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BERITA BAHASA INDONESIA
TOK PISIN
By Ria Andriani
ABC Classic
Topic:Australian Composers
Nat Bartsch writes music inspired by motherhood and her late diagnoses of ADHD and autism. (Supplied: Nat Bartsch / Brett Scapin)
For generations, women have been made to choose between having a career or a family.
Many female composers such as Mozart's sister, Maria Anna (Nannerl), Clara Schumann and Alma Mahler were told they couldn't have both.
But women, including Australian music matriarchs Margaret Sutherland and Miriam Hyde, showed it could be done.
Despite their success, composers today like Nat Bartsch and Aristea Mellos still had to consider similar choices.
The difference is that now they have the support of partners, mentors and the wider society. Even then, it's not always easy to juggle both
Margaret Sutherland is remembered as the matriarch of Australian music. (ABC Archives)
Margaret Sutherland was trailblazing her way in the 1930s.
Having learnt the piano since she was a child, Sutherland studied composition in Melbourne and Europe, and was mentored by leading British composer Arnold Bax in 1923.
From 9am on Sunday May 11, ABC Classic is playing music for mums and mother-figures on Weekend Brunch with Martin Buzacott. Send your requests by SMS on 0437 236 777 or via the ABC listen app.
When Sutherland married in 1927, her husband didn't want her to compose, despite welcoming the income she brought into the household.
She kept composing anyway, advocating for the ABC to support her music.
Sutherland's career didn't really blossom until the couple separated and her children grew up.
Over her lifetime, Sutherland composed around 200 pieces of music. She is also remembered as a fierce champion for Australian artists.
In recent years interest in Sutherland's work has increased thanks to the work of musicians and academics in reviving her music.
Far from confining herself to her home, composer and pianist Miriam Hyde forged her career while raising her family in the 1950s.
A pianist, composer, lecturer, music examiner and mum, Hyde really nailed the art of juggling.
"[Mum] would practise during the day when the family was out so that in the evenings we could concentrate on our studies or do our own practice," Hyde's daughter, Christine Edwards, recounts.
To help with her children's school fees, Hyde taught students at home and marked hundreds of music theory papers.
Miriam Hyde raised two children while also composing, teaching and marking music exams. (Supplied: Christine Edwards.)
Hyde spent every spare minute she had copying her own compositions by hand for orchestras and anyone else who was interested in performing them.
When she died in 2005, Hyde left upwards of 150 scores, most of which were her hand-written manuscripts including 11 orchestral works.
Edwards is currently working on getting those scores published so that other musicians can perform her mother's music.
Pianist Nat Bartsch knows a thing or two about being a mum. One of her most well-loved albums, Forever And No Time At All, was based on her experience of motherhood.
Bartsch was diagnosed with autism at the age of 37 and ADHD a year later. By this point, Bartsch had won several music awards and experienced several burnouts.
After discovering her neurodivergence, Bartsch has been able to better understand her sensory needs and put support systems in place to fulfil and manage her daily life, including the inevitable juggling.
Voting is now open in the Classic 100: Piano. Tell us your favourites and we'll be counting down Australia's top 100 choices across June 7 and 8 on ABC Classic and the ABC listen app.
"It's one thing to focus intensely on completing a commission, but it's another thing to be able to clock off at 2:40 and go and pick up my son on time from school."
Bartsch has built support systems which include people who can help her complete daily tasks, especially while working on a new album.
Being a mother has changed Bartsch's relationship with work, for the better.
"I was working at such an intensive level, 12 hours a day, seven days a week because it's my special interest. And I get to call it my job," she says about her previous work habit.
Sydney-based composer Aristea Mellos studied composition almost 100 years after Sutherland began her composition journey, but she still faced the same dilemma: to have a career or a family.
It was one of Mellos's female teachers who told her that she could have both, provided she had "a partner who valued my work enough to give me time to write."
As a new mother navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, Mellos had to deal with "the unholy trifecta of sleep deprivation, physical exhaustion and loneliness."
To give Mellos time to compose, her husband took their child on long walks.
Her first album after becoming a mother, Preludes and Duets, was inspired by her own experiences, written in collaboration with Australian pianists Stephanie McCallum.
"The moments that define motherhood are worthy of being the subject of art," Mellos says.
While making the album, Mellos became a sandwich carer of both her elderly grandmother and her child.
"Rather than letting the situation prevent any creative work, I tried to let it feed and inspire it as much as possible," Mellos says.
Mellos has completed nine commissions since giving birth to her child, many written in collaboration with Australia's finest performers.
She says having a partner who supports her need to compose as well as collaborators who champion her work are the crucial ingredients to "balance a composition career with the love and loving obligations of family life."
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