The third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, was born.
Incidentally he played the violin and declared that music “is the favourite passion of my soul, and fortune has cast my lot in a country where it is in a state of deplorable barbarism.” To improve the state of music in America, Jefferson encouraged its practice, and music played an important role in the life of his family through the generations.
Born: Sir Joseph Banks, British naturalist and botanist
Born: Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, second Prime Minister of the UK
Died: Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, last member of the Medici family (b. 1667)
1743 was also the year that this violin was made. It is 265 years old.
Nicknamed the Carrodus was made by Guarnieri del Gesu in Cremona, Italy. If Stradivarius was the Leonardo of violin making then del Gesu was Michelangelo. Del Gesu (of Jesus) was an irascible genius whose instruments are even more highly sought after than those of Stradivarius. This instrument is now on Australian soil and an anonymous benefactor owns it. The spine-tingling fact about this instrument (apart from its value) is that it is made from the same tree as the il Cannone which was owned by Paganini. Indeed, it’s considered feasible that this instrument was also owned by Paganini but he lost it gambling.
“His pale, long-drawn face with its hollow cheeks, his thin lips that seemed to curl into a sardonic smile, piercing expression fo his eyes which were like flaming charcoals, gave him a diabolic appearance...” The ‘nail in the coffin’, so to speak, was that Paganini refused to see a Bishop that had come to give him the final sacraments when he was on his deathbed. Paganini shooed him away, insisting he was not dying at all. When he did die, the church refused to allow him to be buried on holy ground
I am honoured to be here to address you, and indeed I have my own Davos Connection:
In 1986 on a concert tour of Europe I took myself skiing in Davos, The book I was reading at the time mysteriously and remarkably mirrored the climb my train was making out of the Rhine Gebiet up through the mountains to Zurich and onto Davos. It wasn’t until I described my encounter to an Aus. girl later that night was I made aware that unknowingly I had been living the book I was reading. Quite coincidentally I was reading the opening chapter the Arrival beautiful description of travelling up through the Swiss mountains. It was no other than Thomas Mann’s Der Zauberberg (The Magic Mountain), which is a microcosmic study of symphonic proportions of the decaying Europe below. And of course it is based in a sanatorium in Davos.
Shortly after its publication in 1924 some rather important developments were taking place in our ‘faraway land’. Dame Nellie Melba had passed away in 1931, but an even more important series of events occurred which marks to date the most important climb in the culture of Australian music known as the Heinze Era 1932-1945 which was overseen by Prime Ministers James Henry Scullin, ALP, 1929 through to John Curtin up to 1945.
A great launch pad and a very encouraging start
In a recent book by Martin Buzacott (The Rite of Spring: 75 Years of ABC Music-making, ABC Books) we can read the story of the evolution of the state symphonies we have today.
But after 76 years we’ve not expanded, not one iota. The six symphony orchestras we formed in 1932 with a population of six and a half million (now it’s 21 million) are the same and only symphony orchestras extant today. Indeed their survival is constantly threatened.
For some comparative statistics consider:
Finland, population 5.1 million: 30 professional orchestras
USA, populations 301 million: 900 amateur and 300-400 professional orchestras
Venezuela, population 27 million: 200 youth orchestras and at least 23 professional orchestras (in the 1970s there were two orchestras in Venezuela).
Quite rightly there is enormous concern about our ‘outer ecology’ as you’ve just heard from the Governor General – we’re all alarmed about the impact of global warming, but I think we also need to consider our ‘inner ecology’, where ‘cultural cooling’ is just as real a threat to our well-being.
In this country there is an enormous imbalance between sporting prowess and cultural endeavour. Consider this:
The elite arts set is viewed as a privileged few, upper echelon, crème de la crème, snobs, snoots, elitists, pretenders, egotists, stuffed shirts and Chardonnay sipping wankers. Your progeny ought to be prevented from associating with these types.
The elite sports set, on the other hand, is seen as: the best, cream o’ the crop, our heroes, the future, something to shed a tear about, our obsession, worthy of investment, winning for our country. Our kids should be encouraged to follow in their hallowed footsteps.
Incidentally, in Buzacott’s book he describes the ‘agricultural roughness’ of conductor EJ Roberts, nicknamed ‘Shellshock’ and better known as a golfer than conductor who led the National Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra at the opening ceremony for the new Australian Broadcasting Commission on 1 July 1932.
We have become used to these negative sentiments in this country and they fuel an entrenched perception that the arts are elitist, exclusive, and indeed a burden on a society which has an ever increasing challenge to contain the disparity between the haves and the have-nots. It’s a luxury handbag rather than an essential item.
To indicate how easy it is to reinforce this sentiment in Australia consider this ad brought out by the Liberal Party in 1996: “A vote for Labor is a vote for the elite arts.”
Now just for a moment consider swapping ‘elite arts’ with ‘elite sports’ or elite immigrants or kooris.
Or recently a State Premiere staked his credentials on this: “I’m not into opera, I go to the footy.”
Since when were the two mutually exclusive?
Well, I surf and I play the violin.
I’ve been asked to talk about cultural leadership and I do believe that at this point in my career, advocacy is the best form of leadership.
I don’t have much time here and I have been asked to play for you some more so I’ll cut to the chase and be specific. I’ll leave the universal to JS Bach which I’ll play at the end.
In the strongest possible terms I am advocating a national music curriculum to be advanced unencumbered by the states’ educational differences and a visionary and far-reaching cultural infrastructural program be formulated that will help spawn a new generation of Australians that is culturally adept, well informed, open minded and with good reason proud of what we do on this land rather than what we do with it. A national smartening-up, not dumbing-down. Our exemplary sporting achievements – we all know that we punch way above our weight at present we rank number five on the Olympic ladder – ought to – and can be – matched by our cultural endeavours.
Currently in Australia up to three in four children in Government Primary Schools have no music teachers. That equates to over 700,000 children missing out, and often they are the ones who need support the most.
Kim Williams, CEO of Foxtel and a passionate advocate for music education was active participant in the 2020 summit which he believes lives and continues. In a recent speech he said:
If Australia is to continue to care about and embrace the notion of egalitarian ideals as the foundation of our culture then there is much work to be done.
In my view … the quality of that system will have several absolutely fundamental tenets:
First there have to be reliable national standards and national curriculum frameworks – and that is essentially non negotiable;
2) There have to be close delivery connections to local schools and school districts including the empowerment of school principals to appoint and assess teachers so that their performance is directly accountable in the same way that performance accountability is fundamental to all modern commercial and public life;
3) A mixed system will continue but it has to be one where the resource imbalance between public and private in the interests of fairness and equity must correct the systemic distortions that have eroded public education;
4) The whole approach and attitudinal fabric to the role, remuneration, training, assessment and reinforcement of teachers requires wholesale renovation so that we capture the right talented people who make teaching their first choice of career and we ensure that it is a satisfying and fulfilling one subsequently;
5) There must be an unwavering commitment to excellence – one which ensures that the talented are encouraged and appropriately reinforced; and
Finally there must be a real commitment to the primary importance of mainstream delivery of the arts and sport from infant education on as the ying and yang essential to a fit, intellectually vigorous and well resourced nation that is healthy and empowered to confront its challenges effectively.
He goes on to say:
I think I can assume safe common territory with everyone here today in saying that Australia is imbued with an unusually talented resource of active and original creative individuals quite disproportionate to its size. However that resource has an uneven education and resource framework compromising the nation’s capacity to retain talent and drive consistent effort that evolves and improves as boldly as it must to serve the people’s best interest.
Try telling the kids of Wyong Public in NSW, that your vote could be a vote for the elite arts. Consider this:
Case Study - Wyong Public School
The Song Room a private organization whose vision whose vision statement is that all Australian children have the opportunity to participate in music and the arts to enhance their education, personal development and community involvement.
Wyong Public School Students to Learn the Violin and Increase Enrolments!
In early 2007 The Song Room secured the services of a string teacher one day a week at Wyong Public School on the Central Coast of NSW, to teach students to play the violin,
The achievements were beyond the wildest dreams of the whole school community. Only ten months after the students commenced The Song Room program, the school now has in excess of 90 students from Years 3-6 playing in a string ensemble. All of the students in these groups have had opportunities to perform, not only at the weekly school assembly, but also performing at various local Festivals. The School’s 90 violinists also featured on the local news in November showing the remarkable achievements being made by students in learning the violin in such large numbers.
Graham Holmes, Principal, Wyong Public School:
“The children of Wyong Public School largely come from backgrounds where these music and creative arts opportunities cannot normally be afforded to them. It has been through the support of The Song Room that has given these children experiences that they could have previously only stood back and watch other children enjoy. They have grown in their self esteem, in their sense of self, in their aspirational outlooks and most importantly, in their love of music and performance.”
According to Graham, music and performing arts can transform a school:
“It can be the key that unlocks the talents of children and it can play a defining role in uplifting children’s self esteem, broadening their career and personal aspirations and impressing on them that they can too reach their potential, regardless of their personal life’s circumstances.”
For one student who earlier this year had to be removed for several months to a specialist behaviour facility for seriously disruptive, and at times, violent behaviour, The Song Room program has left an indelible mark on his psyche and has set him on a life trajectory of music and performance.
From violence to violins.
There exist a few great models in the world where a good music education opens up enormous vistas and opportunities. I encourage you to examine the Finnish education system on the one hand and the world shattering success of the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra program (El Sistema) comprising street kids – certainly nothing to do with the elite except in their playing.
We need to work with the media to engage all in musical activities.
The idea of designating one Australian town or city annually to be the ‘Cultural Capital’ would serve to focus and stimulate local artists. Take for example NSW’s third largest city, Wollongong, where we find a city with a broken heart, lying supine in a cultural coma with no cultural infrastructure, except for their local theatre. The local council had recently condemned their only venue suitable for orchestral and chamber music performance, the Wollongong town hall.
Making the arts an important concern for a whole community for even just a year would have far-reaching effects in such a city, serving to generate a cultural dialogue with the rest of the country and the wider world.
Let me finish with a quote from Alan Turing the father of the computer.
If the untrained infant’s mind is to become an intelligent one, it must acquire both discipline and initiative… To convert a brain or machine into a universal machine is the most extreme form of discipline. Without something of this kind one cannot set up proper communication. But discipline is certainly not enough in itself to produce intelligence. That which is required in addition we call initiative. This statement will have to serve as a definition.
It’s no moot point that every senior secondary school student should have access to a computer at school.
So wouldn’t it be wonderful if placed next to that computer on every student’s desk were a musical instrument.
I’ll leave you with Bach’s Chaconne.
This is a transcript of a speech RT made at the Australian Davos Connection's Leadership Retreat.
