Running in stilettos with a double bass
Subtitle: memoir of a young musician
By: Jan Mulcahy
Publisher: Boolarong Press
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Moorooka, Qld
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9781925236644
Subjects: Double bassists; Biography; Women musicians
Description: Being the first woman to play the double bass continuously with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was a special achievement. I was supported as a team member performing with seven other bass players, and it gave me an experience of the enormous creative power that transforms a humble human being into something magnificent, larger than self, that endures for ever. Love, marriage and death are usually experienced over many years. When they are experienced within the time frame of less than a month the shock causes repercussions that reverberate for a lifetime. So there are strong themes in my memoir - wartime rural poverty, mental illness, child sexual abuse, domestic violence and untimely death. However the author believes that families who share stories and play music together and play sport or perform for each other in some sense, have a richer experience of life and are mentally and emotionally healthier and happier than those who do not.