Art for the Music

Eve Duncan and I have been friends since teenagers and in the late 70’s we became a flute and guitar duo who played on the Mornington Peninsula at weddings, in restaurants and at private events.

Life changes and Eve moved a distance away with her daughters. While we remained in contact, meeting up to play became impossible and we both moved on in our creative lives. Eve studied composition and became an internationally awarded composer while teaching a new generation of musicians. I concentrated on my other creative bent of visual arts, mainly in textiles and my flute eventually disappeared to the back of the cupboard.

Serious injuries to my left shoulder and right wrist in a car accident at the end of 2014 required extensive rehabilitation. A chance comment to my hand therapist and then to my physio led to some thought about how I could play my flute and I left my physio’s room with the instructions “Heat, heat, heat, play the flute, no ice”. Neither realized I hadn’t played for 20 years, but my flute was liberated from the cupboard, and I began to play again. Both my artwork, in the new way I worked, and music became an important part of both my rehab and mental well being.

With grown children and modern roads it was easier to meet again with Eve and play. The magic was still there and we began to meet regularly. At the end of 2018 we recorded a CD, a mix of music from the past, arrangements and original compositions. I created an artwork in response to each piece for the accompanying booklet. The CD became a mix of Eve’s music, my artwork and the two of us playing together. The collaboration of art with the music began.

There was no point in broadening the repertoire for flute and guitar unless other flute or guitar players had access to the music. Scores of the arrangements and original pieces were compiled, with artwork at the start and finish of each piece, and sent to the Australian Music Centre for online purchase.

At the same time I was given a long term loan of a very special wooden flute with a tone that beautifully compliments the guitar, and some of our pieces were re recorded to be put on YouTube along with two new ones. Again opening them to a broader audience. I have created artworks for slide shows to accompany these pieces and as with all my work nothing is ever created in isolation. For each piece there are others waiting in the wings.