Jan Gracie Mulcahy
About
Double Bass
AYO: 1957-1959
AYO National Music Camp: 1957-1959
Huge congratulations to AYO Alumna Jan Gracie Mulcahy whose powerful memoir Running in Stilettos with a Double Bass was published by Boolarong Press, Brisbane in December 2015. In addition to being a current donor and bequestor, Jan is generously donating a portion of the proceeds from her book sales through AYO to the 2016 International Tour Fund.
Jan’s professional music career included performing with the Charles Gray String Orchestra, Chelsea Opera Group (London), The Modern Symphony Orchestra (London), The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Canberra Symphony Orchestra. She believes music has given her joy, inspiration and a language that took her to places never dreamed of, such as performing Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Sydney Opera House for Queen Elizabeth in 1973. Jan now has a second career as a poet and creative writing teacher.
Q&A
Question: Where did you get the idea for the fantastic memoir title?
Answer The title comes from my two years in London when I literally ran with the bass to the Tube station because I was always late. I had a day job in hospitality and at night played in the orchestra pit of theatres in the West End. The stilettos were also a defiant way of flaunting my femininity in a male dominated profession.<br> <br> I studied with Eugene Cruft and played in the Chelsea Opera Group conducted by Sir Colin Davis in 1961. After I returned to Sydney I worked with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and had the opportunity to get some personal encouragement from Sir Mark Elder. Concurrently I worked with Sir Edward Downes and then in 1975 and 1976 in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under their Dutch maestro, Willem Van Otterloo. Becoming the first woman to play with the SSO continuously in 1975/76 was a special achievement.
Question: You’ve said the memoir deals with strong themes but is ultimately uplifting and inspiring.
Answer Yes, my memoir is dedicated to my first husband Eamon, a 21-year-old violinist/violist who was killed in a tragic car accident following our honeymoon in 1960; it’s also dedicated to my parents because their story is as important as my story. The themes of love and music run through the narrative from the beginning, but the strongest theme is overcoming loss. Love, marriage and death are usually experienced over many years. When they take place within the time frame of less than a month the shock causes repercussions that reverberate for a lifetime.<br> <br> The first half of the book is of my troubled childhood and the reader may wonder why such banal rural experiences should be included but that is exactly why. They allow the reader to see the contrast of my scholastic failure, an educational drop out to my later diligence as an adult music student and writer. I hope my memoir will inspire and encourage everyone who reads it to unlock their hidden creative potential no matter what their age or humble, their background may be.
Question: It must have been so exciting to have finally had your manuscript accepted.
Answer Absolutely; the memoir has had four professional editors over the 9 years since I published my family history in 2006. But that is the way a writer learns their craft by editing and rewriting. There were four rejections until I was short listed and finally in September, accepted by Dan Kelly at Boolarong Press who made the book available for Christmas 2015.<br> <br> I have been told my book is hard to put down and will inspire all who read it.
Question: It’s such a lovely gesture to donate some of the book sales to AYO.
Answer I have enormous gratitude to AYO and still feel the connection I had way back in the beginning. I also want to honour my first husband Eamon; he had such a bright musical future after his time with AYO which was tragically cut short. Enquiries about the memoir can be sent to alumni@ayo.com.au