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A singular, defining musical memory is too difficult for Marjorie Nicholas OAM to recall – there are simply too many to choose from in her storied life as a barrister and solicitor, agricultural manager and keen musician.
‘Music was always part of my family life,’ Marjorie says. ‘My mother played the piano and church organ and sang, and my father was a brass bandsman from when he was 12 and maintained his interest in brass bands right throughout his life. He used to take me down to band practice from an early age.’
Music has the potential to create harmony in a world where there isn't any.
Marjorie has vivid recollections of music in her community from her childhood during the Second World War. An advanced pianist and vocalist, she had the privilege of accompanying and singing alongside two members of the Vienna Boys’ Choir, Otto Nechwatal and John Posthumus, who remained in regional Victoria after touring Australia.
It was after returning to Melbourne in 1973, after almost nine years in the Goulburn Valley, that Marjorie went on her first overseas trip with a friend.
‘We had booked the first couple of days in London, rented a car and drove down to the south of England,’ she recalls. ‘We arrived at Salisbury Cathedral just as the Evensong was beginning. It was totally unplanned, and as we went in, the choir stood up to sing the Mozart Ave Verum Corpus, a capella. It was just magical.’
Those special moments of hearing live music in sacred spaces ‘crop up when you don’t expect them,’ Marjorie says. ‘You can’t manufacture them. It’s really about listening, relating, communicating and realising that you’re not the only one that has an idea about something.’
It’s about realising that you’re not the only one that has an idea.
Marjorie finally was able to participate in playing chamber music by taking up the cello and performing in the Murray Conservatorium Orchestra for several years. It is this delight – of being a perpetual student in life – that feeds into her passion for Strike A Chord, financially supporting Wilma Smith’s position as Artistic Director of the competition.
‘I did have, from my early childhood right through, that continuity of music in my life, which has grown and changed directions and moved on in so many ways – I'm thankful for that,’ she says. ‘At the same time, I recognise that in my youth I was way up from what most people had.’
Wilma Smith and fellow jurors with the prizewinners of the Strike A Chord 2024 National Final. Photo credit: Lucien Fischer
Musica Viva Australia and Strike A Chord, Marjorie says, play an essential role in cultivating a lifelong love of music.
‘I want to give kids the opportunity to understand what collaboration in music is and where it can lead,’ she says. ‘It can lead them to lifelong friendships. They might go off and do other things, but music should, you hope, always be part of their lives. As with myself, music has been very much the soundtrack of my life all the way through and still is.’
‘I think music just has the potential to create harmony in a world where there isn't any.’
This is part of a series of Untold Stories, about the people behind the music at Musica Viva Australia. Play your part in the future story of Musica Viva Australia by making a gift in our 80th anniversary year. To discuss making a gift, please contact Matthew Westwood, mwestwood@musicaviva.com.au