Author Archives: Margaret

Playing Chidlow: Bay Tree Cafe & Restaurant

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The Bay Tree Cafe & Restaurant has been extensively renovated over the last few months (late 2018) and now they’ve got me playing piano on some nights.

Bay Tree Cafe & Restaurant, Chidlow

Bay Tree Cafe & Restaurant, Chidlow, with new deck and awning.

Last night was my second Saturday and it was a wonderful experience. I can say it was wonderful because I have that on good advice: several patrons came up to me to say how much they enjoyed my classical piano playing. I even got two tips (of folding stuff).

One lady was so overcome by the experience that she and the man with her (her husband perhaps) stayed on longer just so they could enjoy the music. Quite emotional she was, and kept saying how my playing had made it a very special night out for them. Maybe they’re not yet married and just got engaged to the sound of my Bach or Beethoven? Or was it an anniversary? I think she wanted to hug me but there was a digital piano between us.

Bay Tree Cafe & Restaurant, Chidlow

Bay Tree Cafe & Restaurant, Chidlow

The boss was very happy, too. We all agreed live playing of lovely music in the background really makes the whole experience very special. I’m always pushing the line that music in cafes & restaurants needs to be strictly instrumental, no singing. That way you can think your own thoughts, read a book or hold a conversation. Music even helps conversations to start.

Me playing at The Bay Tree Cafe & Restaurant

Me playing at The Bay Tree Cafe & Restaurant

With cafes I never know what I’m going to play until I’m there, rummaging though a couple of boxes of music books. Last night I played Mac Dowell, lots of Bach, Chopin and Schubert, and some Beethoven and Brahms.

The Bay Tree Cafe & Restaurant is down the back of the modern suite of shops next to the Chidlow Tavern (Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia). I’ll play again next Saturday 22 December 2018, 5.45pm to 8.15pm. The next one after that should be the same time on Valentine’s Day, Thursday 14 February 2019.

Opening hours over Christmas 2018:

24 December 8am to 2pm

27 December 8am to 2pm

28 December 8am to 2pm

29 December 8am to 2pm

30 December 8am to 2pm

2 January 8am to 3pm, just to be different.

CLOSED: December 25, 26, 31 and January 1.

The cafe’s Facebook has great pics of their delicious food, and a short video where Carol snuck up on me playing Bach:

www.facebook.com/thebaytreebakery/videos/1403198996476638/

Everyone can sing? Maybe not yet if you’re tone-deaf

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It’s been said on ABC Classic FM radio so many times recently but if I hear this one more time I’m going to explode: “Everyone can sing.”

Every time they say it, saying it as if it were incontrovertible truth, it must be like a dagger to the heart of so many who can’t sing. It’s become so common to say that every child and every adult can sing. Please, please, stop it!

Some won’t believe it but there really are a few people, even among those who play musical instruments, who cannot hold a tune to save their lives. Yes, they probably can learn to sing, but they might need special tuition.

Where is the scientific research to back up the bold claim that everyone can already sing? It’s all anecdotal and self-selecting. “Everyone who came to our school choir could sing, therefore every child can sing.” It would be so easy to prove the opposite.

I speak from considerable experience having taught singing to perhaps a thousand individuals. Decades ago I worked with about twenty adults who could be called ‘tone deaf’, ‘tone deaf drones,’ or ‘monotones.’ Believe me, they are not mythical. They really exist and I can only imagine every time their experience is denied it must be a little like denying LGBTI people exist.

Can you imagine how devastating it must be to have a teacher tell you ‘everyone can sing’ when you already know you can’t sing? Some know they can’t sing the right note and they know they can’t even tell if it’s right or wrong.

Frequently I hear adults tell me tales of woe about singing in schools. Sometimes they actually can sing very well but were actively discouraged, or just needed a bit of encouragement or a bit more confidence.

But suppose a child proudly rocks up to the first choir try-out having been told ‘everyone can sing’ only to discover they seem to be the one person in the whole world (or school) who actually can’t. For a rare few no amount of relaxing, jumping, yelling, deep breathing, sirening, shouting or confidence boosting makes any difference.

One can only imagine the psychological damage this could do to children.

Let me explain. In 1989 I founded my first adult community choir, the Perth Discovery Choir, which I conducted for five years. BTW, PDC will have their 30th anniversary next year. In early rehearsals I noticed one of the basses could not sing in tune. I was already a singing teacher but knew nothing about drones except for what passes as accepted wisdom ie garbage.

So, following accepted wisdom, I thought to myself ‘give him a chance, let him grow into it, eventually he’ll find his voice.’ Well, that didn’t work so I took him out of the choir and tutored him one-on-one. It took considerable dedication over several months but eventually he could hold tunes like Good King Wenceslas and Ode to Joy, in a recognisable fashion. As a by product he also learnt to sight-sing simple tunes, though that was not the principal aim.

You may rightly ask how was this achieved? Well, I’m not entirely sure but I had guessed a working theory and it got results. Over about a decade I had maybe twenty adults (including one female teenager) with exactly the same need. By using the same procedures they all got the same wonderful results except for one. So that’s about a 95% success rate.

Every time I get a phone enquiry for beginner singing lessons and someone says they’re tone deaf I take that statement with a pinch of salt. At least nine times out of ten they are NOT tone deaf at all, just inexperienced, lacking technique and perhaps have vocal health issues (including poor vocal habits). Some merely have weak pitch and need ear-training which soon produces a big improvement. Some self-professed drones turn out to have excellent singing pitch, indicating that the term ‘tone deaf’ is not well-understood.

Of course, for the rare new student who is genuinely tone deaf I now have ways to help them. They learn to hear when they are or are not singing in unison (ie on the same note with an instrument or other voice), which genuine drones can’t do to save their lives at first. They learn to sing the correct note after it’s played for them. They learn to sing short scales and broken chords (triads), and how to sing against other notes.

This takes a lot of dedication and not a little bit of trust. Trust because the results may not show for months.

One caveat: the genuine tone deaf drones who achieved their aim of holding a tune would likely still not be able to sing in some choirs. But the sense of achievement and relief is palpable.

Learning to sing of course deepens anyone’s enjoyment and engagement with music. Anyone who develops their voice, whether starting as a drone or not, can also look forward to making lots of music using an instrument. Perhaps clarinet, or guitar/vocal?

It’s not entirely false to say ‘everyone can sing.’ With dedication and very special one-on-one tuition over several months even tone deaf drones can learn to sing. But I hope people will stop suggesting that everyone just needs a bit more confidence. That’s how you set people up for a huge fail.

I wish music educators would get to grips with the reality of this issue and develop a working solution instead of glossing over it.

One day I will have to codify all this and publish a method but I have a lot of original music to publish first.

Mx Margaret D. Jones
MusB(UWA), DipEd, LTCL, ATCL, AMusTCL, AMusA
Associate composer, AMC
www.mixmargaret.com

Triple Blast from Past at Fairday 2018

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Triple blast from the past! Yesterday at WA Pride Fairday I met up with three people from my adventures of many years ago (sorry, didn’t get pics): Alison Xamon, Louise Pratt, and Sarah Collins.
MDJ at TransFolk stall

Me wearing a T-shirt given to me by my ex-fianceé the day before (one of a couple of presents for house sitting while she and her kids took a holiday).

 

Alison is a current WA state upper house pollie for The Greens who I met yonks ago when she was convenor or something of a special committee with the State School Teachers Union. I was no longer a member of SSTU at that time but, along with another trans person, I was a committee member of B-Legits, an SSTU advocacy group for LGBTI teachers within the education department. I recall a gay man on the committee didn’t want transgender and intersex people or issues included in any way; somehow Alison’s powers of diplomacy won the day.

I knew Louise around that time, too, through all the advocacy work myself and many others were doing to get law reform. Now a Senator in Canberra, in those days she was a WA state upper house member (MLC, like Alison is now), for the Labor Party. What a smart and good-hearted person she is! If she ever writes her biography that will indeed be an interesting read!

Louise went to the same high school as me here in Mundaring (many years after me), and Alison just told me her family were living in Mundaring when she was born. I spent most of my childhood here and since 2011 I’ve been house sitting all around the Shire (and now also boarding). So there must be something about the water or air up here.

Around that time (turn of the century) I was an office bearer of TransWest: The Transgender Association of WA and the International Foundation for Androgynous Studies (IFAS). Both were self funded groups. As part of my committee involvement I met many intersex people in person and a large number online. Through this and literature searches I learnt a lot about intersex variations and the many issues intersex people face. Along with others I introduced the word and concept of intersex to the members of the WA parliament. We were told none of them, not even the openly gay or lesbian members, had ever heard of intersex people.

Despite lots of intense effort by many people to get law reform for LGBTI people the progress was slow. Nevertheless, important groundwork was laid, such as educating politicians, bureaucrats and police (see the link below for the history of that activity).

Three giant mannequins: enby, man, woman.

Three giant mannequins: enby, man, woman.The fantastic duo on stage is Gypsy Lou.

Sarah, a bassoonist, was in the second choir I founded, called Girls, Guys & Others: The GGO Quire. Over a period of eleven months in 2001 the membership included eight intersex or male-born or female-born transgender or transsexual people, among a membership primarily of cisgender people (ie. non-trans persons). The quire’s repertoire ranged through pop music, ninth century organum, sixteenth century motets, negro spirituals, and music composed by Sarah and myself, two of three members with a composition degree.

Sarah now works for Living Proud, LGBTI Community Services of WA, formerly GLCS. Which reminds me I went to a 22-week volunteer telephone counselling course with GLCS in 2002, though I never did take up counselling. I was the first trans or non-cisgender person to complete the course.

Here’s a link to a big page about those days, including stuff about the GGO Quire, TransWest, IFAS and other LGBTI activities in WA. http://mixmargaret.com/watgtsintersex-history-western…

This blog post:

Permalink: http://mixmargaret.com/blog/2018/11/04/triple-blast-fro…-at-fairday-2018/

Shortlink: https://wp.me/p5Rs9D-9L

House Concert, USA order, exams, vibes

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I’ve had a great few days, feeling the love.

It began on Tuesday when I took my very first online order for sheet music: one copy of my re-published book of dodecaphonic piano solos, Child’s Play, sold to a masterful pianist and teacher in the USA. I was so pleased I put an extra one in the envelope. Must get on to making videos of that group of pieces!

Friday morning came another novelty: my very first paid House Concert. I’ve played background piano for parties before but this time it was a genuine recital with me as the star billing.

MDJ at piano

Friday afternoon: piano accompanying for a couple of young music students doing exams at the AMEB. What’s so unusual about that? They paid me DOUBLE what I asked.

Who cares about money? Anyone who knows me knows I’ve dialled down my own need for income. The less you spend, the less time you need to spend to earn the folding stuff. But it really is the thought that counts and it was great to work with such thoughtful people. The mother didn’t ring and say “My kids have exams next Thursday, can we fit in one rehearsal as well?” No; she said “My kids have exams in five weeks. Can you come to rehearse four times?” My faith in humankind was rekindled, and then she paid double and they all gave me chocolates and a card! Surely, the excellent playing standard of her kids is no coincidence.

The house concert was organised with only four weeks’ notice but finding material to play was easy as I’ve been exploring a big repertoire in many recitals over the last two and a half years.

My programme featured four original works, plus pieces by Bach, Debussy, and Schubert. We also had a sing-along of my in-progress arrangement of Londonderry Air, with new lyrics. The audience and the host were absolutely stoked with the whole performance.

A non-camera shy section of audience.

What a joy it is to be so appreciated, and what a stark contrast that is to the insults I sometimes get.

I expect every year about this time to get tapped on the shoulder to donate my time and expertise to play piano for some worthy cause. It happens to every musician. People say ‘Please do it for free, it will be great exposure/experience/practice/publicity for you.’ Yair, right!

In reality they don’t value our expertise and/or they want something for nothing. It’s a huge insult. They pay thousands of dollars for a venue and publicity but peanuts for the players. What are they saying? “We need a stage, but you’re not worth paying for.”

Being asked to play for nothing is not a complement, it’s a tremendous insult. It’s ALWAYS an insult and people should be ashamed of themselves for daring to suggest any skilled musician should play for peanuts.

I ration myself to no more than one free gig per year, by invitation only. That’s MY invitation, not someone else’s. That is, I offer to play for free sometimes. Insulting me automatically disqualifies any application.

Sigh. Deep breath. I think of my upcoming residency at a cafe. More fun soon!

Two years of piano recitals comes to an end

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Classical Music, Old and New

I’m sorry to disappoint my small band of followers who I’ve had the pleasure and honour of playing for since early 2016. You’ve heard me in various local venues, sometimes braving very cold conditions, and some have made 160 km round trips. Thank you for your loyalty! For the time being I’m putting on hold my classical piano recitals so I can focus more on composing and publishing my own music.

Since emailing over 400 people about cancelling my recitals scheduled for 16 September and 18 November 2018 in Mundaring in the Perth Hills, Western Australia, I’ve had a couple of unexpected questions. One person asked if this meant I was also giving up teaching, and another wondered if I was ill. Yikes! Human nature, filling-in gaps and making stuff up! To clarify: still teaching, feel remarkably healthy (mentally and physically).

I suppose people wonder why I would cancel if I’m not ill. You must remember that each recital is a major investment of time & energy, and ‘brain real estate.’ I am now so enthusiastic about composing and arranging that I just can’t contemplate all that practice. Every time I sit down to practice I soon stop practicing; I pick up a pencil and resume composing. This composing thing will have to run its course before I can get back into serious playing. When that happens I might put on a recital with fairly short notice (but don’t hold your breath).

In just over two years (May 2016 to July 2018) I performed twelve times, each time playing long programmes of standard repertoire and my own compositions. There were ten recitals in the Hills or Wheatbelt areas outside of Perth, Western Australia in Toodyay, Chidlow, Mundaring and Forrestfield. Two of these were with one or two associate artists, my very talented friends Toni Arndt (soprano) and Naomi Millett (classical guitar).

Many composer names appeared in multiple programmes, both because I played other works by the same composer and because some items were repeated at other venues. The composers were myself, J. S. Bach, Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Scott Joplin, Felix Mendelssohn, Mozart, Mussorgsky, Ravel, and Schubert. From these twelve composers 66 solo piano works were performed, not counting items repeated in subsequent programmes. Wow, I didn’t know I’d played so many pieces over those couple of years until I added it all up. Even so, this list is only a fraction of what I may one day perform.

My YouTube channel has some videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz318nZdr520zMNK6GNfnjQ Precise details of the items played at each recital are at appearances-performances.

I played long programmes for a renewal of wedding vows at Woodbridge (music-for-renewal-of-wedding-vows-peggies-passing) and a complicated wedding ceremony in the function centre in John Forrest National Park (blog coming soon). In the middle of the latter ceremony the couple insisted I play my 3-minute composition “Rainbows Over Hovea” in its entirety. Everyone had to stop and listen!

I’ve also played for several special days at Yallambee Aged Care and accompanied music exam students at Governor Stirling SHS, something I also did at Eastern Hills SHS in 2013 (I attended both these schools myself a hundred years ago). Since 2014 I have played a few times with the Hills Choir as accompanist or soloist and I’ll accompany them for their December concert coming up.

I will still be available to play for wedding ceremonies, students doing exams, and choirs. Perhaps house concerts? Still also available for teaching piano, singing and music theory, plus house sitting and pet minding.

Will blog soon about my current compositions in progress.

Child’s Play: eight dodecaphonic piano pieces

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Reuben's Big Day Out, from Child's Play

Educational piano music book by Mx M D Jones.

Child’s Play is eight dodecaphonic piano pieces including a duet and a trio, all based on a 12-note row. Some pieces are genuinely atonal while others sound more neo-tonal. The Greedy Row Snake used to be in the AMEB’s exam syllabus for grade one and has probably been played by 10,000 students (23,000 copies were sold of their exam book which included Greedy as the last piece).

BLOG UPDATE November 2018: I now have three YouTube videos where I talk about the pieces and then play them.

Or have a listen at SoundCloud (also free):

Upside-Downs
The Greedy Row Snake

Visit the music page for Child’s Play, with more samples to view or listen to.

Reuben’s Big Day Out is dedicated to former Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating, whose dog, Reuben, was the subject of many questions from the opposition in federal parliament in the 1990s.

The pieces cover a range of levels from pre-initial to about grade 6 or 7, and include a trio where a novice can sit at the piano between experienced students and play a previously-learnt solo (Upside-Downs) which fits into a new piece.

Study instructions for Child’s Play

Upside-Downs, from Child's Play by MDJ

A partially completed chart is included for studying the tone row. Students can fill-in some of the missing rows using a pencil and match them to the pieces they are learning.

The 12-tone style or method was developed in the 1920s by Arnold Schoenberg. Typically, such music is freely dissonant and, unlike some of Child’s Play, deliberately atonal. The technique was developed further by many composers through the twentieth century.

Performance grouping suggestions

The eight pieces of Child’s Play were originally intended to be played as individual items in programmes with a mix of pieces chosen from the works of many composers, not as a complete set. However, they can well be grouped into small sets. Here are some suggestions.

Four Easy Pieces from Child’s Play (or Three… or Two…).

Pre-initial to about grade one or two:
Upside-Downs (played twice)
A Lazy Day
The Greedy Row Snake
Reuben’s Big Day Out

Five Pieces from Child’s Play (or Four… etc)

About grade two to grade seven:
Reuben’s Big Day Out
Homage to Webern
Homage to Schoenberg
Clouds (as a solo)
Alone in the Dark Forest (as a solo)

Clouds was conceived as a duet (one piano, two players) but a skilful pianist can play it solo. Alone in the Dark Forest, given in the book twice as a trio and a duet, can also be played solo by a pianist with a big hand span using the adjustments shown in certain bars.

Duets from Child’s Play (or Duet and Trio from Child’s Play)

Play Clouds and Alone in the Dark Forest as written, perhaps prefaced by Upside-Downs and other pieces.

To purchase my music:

HMP secure online purchase via Shopify http://www.mixmargaret.com/shopify-links-for-mdj.html

Or use the Printable Order Form (or email) if you prefer to pay using a cheque or a direct bank transaction http://www.mixmargaret.com/HMP-printable-order-form.html

Comments welcome.

Music for Renewal of Wedding Vows & Peggie’s Passing

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This was my idea of fun: playing my favourite classical music and getting paid for it. I even managed to sneak in a couple of originals, “Puck at Parkerville” and “Rainbows Over Hovea,” which are very bright, bubbly, happy pieces.

MDJ at piano

Me at the piano

A few days ago Kelly & Marcus renewed their wedding vows twelve years into their marriage. This time they had two lovely daughters, Maya and Zoe, to help them with the ceremony.

Marcus renewing his wedding vowsI’ve been teaching piano to Marcus and his daughters so I was very happy to take on the role of pianist for the ceremony.

I hope to do more playing like this. The original intention was to play the repertoire from my 16-month Soul Tree Organic Cafe residency (sadly, that cafe exists no more). However, it quickly became apparent the occasion was more like a party, so much more lively music was called for.

We’d already agreed on a couple of items for special points in the event, being Pachelbel’s Canon in D and Debussy’s Clair de lune, which are not exactly exciting though they are very lovely. So for the rest I played other selections which happened to be in the scores I’d brought with me.

Riverside at Woodbridge Cafè & Restaurant. Above the tables you can see vineyards on the other side of the Swan River.
www.facebook.com/riversideatwoodbridge

I was told by several people my playing was “Perfect, like a CD.” I guess ‘perfect’ has become a relative term! It wasn’t quite note perfect but I did play musically.

The happy occasion came just two days after a very sad one. My fiancée, Jenny, said goodbye to her dearly beloved mother at a very moving funeral service attended by a large contingent of family and friends. It was a privilege to make recordings of Clair de lune and Für Elise for Peggie’s service.

One day I must revisit these and many other works and make some serious recordings for my first proper CD. A couple of times Peggie had urged me to record an original item, “Reuben’s Big Day Out,” and send it to former PM Paul Keating, to whom it is dedicated. (Note to self: must get on to that.)

Peggie Nairn was a much-loved lady I only knew for about a year and half, though we did have some long talks. She cared deeply for all her close and extended family and welcomed me into that family right from the start. So thoughtful and always thinking of others. She is sorely missed.

Supporting the Institution of Marriage. A Trans Perspective

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Our unusual take on marriage equality for same-sex, transgender and intersex couples in Australia. Jenny and I can and will marry, but many others are simply not allowed to under the current law. See below for lots of links.

Unless the process gets struck down in the High Court on 5th & 6th September 2017, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will conduct the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, using the names & addresses of voters on the electrol roll aged 18 years or older.

Below is the transcript of our Facebook video, made by Jenny and myself.

Jenny & Margaret
From Jenny & Margaret’s YouTube video, with background piano music by Margaret: “Rainbows Over Hovea.”

JEN: Hello. I’m Ms Jenny Nairn.

MDJ: And I’m Mix Margaret Jones.

JEN: My fiancée Margaret is an androgyne. I am a cisgender woman. Margaret and I make a great couple; all my family love her.

MDJ: It is wrong to claim allowing marriage equality for same-sex couples, and trans and intersex people, will erode or somehow damage the institution of marriage. Nothing could be further from the truth.

JEN: This debate is about marriage equality. It’s about two people who want to seal their relationship in marriage, regardless of their gender.

MDJ: In reality the campaign against marriage equality is an attempt to suppress us, to put us back in the bottle and make us invisible again.

JEN: Marriage rates for heterosexual and cisgender people, that is, non-transgender people, have been historically low for decades with fewer couples getting married and divorce rates high. This has had serious effects on families and extended families. I know this for myself as I have been divorced for fourteen years with two young children, and it was difficult! But I’m looking forward to getting married again.

MDJ: Allowing same-sex, transgender and intersex couples to use the civil contract known as marriage will enhance the concept of the family. LGBTI families form in many ways and they include blended families with children from previous relationships. These children should not be denied a happy and secure family life.

[Update: “Children of same-sex parents enjoy better levels of health and wellbeing than their peers from traditional family units, new Australian research suggests. In what they described as the largest study of its type in the world, University of Melbourne researchers surveyed 315 same-sex parents and 500 children about their physical health and social wellbeing.” See http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-05/children-raised-by-same-sex-couples-healthier-study-finds/5574168 ]

Accepting the reality of our inherent or intrinsic equality as LGBTI people, because despite unequal treatment we are and always have been equal, and allowing us to marry, will surely boost the concept and practice of marriage.

JEN: Marriage, as a social contract pre-dates all modern religions by thousands of years and there is no reason why churches should have any veto over it. They do not have a monopoly on love.

Modern marriage is about love, and nurturing relationships, and I think we can all agree that these are good things. But, until very recent times marriage was not usually about love and caring at all. It was all about protecting women and children as objects owned by men—nothing to do with protecting women and children for their own benefit and nothing to do with loving couples. We want to marry for the modern reasons of love and nurturing.

MDJ: The current marriage law has caused great hardship to many transgender and intersex Australians. Often trans people are required to get divorced in order to change their legally documented sex or gender. Many of us have been forced to divorce our loved ones so we can change our official identification. This is much worse and more frustrating than you might imagine as these identification changes are crucial in many ways to our well-being, and the well-being of our families.

Some intersex Australians have birth certificates which identify their sex as ‘indeterminate,’ rather than as male or female. They may have no disability whatsoever, yet they may not [are not allowed to] marry simply because marriage is still only between a man and a woman.

It’s inappropriate to name a non-binary or enby [N.B.] person like myself as a ‘husband’ or a ‘wife,’ yet that is what the current law requires.

JEN: Some of us will marry in a religious ceremony because some of us are Christian (such as myself), orJewish, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist and so on. We might even use a church or some other place of worship.

Changing the law to enable marriage equality will help to save the modern social institution of two people in love coming together in a civil legal contract to properly secure the future of themselves and their families.

TOGETHER: Please vote YES
MDJ: for marriage equality in Australia for same-sex, transgender and intersex couples if you want to preserve and strengthen the institution of marriage.

TOGETHER: Vote YES
JEN: if you want to support children growing up in loving families with committed parents.

TOGETHER: Vote YES
MDJ: if you want all couples and their children to have the same rights to hospital visits, shared taxation, inheritance and many other entitlements.

JEN: When people are treated equally, everyone benefits. Let’s get equality for ALL couples in Australia who want to formally commit to each other.

Thank you.

MDJ: Please check you are registered for the postal vote by 24th of August 2017, and get your ballot posted back well before the 7th of November, that’s the deadline. Please see the links for more information on how to do that and for explanations of the terms we’ve used such as Mx (Mix), androgyne, cisgender, transgender, intersex, enby, and non-binary.

===================================

Video written & spoken by Ms Jenny Nairn (cisgender woman) & Mx Margaret D. Jones (non-binary transgender enby/androgyne).

Music: Rainbows Over Hovea © 2016, composed & performed by Margaret D. Jones, MusB(UWA), DipEd, LTCL, ATCL, AMusTCL, AMusA.

Please ensure you are registered for the Australian POSTAL plebiscite by 24 August 2017. To check your enrolment with the AEC, see https://check.aec.gov.au/

Ballot papers will start arriving in the mail from September 12. The postal vote closes 7 November. Please make sure you post it back promptly. Don’t let it gather dust!

To clarify: Although I’m an androgyne and the name on my birth certificate is “Margaret Dylan Jones,” I am legally male. This means Jenny and I can get married whenever we want, which is sadly not the case for so many other LGBTI people.

For links and info about the plebiscite/survey on marriage equality in Australia, and a brief glossary for the terms Mx (Mix), androgyne, cisgender, transgender, intersex, non-binary and enby, see http://mixmargaret.com/links/

See my major article about Mx or Mix, a non-binary transgender honorific title: About Mx, with Miss, Mrs, Mr, Ms, and the singular they

UWA Keyed Up! Day of Piano, & RSI

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I went back to my alma mater today to watch UWA Head of Keyboard and Performance Studies, Graeme Gilling, give masterclass tuition in the second annual Keyed Up! Day of Piano.

Graeme Gilling with student

What a great resource this is for piano students and teachers in Perth. Graeme’s many years of experience as a performer and teacher were in evidence as he gave sage advice to students ranging in age from young children through to late teens (and perhaps 20 year olds?), playing pieces from the early grades through to about grade seven or eight and perhaps one from the AMusA.

Topics covered, usually with several students, included voicing, rhythm & beat in mazurkas, balance, articulation, shaping phrases, and playing as if you were singing. Graeme made the point, often completely missed by students and teachers alike, that the only difference between a loud sound and a soft one was the speed with which the key goes down. So true and so counter-intuitive! The difference seems to be beyond human perception and so many people incorrectly think it has something to do with a vague notion about ‘force’ or ‘weight.’

Mx Margaret Dylan Jones

Mx Margaret Dylan Jones, that’s me.

A point made several times was that all pianists need to be careful to avoid getting repetitive strain injury (RSI), a descriptive term for an overuse injury also known as occupational overuse syndrome. While playing with wrists in an unnatural position (such as low, with the hands bent up) is not the only problem it is certainly asking for trouble. I had RSI about five years ago, caused mainly from a faulty piano technique but with poor computer mouse use a contributing factor. Then I discovered a much better technique for piano playing and now I’m practically symptom-free.

I don’t often get down to ‘The Flatlands’ so it was a little nostalgic for me to be in the Callaway Auditorium again. Professor John Exton’s black hemispherical acoustic baffles (diffusors?), installed just before I began studying for my degree there in 1979, are still hanging from the ceiling (see pic below), which no doubt contribute to the venue having such good acoustics. These students were so lucky to play there on a wonderful full-size Steinway grand. What a sound! But I wonder if anyone has thought to check the baffles for dust & dead insects. If they get heavy will they one day come plummeting down?

Callaway Auditorium at the University of Western Australia

Callaway Auditorium at the University of Western Australia

This annual event is highly recommended for all students and teachers. Feel free to comment below.

Marriage equality acceptance rings arrived

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We finally received our “Until we all belong” marriage equality acceptance rings from Airbnb.

Until we all belong marriage equality acceptance ring

Until we all belong marriage equality acceptance rings

“This incomplete ring symbolises the gap
in marriage equality that we need to close.

“Until the day comes when two people who love each other can celebrate that love through commitment, will you wear this ring and show your acceptance of marriage equality?”

Airbnb on eBay have been overwhelmed with orders so there was a big delay (two months for us), and somehow we ended up with sizes too small (that’s why they’re on our little fingers). But they’ll do.

Absolutely anyone can wear these rings in support of the LGBTIQ community’s case for marriage equality in Australia. They’re free apart from $3.50 postage each.

Jenny and I will get married whether the law changes or not. Wearing the acceptance rings is our way of showing support for all the many other lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) folk who don’t have our advantage.

https://untilweallbelong.com/the-acceptance-ring