDJ talking about Beside the Foyle
All involved in the concert should give themselves a big pat on the back, but particularly the current musical director Louise Bell, and the secretary, Roger Munt. Louise is a musical powerhouse. This wonderful singer and conductor teaches music at Mazenod College and lectures in music education at ECU, in between leading both PDC and No Rechoirments. Talk about busy! PDC is so fortunate to have an educationalist like her who continually improves the members’ skills.
Roger Munt, PDC’s tireless secretary
Roger keeps himself very busy as secretary of the PDC committee and has very recently retired from part time lecturing in engineering at UWA. I’m so impressed at his dedication to the role; there is no doubt the anniversary concert could not have happened without his foresight and enthusiasm, along with his very helpful committee.
Bronwen Herholdt (cond.), Esther Arthur (piano), Louise Bell (solo soprano)
Louise’s conducting load was lightened a little by Bronwen Herholdt, a versatile musician who conducted a choral item in which Louise sang a solo. Esther Arthur, the choir’s regular piano accompanist, has a very sure sense of rhythm which was especially evident in the choral selection from Les Misérables.
Bronwen acknowledging Louise’s solo
Sold out
Note that, despite now using Dalkeith Road Church of Christ in Nedlands, the choir is not a religious choir. Though some members are church goers the group is a community choir and is not affiliated with any church. It’s a great shame that so many people associate choirs with singing angels, but also understandable when you consider that 1) a lot of the best choral music is sacred, and 2) many community choirs use church venues. One day I was recommending my local choir (the Hills Choir, in Mundaring) to a friend up here and they said “Oh, you mean the church choir.” Er, no, it’s not a ‘church choir,’ like PDC they just hire the premises, and so do I for my solo piano recitals and my students’ performance practice concerts even though I’m an atheist. It’s simply that they are good venues.
Standing room only
I’d lost all contact with the choir after the 10th anniversary and had no idea if they still existed until about two years ago. But here they are, pulling in the crowds.
Choir concerts like this are a great benefit to the community. The packed crowd had a great time and even got to do a sing-along with clapping. The fact that singers and audiences alike are all getting older is irrelevant. Singing is good for you, and it feels good, too.
Naomi Millett
Another person there on Saturday from PDC’s very first year was Naomi Millett, who came in from the wheatbelt to be in the audience. Naomi, like any Bachelor of Music student, played a little piano and was our accompanist for many weeks in 1989. She went on to become a marvellous classical guitar, mandola and mandolin player, and long-time radio presenter for RTR FM.
Also sitting it out was Hazel Potts, the PDC accompanist from 2003 to 2007. (Sorry, there was no photo taken.)
Phil Robertson describing how he overcame stroke to get his piano skills back
I’m not going to do a piece-by-piece review of the event but I must mention two soloists who made time stand still. A young Jake Bigwood, bass-baritone, sang Stars (from Les Misérables) and Ol’ Man River (from Showboat), both quite outstanding. He’s now off to London for further study (sorry, I didn’t get a photo). Phil Robertson, a former PDC conductor, overcame a stroke two years ago to give us a wonderful rendition of a Siciliene by JS Bach, arranged for piano by Alfred Cortot. Phil also added a nice touch to Sunrise, Sunset (from Fiddler on the Roof) with his lovely flute playing.
Phil Robertson playing Bach arr. Cortot
Phil was PDC’s musical director for many years starting in mid-1995 when he was head of music at Scotch College.
No Rechoirments
The guest choirs were No Rechoirments, led by Louise, and Starlight Hotel Choir, led by accomplished musicians Dave Johnson and Peter Anthony. Both of these groups made a major and wonderful contribution to the event. The sheer joy of their singing was infectious and PDC greatly enjoyed singing with them.
Starlight Hotel Choir, led on guitar by Dave Johnson (left) and Peter Anthony (right).
Starlight Hotel Choir
Sue Clarke, MC
Last but not least I can’t get away without mentioning the wonderful Master of Ceremonies, Sue Clarke, who got it all to flow smoothly, and Concert Organiser Tony Fanowrios, who dealt admirably with the logistics on the day. Publicity Officer Sally House produced a full house (no pun intended).
The success of the event was wrought by a big team including many people I don’t know (especially in the other choirs). Many thanks are due to the Front-of-House and refreshment people who also did a great job and were kept busy. These included Adrian, Lynda Moir, Russell Cockram, Denise, and Marilyn.
Stevie Braun made 40 short hand-held video clips totalling 40 minutes which includes a lot of behind the scenes material and mini-interviews. This will be available to choir members on USB as a memento descriptively, if not evocatively, titled All Footage, Warts and All, Nothing Cut. Phil Robertson had a camera set up on a tripod and should also have some video.
You can read more about Perth Discovery Choir at www.mixmargaret.com/PDC, including lots of text from early newsletters.
Many thanks to Roger for some details and suggestions used in this blog. At some point I’ll make more blog posts with the concert’s printed programme and the scans of pics etc from 1989 through to 1999 which were displayed at the concert including a couple of first place certificates the choir won at competitions.
Please feel free to make comments below, and please tell me if I’ve forgotten more people than I’ve remembered I’ve forgotten (you know what I mean). I want to include everyone who played a special role for the sake of a historical record. All photos above are screen shots from Stevie Braun’s video.
The USB. Use a right-click to enlarge or open in a new tab or window.
Screen screen print of the top level of the USB. Anyone in the choir can ask Roger for a copy. The folder with the purple dot has the videos and pics.
Jeanell Carrigan, renown Australian musician, last week sent my brother and I copies of a new CD of chamber music by Meta Overman. Thank you, Jeanell!
Score & CD incl. Island Songs; Postcard from Jeanell
Soprano Narelle Yeo and pianist Jeanell Carrigan have made a lovely recording of Overman’s Island Songs (1956), settings of three poems by our father, John Joseph Jones (1930 – 2000) which we think he wrote during his short time in Fiji before settling in WA (where he subsequently built and managed the Parkerville Amphitheatre). The songs are Deep, deep blue water; Farewell; and Lullaby. [Note to writers: JJJ always used his full name despite the error in the score below.]
The disc is full of wonderful music by Overman, who was born in Holland in 1907 and died in 1993 in Perth, Western Australia. She was fluent, prolific and imaginative and her musical style is not quite like any other I have ever heard. Broadly speaking you might describe her sound world as neo-tonal.
Deep, deep blue water. See Wirripang for a better sample.
In 1954 Overman composed Prayer for Solo Harp for our parents’ wedding in Albany, Western Australia. The previous year she also set John’s The Image of the Cross (1953) for speaker, choir and two pianos.
You can read all about this prodigious Dutch-Australian composer and the role she played in Australian music in Perth and Melbourne at the AMC (try https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/overman-meta) and Wirripang.
These songs are on a CD titled Grotesque and other chamber works by Meta Overman, published by Wirripang as Wirr 098.
Carrigan performed the songs in the first of two all-Overman concerts at WAAPA in August/September 2018 with another wonderful soprano, Helen Brown, at which time I purchased a copy of the sheet music. Along with the CD the score is available at another Wirripang page. They also have samples free to download.
