To celebrate the publication of her new book ‘Kindred Chords: Australian Musical Families’ Sydney Arts Guide invited its author Loretta Barnard to give readers a bit of a back story to how the book came together as well as mentioning some of the musical families that the book covers.Here are her reflections:
Music has always been an integral part of my life. My father is pioneering jazz trumpeter Bob Barnard and I don’t remember a time when music wasn’t playing in our home. My grandparents were also professional musicians and Bob’s brother Len went on to lead one of the seminal bands in Australian jazz history. We’re currently up to the fourth generation of musicians in the family – my two brothers, my cousin Rebecca and her son, and my two sons are professional musicians. I’m not a musician myself but have been writing about music and other arts-related topics for a number of websites for some years and when a colleague urged me to write a book about being part of a musical family, an idea began to take shape. Of course, there are many musical families in Australia, and I decided it was about time that musical families as a group garnered a bit of focused attention. Why not have a squiz at everyone?
With that in mind, I put together a list of families from across the musical spectrum, curious to discover whether there were any differences in how music permeated different families. I was aiming for a part-history, part-musical checklist, part-mini-biography – and I wanted to make it as inclusive as possible – but above all, I wanted to make it a celebration of family, and an exploration of the connectivity between members of families and the continuity of music through family lines.
So armed with my plan, I set off to make it all happen, aiming to complement my research with information gathered from personal interviews with a range of family members from a range of genres. Some families proved elusive and for a couple of families I had to rely on research only as the main players had passed away, including that most remarkable singer Gurrumul; but all the musicians who spoke with me were very obliging and expressed delight that someone was writing about musical families. I realised along the way that this is the first book of its kind in Australia. That is, rather than a book of rock and roll families or jazz, or country, or classical families and so on, Kindred Chords covers all those genres and many more; and it even has photographs.
In all, in short essays, I covered 27 musical families – although a few extra families are mentioned along the way. I spoke to rock musicians, jazz, classical, funk, pop and world musicians; I spoke with musical theatre great Tony Sheldon, himself part of a legendary show-biz dynasty – one that includes his mother Toni Lamond and aunt Helen Reddy. I had wonderful chats with country music star Bill Chambers, rocker Amy Findlay from Stonefield, baroque musician Jennifer Eriksson, oud maestro Joseph Tawadros, jazz drummer John Morrison (brother of James), and iconic popstar Patricia ‘Little Pattie’ Amphlett, to name only a few.
There were some surprises along the way, such as the fact that country music icon John Williamson’s daughter Ami trained as an opera singer, and that Tommy and Phil Emmanuel were their family’s breadwinners when they just children. There was heartbreak too. Beloved composer Nigel Westlake lost his youngest son in a most callous act of violence, and the beautiful baby daughter of Paul Field, whose family is the backbone of The Wiggles, was a victim of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. For those families, music played a crucial role in the healing process.
The thing that came across most forcefully from my conversations was that musicians are, at heart, deeply and singularly focused on their art; and no matter which genre they represent, musical families share so very many similarities. We tend to think of the differences between rock stars and classical musicians, between jazz players and country artists, but in truth they’re more similar than even perhaps they realise. Whether they’re self-taught or have been trained in the most prestigious music schools in the world, whether they write simple heartfelt songs or grand orchestral works, when it all boils down, the musicians in my book are all part of loving families where music is paramount.
The issue of genetics popped up a few times and it’s fascinating to hear what they think about whether there’s such a thing as a musical gene. A few families are steadfast in their belief that genetics plays a part in family musical continuity down the generations, but most of the musicians I spoke with maintain that pursuing a musical life is more the result of environment, of being immersed in music from the earliest age and being prepared to work hard to make a go of it. John Stone, father of indie-pop duo Angus and Julia Stone, feels that everyone has the capacity to become musicians, but those who are surrounded by music as they grow up and are encouraged to play are the ones with the advantage.
It was clear to me that the love and support of family plays a critical role in the success of musicians and performing artists in general, from rock stars the Young brothers (Easybeats, AC/DC) and Jimmy Barnes, to soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham and singer-songwriter Casey Donovan. And it’s not all about fame. Although you may not be familiar with some of the families who appear in Kindred Chords, rest assured that plenty of other people have. Just because you haven’t heard of someone doesn’t mean they’re not successful.
Writing Kindred Chords was a labour of love. It was a project in which I learned a huge amount – not just about music, but most tellingly, about just how similar one musical family is to another. Whatever a family’s particular soundtrack, the family ethos has been exactly the same. Music is life, life is music.
Here are some photos to be found in the book:
Featured image : Author Loretta Barnard with jazz maestro James Tawadros, acclaimed in classical, jazz and world music circles
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Title : Kindred Chords: Australian Musical Families
Author: Loretta Barnard
Publisher: Shooting Star Press: www.shootingstar.pub
Website : https://www.shootingstar.pub/books/kindred-chords-australian-musical-families/
