The GP Theme by Simon Walker

To this day many people hear the Allegro from the Trumpet Concerto In E Flat by Joseph Haydn and think they are hearing the theme for the ABC TV series G.P.

However, the theme was instead an original work by Australian composer Simon Walker. My recollection is that the coincidence was once mentioned on the audience response programme Backchat and featured a quote from the composer to the effect that his brief had been for a piece that sounded something like the Haydn work.

In looking to re-hear the theme and check who had composed it, I was saddened to read that Simon Walker had died in 2010. This is reported as a blunt fact on the relevant Wikipedia page. After some more searching I was able to find the following links and information, which may therefore be of interest.

The Wikipedia page for Simon Walker

The IMDB entry for Simon Walker

My Friend Simon - a memoir from the producer who worked with Simon to ensure that several of his soundtracks were available on CD and his catalogue by composer (scroll down for those by Simon) - 1M1 catalog by composer

Interview with Simon Walker - a quotation of an interview with Simon about his career.

A YouTube posting that includes the theme as used in G.P.
G.P. ABC TV - G.P Intro and End Credits

An audience guide to concert etiquette

I certainly endorse the sentiments and tips in Benjamin Northey's recent posting for the MSO web site. See it at: Benjamin Northey's guide to concert etiquette

However, his perspective is from the stage, so here are my tips as a person who might be sitting next to you at a concert.

In short, these are:

• Use the gaps
• Be smart with swallowing
• Have cough lollies ready
• Take some water
• Get the free programme
• Be generous in bailing

Use the gaps

We all arrive at the concert with more than just our ears and sitting quiet for a while is not natural. So firstly I'd say DO use the gaps between parts to do things that make noise. This includes adjusting clothes, leafing through the programme, that last sentence of chatting with your friend, opening, rummaging around and closing bags. And yes, please DO cough, clear your throat, sneeze, blow your nose etc when the orchestra is NOT playing. True, some of these things none of us want to hear even then - but it's much better than while the music is being performed.

Believe it or not, you will have to be conscious about this. Even among those familiar with concerts, I frequently see people who spend the gap time applauding only to then realise that the next bit is starting when they were someone who actually needed to cough, get out a lolly, or somesuch.

Be smart with swallowing

We're humans not robots, we need to breathe, and your mouth and throat require you to swallow regularly. If you ignore this - and ironically if you get caught up in the music you will forget - then your body can make you do a catchup swallow that can turn into a cough. It's real - being tough won't help so you need to be clever. Not a lot, just a bit. You know your mouth and throat better than me, just do it as you need and as you find convenient.

Have cough lollies ready

Prepare by getting your cough lollies out of their plastic packaging before the performance and put them in a handy pocket, or in your hand folded in a small handkerchief. Just by knowing they're ready to hand you will be more relaxed and less likely to have a problem. These days I use two things - one always, one in need. The first is gum, which I chew slowly and quietly to keep my swallowing working. The other is a very strong type of mint, which being extra strong are good at suppressing both coughs and sniffles. My preferred ones have a maritime theme. This is not just about when you're unwell. Nobody's health is flawless and being in public means you might pick up a bug at any time, even during a concert.

Take some water

Alternatively a simple bottle of water can help deal with many situations. Depending on how your body works this may be an even better approach than my suggestions above. Do note that you'll need one that is quietly usable. Most are but a recent trend is for bottled water in shops to come in a very weak plastic that makes loud crinkle noises at the lightest touch.

Get the free programme

The most useful thing to seek here is what the structure of the concert is - how many works, what their lengths are, and when the interval is. Seeing the titles of the parts of a work is often good to check before it begins. Then set down or hold the programme in some way that it won't fall even if you get distracted. Yes, in every concert you will hear the sound of someone dropping the programme. The most annoying thing about programmes is the sound of someone fiddling with one all the way through. If you're a fidget then put it down so you can fidget quietly.

The types and availability of programmes is something that has changed in my audience member lifetime - they used to be expensive and often not helpful. Nowadays they are usually free and will tell you as much as you want to know. Note that it is sometimes not obvious where you get them. You may be handed them as you go to your seats but some venues just put them in piles in the foyeur.

p.s. I'll actually disagree with Benjamin a little here in that I think it can be good to let the music introduce itself to you rather than read about it first. However, it's a bit like choosing whether to read a book before seeing the film - it's both personal and either will variously work.

Don't obsess

For what it's worth, you'll never be perfect at all this. For that matter, there will be people at a concert whose bodies do not let them be as good as you. You are at a concert, not at home listening to a perfect recording. Do what you can, and then enjoy the astonishing humanity of hearing well trained hard working people play sequences of sounds created by another human, who may have lived centuries ago. The magic of this never fails to amaze me, even when I don't like a given piece.

Be generous in bailing

Alas, you do need to make the judgment of when your cold/sniffle is so bad that you just shouldn't be there at all. Being there and being unwell will be torturing yourself and those around you. Instead, think ahead a bit - maybe earlier on the day - and donate your ticket to a friend. Put the message out that there's a ticket for free. That's right - don't ask for payment! Having them fill in for you is a chance to turn your misfortune into someone else's joy. I'm confident that you will eventually get more back from doing this than it will ever cost you. The same will eventually happen to a friend in your network and having already donated you are likely to get a similar unsought boon in return. A tip - don't limit your callout by assuming who will be interested - this freebie may be someone else's introduction to an amazing aspect of life.

Addenda

p.s. two more things that I didn't want to clutter the list by including, but should be taken as read:

• Talking. If I've been too polite to be specific about talking during the concert - the very simple advice of course is to not do it at all ! You're not at home on the couch watching TV - you're in public, with us. A word or two in the gaps perhaps but otherwise wait until your outside.  
• Leaving. Once in a blue moon, none of the above will help and your only course of action may be to get out and recover yourself. Of course this covers other inevitable bodily needs too. Just be sensible, don't panic as there is no perfect trade-off between being quick and being quiet. We'll all understand - on another night it might be us.

Melbourne White Night 2014

Melbourne White Night 2014 successfully enjoyed and ticked off the To Do list.

It started with a Victorian Opera special performance in the Sofitel hotel, where they did extracts of Verdi and Puccini. A soprano,  a tenor and a pianist. In Ms L's absence I was accompanied by her friend BC. Afterwards we walked across the city grid heading to the City Baths.

On the way we saw queues for the regular Old Melbourne Jail experience and the White Night feature Purple Rain. Not being dark yet, this didn't look anything special. When we reached the Baths we found the queue was an hour long already. So we sauntered through the growing crowds, past one of the live band stages and into the Wheeler Centre where there was a live interactive story writing session in progress.

This involved an author on stage typing into a notebook computer with the screen replicated on a larger screen behind them. Plot cues were being taken from the audiences via small cards and from live interjections. When the writer was stuck they'd call out for suggestions, almost as if thinking out loud.

From the Wheeler Centre we launched ourselves onto Swanston St and the disturbing crush of people moving along it. In two places the crush became so bad that I really felt we were seriously at risk but we eventually squished our way through. The were a few places where small stages had been set up and some had live performers in action but the crowd depth was too hard to see or hear anything. Disappointingly this year there were no projections aimed at the Town Hall and in the end there was very little value from walking down Swanston St.

The payoff finally came from reaching and turning into Flinders St along Federation Square. Here there were large scale projections onto the buildings from one next to the cathedral up to the Forum theatre. The latter was once again majestic to behold.

From there I accompanied BC back to Bourke St where she caught her tram home.

I then made my way down to Birrarung Marr and the various light installations there. Two of these I could see from afar - one that looked like a conical tent and one made of intersecting searchlights. When I got closer I could see that the tent was really a mound, presumably of sand, onto which two or three projectors mapped static and dynamic patterns.

Now it was clear that the other one was inside Alexandra Gardens as were numerous other light installations. The major one I'd already spotted was a giant double cone of intersecting light beams mounted on a large elevated ring with ambient sounds playing. After criss-crossing, the beams made a circle of big spots in the clouds above.

Then, I went past the vast NGV facade, this year the projections on it was a series of edits of photos of people with tattoos. Magnified to gigantic proportions the tattoos return to being primarily pieces of art.

Next I spent some time relaxing in the main stalls area of Hamer Hall. Here was a roll-play piano on which a sequence of recordings of Rachmaninov playing his own works were being run through the machine. Quite a treat to hear such original performances, the style is distinctively different from current renderings. It was also quite curious to watch people unfamiliar with - well any part of the Hamer Hall space and its norms - meandering in and out. In that there was no human performer to be miffed or insulted by peoples behavior this was, in a way, a stroke of genius as a program for White Night.

After hearing a few piano works I found a place in Hamer Hall to relax and recharge my phone battery. Comparing notes with some fellow resters I heard that I'd missed some tree projections in Alexandra Park. Also, they offered me a spare ticket they had for a 3am theatre ghost tour in the Arts Centre.

To fill in the hour we all walked back to see the tree projections, which were amazing examples of images that only resolve as you get to the right angle.

Arriving back in the Arts Centre to find the tours running a little late, we waited near a remainder street piano, which a couple of people whiled some time by playing. One guy played an ambient version of November Rain.

The Arts Centre ghost tour was a very proficient affair. A backstage and on-to-the-stages tour combined with various bumps in the night. Was worth it just to stand on stage and look back at the seats I've sat in watching performances.

 Half of my (free) ticket donors called it a night but the other opted to come with me through to see the Baths and State Library. En route, we looked into several lanes where projections had been mounted. Now that there were only stragglers spilling out of the nightclubs, these lesser projections (compared to the giant multicolour extravaganzas elsewhere) now seemed banal.

There were bands playing in the Bourke St mall and in La Trobe St. Some of the street performers in Swanston St were still going. It isn't easy to label their act - trailer trash burlesque perhaps?

There was now no queue to enter the library. As with last year we were directed straight to the reading dome. This time, while there was ambient sound, the main activity was light projection of patterns that filled the entire dome ceiling and walls. The image on the ceiling was a pulsing coiled up mass of tissue that looked like a brain. Around the walls were stands of double helix DNA that twisted and turned yet managed to always fit in the walled gaps between bookshelves. On two sides were printed a number of deaths caused in 1914 and 2014, the proportion of people infected and the usual symptoms - for each organism displayed in sequence was a disease agent. Disease information is fascinating but became a bit much so it was soon time to move on.

Inside the baths was synchronised swimming and we were in time for the last run. It was the first time I'd been in the baths building - I only go past it every day. As the run we'd come in midway ended several knob-heads dangerously leapt into the pool from the upper surround balcony. Security staff quickly contained and detained them. A final round of applause for the swimmers and this feature was all over after ten hours. I said goodbye to my walking companion who needed to get back to Flinders St station.

As it was 5am by then I headed back to the Wheeler Centre where The Book of the Night was still under way. It was much quieter and calmer and the new writers quietly typed away, asking the semi-napping audience for plot tips. I had picked up a coffee from the 24 hour Pie Face around the corner. As each writer finished their hour long stint they have a 5-minute handover summary to the next. This process was almost as bizarre as the conglomerate story itself. I stayed for last writing session and then, it was all over. At 7am, a short "Thanks for coming" from the Emerging Writers Festival hand and a promise that the full story would be published after a good sleep.

I staggered sleepily out into the morning and walked up to Carlton for a café breakfast. Bought the Sunday paper from the newsagent who said that yes I looked like I'd been up all night. Sent an SMS, set an alarm and crashed into bed.

Paris to Dubai

Final morning in Paris, we packed ready for flying then went out for a wander to pass the time. We went to a part of the Marais area with lots of food shops - breads, meats, cheeses, sweets etc. Then we wandered down to the quite odd Forum des Halles shopping centre, which as well being largely underground is currently a labyrinth of rebuilding. Apparently there is a large number of shops in there somewhere. Then it was back to the apartment to face the combination of logic puzzle and strain test that would be getting our luggage back down a very small spiral staircase. We managed it, but I badly strained a tendon in one hand. Then the boring bits of travel: taxi to airport, long flight to Dubai. How to pass a six hour flight: step 1, listen to a four hour opera (Cecilia Bartoli in Norma by Bellini) while eye-grazing four other passengers screens showing movies I'll never watch myself; step 2, watch a 2 hour Japanese action rom-com movie (Library Wars, which yes, is about militant librarians defending their books, and every library should have a copy). Take one's own noise isolation/cancellation earpieces with plane socket adapter. On arrival in Dubai we took a taxi to the apartment where our gracious host had waited up for us (2am local time). By then jetlagged and glad to have no set times for the morrow, we crashed into bed.

Paris Day 5 Pompidou & Louvre

We walked to the Pompidou Centre and after going to the top level discovered that the exhibits there are not covered by the Paris museum pass. This was not an issue really as we were there to see their main collection anyway, just once again signage in French galleries is less than clear. The free galleries are two floors of modern art - from 1905 onwards. I liked that it's all in chronological order - as it meant I could mentally doze off once we got to the abstract art of the 1940s. Once again this was a case where for quite a few artworks that I've known for a long time I was finally seeing them first hand. The Pompidou clearly rotates their collection a lot, with only a few rooms devoted to surrealism the display had too few of my favorite artists to be believable. For example there wasn't a single painting by Yves Tanguay that I would say showed his real quality (visions of an infinite field). I guess the payoff is that locals will over time get to see more of it - and I can't begrudge them for doing that. We had lunch at the nearby Cafe Beaubourg. A curiosity was that the waiters were dressed very formally but the waitresses not. From there we went back to the apartment for a rest before our next sally. And fittingly, for the finale gallery-wise we spent the late afternoon and evening at the Musee du Louvre. We took the subway to be foot-ready for the gallery. Or museum passes let us bypass the queue of people getting tickets. It is impossible to do it all of course, so we settled for a full sweep through their Egyptian holdings and then took stabs at several other areas. I was pleased to get some surprises as well as see some familiar works being either mobbed or ignored by the throng. Also, it was as I had hoped, a chance to see art and artists that we don't get to know about in our home galleries. Alas there are too many of these and time is too short to pause in the gallery to make notes. From memory, two unfamiliar artists that were well represented with interesting works were Derain and Maillot. We also saw a lot more sculptural works by Degas than I knew existed. Of course, like the Hermitage in St Petersburg, this is a former palace, so in many spaces there is as much to marvel at in looking up and around at the walls and ceilings as there is at the art thus framed. In one particular long room, which now holds many portraits of artists, the degree of magnificence makes it hard to understand what King Louix XIV thought was so deficient about this palace that he had to build Versailles. Other areas of the Louvre are inherently modern and practical but these don't seem to clash. The covered inner courtyards that are now sculpture galleries had a relaxing open, spacious feeling. Depending where you go there are either voids or crushes of people. The oddest of these is of course at the Mona Lisa. It was probably more civilised than I was expecting but still had a crush of people about 8 persons thick around the third semi-circular barrier that guards it. Staff were opening the rope barrier to let people out (from the front in effect) so they wouldn't have to work their way back through the crush. It was like a paparazzi pack, all cameras, phones and tablets raised in the air rather than a bunch of people using their own eyes to view this famous painting directly. Do they not get the irony of seeing it through a device despite getting so close? I held back at a distance, luckily it's placed high enough that I could see it directly from a few paces behind the crush. I've seen enough detail explorations of it anyway. I know what I think of art - I only get confused about what most people think about it. At least no-one was being able to do the "here I am in front of the Mona Lisa" photos. It would be interesting to know which paintings get all the attention. In a large room of paintings by David, it was Napoleon crowning Josephine that had a crowd. Nearby my interest was caught by a painting of his that is referenced in a series of Magritte works. I think we were running out of puff just before they started announcing that closing time was approaching. We opted to walk back home through a pleasant Paris evening.

Paris Day 4 Notre Dame

We walked to Notre Dame cathedral, going first into their new Crypt archaeological display. This reminded me a bit of the one we saw at Bath in England. That is, an example of a place finding and showing its roots as a Roman settlement - all from fragments of stones reworked and reused over the centuries. Quite a jigsaw puzzle. Then we went into the cathedral itself. While it looks like a mess of flying buttresses on the outside, inside it is simply spacious. The upper vaults are so high that the stained glass designs there are lost in the distance. In other respects it's quite modest, with very few noble entombments cluttering the side chapels. We walked up to the Musee d'Orsay and went straight to level 5 for lunch. Going through the galleries we played spot the familiar painting - not just because some are mega-famous but because we saw them when they were loaned to the NGA in Canberra a few years ago. I was keen to check out some artists whose work I have liked but seen little of. For two of these - Moreau and Courbet seeing more was disappointing. Oh well. On the other hand, some of the Bouguereau was interestingly different to the ones that make it into printed annual calendars. Oh, they also had lots of Van Gogh, Matisse, Gauguin, Manet, Renoir etc that people were crowding around. We also saw so many Rodin sculptures there it seemed superfluous to go out to the Rodin museum so we decided to just stay at the d'Orsay a bit longer before taking the Metro back to the apartment. For the evening we went back to Sainte Chapelle for a violin+harpsichord concert. First time I've heard Bach and Vivaldi played in a building older than the music! Quite something to watch the outside daylight fading through the high walls of stained glass. Performance was itself stunning - violinist Paul Rouger soaring and crunching through a chaconne by Vitali with virtuoso form. We felt compelled to buy the CD of him performing it, and were embarrassed to be a couple of Euros short of the set price. He magnanimously waived the difference as no issue.

Paris Day 3 Walk about

We started the day by walking down to The Conciergerie. This building has a long history being an early palace but later became an infamous prison. As a tourist feature the focus is on the first French revolution and its prisoner Marie Antoinette. For a now clean and neat place it was still a grim visit. Adjacent buildings are still part of the justice system. Inside the walls of one of these is Sainte Chapelle, a very early yet ornate gothic church. Hence to reach it we had to go through a police run security scanner just as if we were visiting the courts. For an older design it had a decayed elegance not seen in the later styles. There were adverts for concerts during the weeks, which we noted. Then we walked along the Left Bank, going past the booksellers who use large green folding storage boxes perched on the river edging. We crossed the river and went into the Jardin du Carrousel (gardens). Next was the Musee National de L'Orangerie, famous largely as the place where there are two oval rooms of Monet murals. Next we crossed the Place de la Concorde, now a simple space in the middle of a roundabout but this was where thousands were guillotined during the turmoil of the revolution. Then we walked up the Champes Elysee. At first this is just an extension of the gardens with seats and small kiosks selling foods and drinks. Then abruptly it becomes a modern strip of upmarket brand labels and remains so all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. At the Arc, while Lee took the lift to the top I was treated to a brief French military dedication at the eternal flame (the Arc has France's tomb of the unknown soldier). We decided to walk from the Arc to the Eiffel Tower, which was simple once we'd identified the right road. Nearer the tower was unsurprisingly busy with tourists. We took some photos and walked back over the river to the Trocadero, which is clearly an excellent shot to take photos including the tower. We did the whole day on foot - perhaps to get the queueing mode out of our legs - but that was enough so we took a Metro ride home.