WASO Assistant Concertmaster Margaret Blades talked to OUTinPerth about her career as one of Australia’s premier violinists and teaching the next generation.
OUTinPerth: What are your responsibilities as Associate Concertmaster?
Margaret Blades: There is a concertmaster, so I am basically the number two. That’s the colloquial way to put it. Probably a third of the year, I might be concertmaster. The rest of the time I sit next to the actual concertmaster and you lead the orchestra… you tune the orchestra, you liaise with the conductee who leads the string section. It is a pretty big job.
OiP: When you are leading the orchestra, what are you listening for?
MB: Generally, you listen to your own section, which is the first violin section – if people are rushing or if they are too late in an entry; if they are playing out of tune, and that could include yourself. As a whole as a section, you might clean things up a bit that the conductor hasn’t picked up because he is working with the whole orchestra. Generally, work with the first violin section and the violins and try to make it more musically… [searches for a word]… good.
OiP: You are a very accomplished violinist. How did you get your start?
MB: I started when I was 7. My mom bought a violin for my sister who is older than me. She didn’t take any interest, so I said, ‘oh I’ll learn.’ So, it was love at first sight if you like, but you know the road to true love doesn’t run smooth! And it has been a bit like that.
OiP: What has been the rough patches?
MB: The whole thing can be very rough. It is a very competitive industry and you just have to work so hard to be able to get a job. Even to get a job in an orchestra these days is hard because there are so many good players. You get disappointments along the way. You go in competitions and you don’t win. This happens to everybody. Loads of loads of challenges you have to face, but in the end you do it because of the music. Not wanting to sound cliché, that is the reality. Luckily, I’ve been stuck in a really fantastic job, with a really fantastic orchestra. I’m very happy because I feel like it has taken 20 years to get comfortable in the career, but now it’s happening.
OiP: You are originally from South Australia. So, how did you end up with the WASO and how does that compare to the broader Australian scene?
MB: I was Associate Concertmaster – I had the same job – in Adelaide for about 10 years. I was looking for a change because I’m actually from Adelaide and I’ve done a lot of touring around the world, but back in Adelaide, being in your hometown after a little while, I felt I needed a change. This job came up, and got appointed. I do have a sister who also plays for the orchestra. She plays flute. That was a factor, knowing there was other family here. Then this orchestra offered me more money. [laughs]
The orchestra here has a fantastic program. I don’t want to say better than Adelaide because that might not be… You have an exciting fantastic program with a lot of international artists and that is a really big draw card. I think this orchestra is really going somewhere on the national if not international scene. So, comparable with Sydney and Melbourne.
OiP: What are some of your favourite pieces or favourite performances?
MB: Every week you are playing something that suddenly becomes your favourite piece. It just depends what week you ask me, what my favourite is.
OiP: And probably what your mood is too.
MB: Exactly.
OiP: What have you taken away from the work of other people in the industry?
MB: Often you meet them and get to know them and you realize they are just normal people. A lot of making it in the industry is number 1 being fantastic obviously. You have to have the talent, and you have the stage presence and the charisma. But not only that, to make it big on the world scene you have to have an incredible agent and marketing team behind you to make it really big. So, you realize that all these people have all these ex-factor things that you need to be a performer, but they are also lucky to be in the right place at the right time, to arrive at a fantastic agent or get fantastic opportunities. You realize they are just normal people who worked really hard. I have some students who given they are at the right place at the right time will be fantastic. The stars have to align all at the right time.
OiP: How has teaching contributed to your career?
MB: I love teaching… but only when the students practice. And it does help your career, it honestly helps you as a violinist because you are always looking at ways that you can make things better. My unfulfilled dreams come true in my students in years to come. I can direct them in ways I feel I wasn’t directed or that I could have been directed better. I think teaching is really important, as long as you see it as a vocation and not as a way to fill up your time or pay bills on the side.
OiP: How do you define success when you come off a performance?
MB: Every performance is different. Sometimes I feel good about a performance, but that is not necessarily what the audience thinks. People will say that was fantastic, and I’ll think ‘What!? I don’t feel great about that at all.’ Some performances I get great feedback, and I think I don’t want to live through that again because someone gives me a recording of something that I did. You do get really sensitive about things. Sometimes you play fantastically then you listen to it again and it is not so great. So, it is very hard to judge what is a really great performance. And no performance is ever the same, ever. You can’t guarantee how you are going to feel. There is no formula. You can do as much as you can to try to get in the zone, but in the end, there is that ex-factor when the performance comes. There’s something magical that happens for you or it doesn’t. That doesn’t mean it is not magical for an audience member. So, it is a mystery. It is an absolute mystery…
OiP: That’s probably what makes it worth doing year after year.
MB: Exactly. You always think that next performance will be the best. You think, ‘I’m going to feel great, and I’m going to be in the zone.’
OiP: If you weren’t doing a music, what would you do?
MB: I’d go into journalism. I always thought I would be a good TV presenter. I’m not talking Carrie Ann here. I would like to be a journalist interviewing people.
OiP: In that case, what question would you ask yourself?
MB: That’s a good question. I would probably ask something really deep and philosophical and depressing like, ‘Have you reached your dreams and why not?’ Or something really depressing about unfulfilled expectations of a career.
OiP: Do you have any unfulfilled expectations?
MB: No, don’t open that can! [laughs] Like I said, when you start teaching you realize that you have a purpose in that you can use them for good and the next generation can get things that you didn’t get. You try and work for the next generation a bit more so that they can get opportunities that are really fantastic. That’s how I feel about it. That in itself is fulfilling, better even that what you might have had before.
OiP: How do the Australian orchestras fare compared to the rest of the world?
MB: They come out fantastic. I get amazing feedback from people who come here. When I did the Ring Cycle in Adelaide we got reviews in England and New York and really top newspapers and publications. We got fantastic reviews by fans of the orchestra. It is really fantastic the standards of the orchestras here. The attitude of some people at university needs to be worked on because Australians have this laidback attitude. I have some students who really need a kick up the bum. They don’t realize how difficult the profession is. The teaching thing probably has a long way to go, but once they get into orchestras it is a really good standard.
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WASO has an exciting lineup of performances, including Jazz Meets the Symphony as part of the City of Perth Winter Arts Festival on July 5-7 – www.waso.com.au has complete details.
