A tribute to my horn-playing father

When I was in mid high school, I had the opportunity to join the Adelaide Uni Conservatorium Orchestra, because I was taking single studies at the time from Patrick Brislan. Simultaneously on Saturday mornings was basketball, which I was getting pretty good at. My parents sat me down and said, “Paul, it’s your decision.” I looked in my heart, which said “basketball”, and I looked at my father’s eyes, which said “orchestra”.

I replied, “orchestra”. I soon forgot about basketball, and I can still recall the awe that I held for Kent Fisk, who played a flawless solo (THE solo) in Tchaikovsky’s fifth for the first concert.

For over twenty years, my father was a musical mentor for me. I played on my own in a wind quintet, but we were a 1,2 team in the Burnside Symphony Orchestra, numerous Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and wind ensembles. St. Cuthbert’s Church, Prospect, where he was the Rector, frequently resonated with concerts that he organised – Strauss Wind Symphony, Dvorak Serenade, Mozart Octets. Not only did I learn so much from dovetailing to his very musical playing, he also ingrained in me rehearsal etiquette and the way in which musical groups can be led.

Sadly for both of us, when our positions eventually juxtaposed because he didn’t have the puff anymore and I was quite capable of playing first, the formula was broken – he found that playing low was difficult too due to having never done it for so long. Nonetheless, he continues to this day with his wind quintet, and as recently as February this year I played in a group with him for my parents’ diamond wedding anniversary.

So thank you Dad, for that look in your eyes which made me decide to extend my musical training, for your continued warm support of what I do, and for everything in between.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License