Music – IT'S ABOUT THE JOURNEY………..

It has been a busy few months since we returned from our road trip and sadly the blog has been neglected. However, in a couple of weeks we are travelling to Japan for a month and so blogging will, once again, be on the agenda. Meanwhile I thought I would reflect on a fabulous little trip I took in July to our beautiful Orpheus Island on the Great Barrier Reef.

July is a wonderful month here in North Queensland. It is winter and the weather is glorious with days of around 25C and cool nights. There are many festivals and events planned for this time of year and one of my favourite is the Australian Festival of Chamber Music ( http://afcm.com.au ). Now in its 29th year this Festival brings musicians from all over the world to perform here in Townsville in a variety of venues ranging from an intimate space at The Ville for Conversations and Music, to full blown concerts at the Civic Theatre as well as performances in Cathedrals, Schools, on Magnetic Island and even in the street. A firm favourite, though, is the day trip to Orpheus Island, a small, secluded island in the middle of the Palm Island group about two hours from Townsville. Here a few musicians play on the beach – their ‘stage’ being between large granite rocks, on the sand and shaded by large trees opposite the ocean with fantastic fringing coral all around. The audience can choose to either sit on the beach or the rocks to listen – or even to swim and watch the whole event from the warm waters of the Reef.

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This part of the island is set apart from the very exclusive resort and the ferry arrives at Yanks Jetty onto the small beach at Hazard Bay. The trip across from Townsville passes several small islands, mostly uninhabited, and it is here that we watch for whales. The Humpbacks come to this region every year to calve and fatten up the babies before returning to Antarctica in November to spend the summer months there. This year was no different, we were lucky to see three of these magnificent creatures.

Excitement builds and everyone goes onto the top deck to try and spot the mother and calf – then suddenly she is there, right in front of you!

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It is hard to leave the whales but the Captain has to start up the motors and continue on to our destination. After all, we were all there for the concert (as well as the whales!). Once at the island everyone wanders onto the beach and selects a spot to sit – either in the shade or in the sun and just relax.

Some decide to swim or snorkel – but for me, having lived in the tropics for a long time, it was a bit chilly this year!

Among the performers was Wu Man – who played an ancient Chinese instrument called the Pipa – note the improvised music stand!

Rachel Clegg played the oboe, Roberto Carillo-Garcia was a dream on the guitar, Sally Walker was on the flute and Martin Kuuskmann played the bassoon. They were all excited about this unusual venue for the concert and loved the informality of it all.

For these musicians, who hailed from the UK, Canary Islands, China/USA and Estonia/USA, the whole experience was one they will never forget.

Imagine sitting on a rock to listen to world class musicians! Or testing the water before you settle down to sublime music….

Last year even the artists themselves couldn’t resist the water

Finally it is time to board the boat and head back to town – along the way a fabulous dinner is served along with fine wines and small, tasty desserts.

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Farewell Orpheus – until next year!

It’s strange how music can bring alive so many long buried memories. The haunting music “Dream of Olwyn” fills my study as I am remembering just why this piece means so much to me. I was in my twenties and living in an idyllic village in the depths of the English countryside. You can picture it with thatched roofed cottages, winding lanes, quaint little shop fronts, a village pond where ducks, well fed by local children, float serenely, and an ancient village church dating from Norman times is the focal point of the community. In essence this is chocolate box scenery and it actually exists. The music reminds me of a very close friend who passed away several years later, in the prime of his life.

Likewise tracks from singer Kathleen Ferrier or pianist Charlie Kunz, recordings of popular musicals or jazz from the American Greats bring back vivid memories of my parents when they were young. Music was always playing on the LP record player, styluses had to be changed and records carefully cleaned to ensure no scratch marks would interfere with the quality of the recording. I grew up loving all genres and to this day music is a constant in my life.

During the Swinging Sixties, when I lived in London and was part of that hedonistic society; mini skirts were the height of fashion, Twiggy with her huge black eyes, short hair and even shorter skirts defined all that was modern, Mary Quant was a favourite designer, and model Jean Shrimpton was the “face of the sixties. Popular music came over Pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline and the pop stars of the time were The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Freddie and The Dreamers and The Who. Today I am transported back to those times whenever I hear a track from those artists and it reminds me of the carefree and unrestricted life that we all led.

That brings me to thoughts of my parents and the profound wish that they were alive today so I could tell them how much I loved them and share the joys and tribulations that life has brought me in the years since they have gone. Fortunately they loved to keep memorabilia and I have well documented photo albums, books, letters, cards, diaries and even cassette tapes which we used to send instead of writing letters at one point. This keeps many memories alive and I am attempting to document their lives so that my grandchildren will know more about their ancestors and about life before, during and after the Second World War.

I was inspired by the post Life Slips Away which expresses so well the feelings that I have on the subject of Death and Dying. I have realised that as I have reached different stages in my life, my priorities have changed and what was important then is no longer of any consequence now. It is a journey we all take and the realisation that life is precious and should be lived to the full without regrets is something we should hopefully all come to terms with in the end.

“It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end” Ursula E Guin