00:00:00
S1: Today on talking vision, it is a real pleasure to speak to Dorothy Hamilton. Dorothy has been a music teacher for many years, was one of the co-founders of Braille Music for National Braille Music Camp, and has worked at Vision Australia for many years and is actually a recipient of a Vision Australia award. Dorothy, it's wonderful to chat to you today.
00:00:21
S2: Thank you. Very nice to talk to you, two kids and to catch up after so many years.
00:00:29
S1: I know it has been so many years. We're going to talk about this throughout the interview, but among Dorothy's many achievements is that she actually meant she actually taught me a couple of times and instilled some braille music knowledge into my head. So you know that and it was a family unwilling head, so I pulled out of their achievements. So Dorothy, where did you tell me about your love of music? Where did that stem from?
00:00:56
S2: Well, my mother has told me that as a baby, if I if there was any music on, I would turn my head toward it. And then I remember her also telling me that at the age of 14 months at the local show, I could sing the first three notes, not the words, but just the tune of perhaps the words. I don't know. But anyway, there was a song called The Prisoner's Song, and people used to sing it and I could sing it 14 months. The first three notes which be. Then after that, at the age of six I came to the vibey school is a board from rainbow, and it was a border there for nine years. And now, interestingly enough, every child had to learn the piano. Whether you wanted to or not, that was it was not an option. And of course, that meant everybody had to practice at least half an hour a day and there were about 40 children there. So the piano was never silent. You can just imagine what that was like. We had several pianos so so that coped with that situation. Because of that, I really heard a lot of music, lots of piano pieces, and there was one boy in particular, Arthur Mackay, who was an extremely good pianist. And I used to stand outside the door of where he was practicing just to listen to what he was playing. And I was inspired very much, and I will have to learn how to play that. I've got to play that one day. Well, we had excellent blind music teachers and that inspired me and encouraged me in my love and wish to teach. But I only wanted to teach sighted children. I didn't want to be bothered. Teaching blind children was only sighted children I thought I wanted to do. So eventually, after I did sixth grade piano Sir Bernard Hines, who was the director of the Melbourne University Conservatorium. Was my examiner, and he gave me such a good report and and encouraging report encouraged me and suggesting that I should continue my studies and piano studies. And he I tied that idea with a sighted girl for the highest marks in the state. So from there, the superintendent from the vibey stay in hedger said. We've got to encourage you to go as far as you possibly can. So that's when it started. So from there on, I had learned from a was first of all, the teachers at the VIP, whom I said were blind teachers were Dave Palmer, George Finley and Hugh Jeffery. And they were so inspirational to me and really showed me what I could do if I really wanted to. So I proceeded to go to the gym, to Melbourne University Conservatorium. And it was the three years I did single study which meant I learned from a teacher from the at the Conservatorium. They know after having matriculated or what you would say today, Visa had obtained my VCA. I studied my diploma course, which took three years, and then I finished up with doing two more years to obtain my Bachelor of Music and therefore then became the first blind woman in the southern hemisphere to get that degree. Now, my aim was I wanted to teach in a sighted school. That's all I wanted to do. However, that wasn't an easy job to find a school that would even take me. The Education Department certainly wouldn't. So I tried in many private schools that before all of that, Mr Hedger had offered me the position after having graduated. He offered me a position to teach the sighted children of any blind employee so that I thought, Well, that's a great idea. Or at least I'll get some experience. So I did that for three years, but in the meantime was also looking for opportunity to get into a school. Sometimes the I go for an interview and the headmaster would be pleased to have me, but the music mistress wouldn't or the other way round. However, at last, our great teacher, George Finley, said to me one day, Look, we've never tried Corowa, which is Church of England Girls Grammar School here in Glen Iris. So he said, I'll speak to the headmistress. So he spoke to the headmistress and she said. I'd love to be involved in all this, he said. She said I've got a vacancy for six months in that position. So I went in the view and she gave me the position for six months. It was teaching piano and class music class work and which was, of course, singing and talking about music and so forth, and playing for assemblies and playing for the church services on the pipe organ. And after the six months, she said to me, now the girl that you are replacing doesn't want to come back till the end of the year. So she gave me that position till the end of the year. And then she had offered the position back to the original girl. And she said, but she was worried that I she didn't want to let me go, she said. So I said, Well, I'll teach you as much piano as who would like me to teach. So she said, All right, but you'll miss out on your pay or go down because you won't be here Wednesdays. So I said, Well, I'll see if I can find anything else to do. And just as I was walking out the door to find something else in the school of Derby OBE, she rang me and said the other girl didn't want to come back and would I take the position? So I did, and I was there for five years teaching piano theory recorder, taping the junior choir and music classes. So that was my introduced introduction to being able to teach sighted children in a sighted school, and that's all I wanted to do. And I after that, when I finished at Corowa, when I married in 1957, I didn't do any teaching really worthwhile until my youngest daughter went to school. And then I started a private music teaching practice, and I had about that were I. There were a few blind children came along, but they were mainly sighted children and adults, and I would have had to practice sometimes of about 30 to 40 students a week, which was a mighty job.
00:08:35
S1: So as well as being a music teacher, you also strike me as very much a music lover. So do you have a favorite piece of music? The instrumental coral is there?
00:08:47
S2: Well, to find out, I thought about that and I find it very difficult to name any piece. But what I could say is because I'm a classically trained person and my favorite composers, Bach and Mozart. Not to say I don't like all the others, but I do really like those two composers. And the work that they've written,
00:09:11
S1: if I hear you, I find it very hard to pick a favorite, favorite music as well as a classical music lover. I mean, you know, there's boxes the there's Vaughan Williams, this
00:09:24
S2: Schumann and Schubert and Beethoven.
00:09:27
S1: Yes, many, so many beautiful things. And we sung a lot of beautiful choral music at the brown music camp. I was there for four years, and that's where I where I learned about how beautiful classical music would be. I was a bit of a bit of a bittersweet teenager, but I learned all about classical music and you actually taught me in my first year. So I mean, tell me about your music. How did you how did you go about setting that up?
00:09:54
S2: That's a very interesting story. Actually, in the very, very early eighties, we blind musicians and I might add that here in Melbourne, from the available school they came, they became about 10 bachelors of music that went through the Melbourne University Conservatorium. And I think that is really amazing and needs really documenting. It was because of all the influence we had with those blind teachers. Yes, now. So one day we thought. Well, let's all get together and make music. Let's have a weekend of making music, so we did we we stayed at the Burwood school when the children were at on holidays for a weekend and we had lots of fun, made lots of music, a lot of things and we decided could do this. We never really saw it from real. Perhaps we should do that. So we did. And oh dear we were. We weren't too good, I can tell you. But we had a little cry as we battled on. We thought we're not too bad by the time we finished, but we thought we did that for about two years. And then we thought, Look, we can't keep this, this wonderful. This is really wonderful. We can't keep this to ourselves. We must. Involves the children and pass it on to them. So in 1994, there was a conflict as teachers of the blind in Adelaide, and so we said, were we going to go there too? And we'll show them what music can do for blind children because perhaps they don't even know because integration just started. And we said now that that integration coming into it, the children will be into closer to other schools. We must. What can we do? So Ian Cooper and Roma said, Let's have a camp here at Princeton. This was a French. It was a school, is a school up in New South Wales, in Mittagong. And I said, Well, we'll be able to get you'd have holes in the French. So in 19, so we proceeded to work on that already. And in 1996, we started with the first camp. And from there on, it's gone from every year right up to now. I think the last two years, it hasn't come because of the COVID, but right after then, every year we've met and it's grown and grown and grown from that list that yes. So it's a very interesting beginning, I think.
00:12:46
S1: Absolutely. And from there, I mean, I think up to a point, you've got about 60 kids coming in. My first year, that was two thousand and seven.
00:12:54
S2: Oh, what? And I can remember, we used to have a little church service on the Sunday, and we had to practice something to of choral work and we sang G42 of Man's Desiring. Oh God, so loved to learn that.
00:13:15
S1: I can understand because a lot of people had to meet with the braille music with you at our Abbey Ivy and a little bit with my piano teacher back home. But I didn't know a lot about braille music. But you know the idea that no sight read and learn six choral pieces was just amazing and did some wonderful at the end, which
00:13:35
S2: I know well, because I'll say our first great performance was the issue of man's desiring of this church service and
00:13:45
S1: box. This is what I, you know, I think lots of people came out, came out of our music camp with different things. I learned a little bit about brown music, especially from you. You taught me a lot about music, and I was very competitive with the other boy who was of the same blue two person class. I liked beating him because he never stopped talking. But, you know, aside from ground music, what I what I really think what a lot of people got was classical music and an appreciation of classical music. So I think that's real music's done. Wonderful things. But you, you know, you didn't just inspire people at music camp. You also did at Vibe and Vision Australia, and now you're getting an award this year. How does that feel?
00:14:36
S2: Well, I feel very, very honoured, and I was really quite surprised because I'm sure there were so many other people who were nominated for it and to have been the one to be chosen. I really am. It was. It was a real honour. And I thank them for it.
00:14:57
S1: Well, I think we've I think, you know, I think we've had the honor as as blind children of being taught by you, my my colleagues, them who's doing. The panel says they have experience as well involving eBay and and you know, we you know, you taught so many students over the years and inspired so many people to learn music. You're a very worthy award recipient. And it's just been wonderful chatting to you today and hearing the story. Thank you so much, Dorothy.
00:15:25
S2: I haven't mentioned the fact that in 1977, George Finley had up until then had been transcribing music for her for many, many years. And he always used to say, You know, when I give up. You're the one that needs to take over. You're the right person. So he said that I'm not ready yet. However, Nancy said 1977 he became quite ill, and he he asked the authorities what they were going to do because he and he had months to live and they didn't make up their mind what they were going to do. So he made up their mind for them, and they trained me for six weeks, two hours, twice a week. And my friend Gwenda, who was a former student of mine to read to me. And he said, Now we've done that, we'll send them the bill. They paid the bill and I've been there ever since and since the 8th of August 1977.
00:16:30
S1: Well, after all those years at Arbib and regional Australia, it's transcribing and teaching music, it's wonderful to see you receive this award. It's a fantastic achievement among with all your other achievements, and it's been fantastic chatting to you today, Dorothy. Thank you so much for being here.
00:16:47
S2: Thank you, Tess.
S1: Today on talking vision, it is a real pleasure to speak to Dorothy Hamilton. Dorothy has been a music teacher for many years, was one of the co-founders of Braille Music for National Braille Music Camp, and has worked at Vision Australia for many years and is actually a recipient of a Vision Australia award. Dorothy, it's wonderful to chat to you today.
00:00:21
S2: Thank you. Very nice to talk to you, two kids and to catch up after so many years.
00:00:29
S1: I know it has been so many years. We're going to talk about this throughout the interview, but among Dorothy's many achievements is that she actually meant she actually taught me a couple of times and instilled some braille music knowledge into my head. So you know that and it was a family unwilling head, so I pulled out of their achievements. So Dorothy, where did you tell me about your love of music? Where did that stem from?
00:00:56
S2: Well, my mother has told me that as a baby, if I if there was any music on, I would turn my head toward it. And then I remember her also telling me that at the age of 14 months at the local show, I could sing the first three notes, not the words, but just the tune of perhaps the words. I don't know. But anyway, there was a song called The Prisoner's Song, and people used to sing it and I could sing it 14 months. The first three notes which be. Then after that, at the age of six I came to the vibey school is a board from rainbow, and it was a border there for nine years. And now, interestingly enough, every child had to learn the piano. Whether you wanted to or not, that was it was not an option. And of course, that meant everybody had to practice at least half an hour a day and there were about 40 children there. So the piano was never silent. You can just imagine what that was like. We had several pianos so so that coped with that situation. Because of that, I really heard a lot of music, lots of piano pieces, and there was one boy in particular, Arthur Mackay, who was an extremely good pianist. And I used to stand outside the door of where he was practicing just to listen to what he was playing. And I was inspired very much, and I will have to learn how to play that. I've got to play that one day. Well, we had excellent blind music teachers and that inspired me and encouraged me in my love and wish to teach. But I only wanted to teach sighted children. I didn't want to be bothered. Teaching blind children was only sighted children I thought I wanted to do. So eventually, after I did sixth grade piano Sir Bernard Hines, who was the director of the Melbourne University Conservatorium. Was my examiner, and he gave me such a good report and and encouraging report encouraged me and suggesting that I should continue my studies and piano studies. And he I tied that idea with a sighted girl for the highest marks in the state. So from there, the superintendent from the vibey stay in hedger said. We've got to encourage you to go as far as you possibly can. So that's when it started. So from there on, I had learned from a was first of all, the teachers at the VIP, whom I said were blind teachers were Dave Palmer, George Finley and Hugh Jeffery. And they were so inspirational to me and really showed me what I could do if I really wanted to. So I proceeded to go to the gym, to Melbourne University Conservatorium. And it was the three years I did single study which meant I learned from a teacher from the at the Conservatorium. They know after having matriculated or what you would say today, Visa had obtained my VCA. I studied my diploma course, which took three years, and then I finished up with doing two more years to obtain my Bachelor of Music and therefore then became the first blind woman in the southern hemisphere to get that degree. Now, my aim was I wanted to teach in a sighted school. That's all I wanted to do. However, that wasn't an easy job to find a school that would even take me. The Education Department certainly wouldn't. So I tried in many private schools that before all of that, Mr Hedger had offered me the position after having graduated. He offered me a position to teach the sighted children of any blind employee so that I thought, Well, that's a great idea. Or at least I'll get some experience. So I did that for three years, but in the meantime was also looking for opportunity to get into a school. Sometimes the I go for an interview and the headmaster would be pleased to have me, but the music mistress wouldn't or the other way round. However, at last, our great teacher, George Finley, said to me one day, Look, we've never tried Corowa, which is Church of England Girls Grammar School here in Glen Iris. So he said, I'll speak to the headmistress. So he spoke to the headmistress and she said. I'd love to be involved in all this, he said. She said I've got a vacancy for six months in that position. So I went in the view and she gave me the position for six months. It was teaching piano and class music class work and which was, of course, singing and talking about music and so forth, and playing for assemblies and playing for the church services on the pipe organ. And after the six months, she said to me, now the girl that you are replacing doesn't want to come back till the end of the year. So she gave me that position till the end of the year. And then she had offered the position back to the original girl. And she said, but she was worried that I she didn't want to let me go, she said. So I said, Well, I'll teach you as much piano as who would like me to teach. So she said, All right, but you'll miss out on your pay or go down because you won't be here Wednesdays. So I said, Well, I'll see if I can find anything else to do. And just as I was walking out the door to find something else in the school of Derby OBE, she rang me and said the other girl didn't want to come back and would I take the position? So I did, and I was there for five years teaching piano theory recorder, taping the junior choir and music classes. So that was my introduced introduction to being able to teach sighted children in a sighted school, and that's all I wanted to do. And I after that, when I finished at Corowa, when I married in 1957, I didn't do any teaching really worthwhile until my youngest daughter went to school. And then I started a private music teaching practice, and I had about that were I. There were a few blind children came along, but they were mainly sighted children and adults, and I would have had to practice sometimes of about 30 to 40 students a week, which was a mighty job.
00:08:35
S1: So as well as being a music teacher, you also strike me as very much a music lover. So do you have a favorite piece of music? The instrumental coral is there?
00:08:47
S2: Well, to find out, I thought about that and I find it very difficult to name any piece. But what I could say is because I'm a classically trained person and my favorite composers, Bach and Mozart. Not to say I don't like all the others, but I do really like those two composers. And the work that they've written,
00:09:11
S1: if I hear you, I find it very hard to pick a favorite, favorite music as well as a classical music lover. I mean, you know, there's boxes the there's Vaughan Williams, this
00:09:24
S2: Schumann and Schubert and Beethoven.
00:09:27
S1: Yes, many, so many beautiful things. And we sung a lot of beautiful choral music at the brown music camp. I was there for four years, and that's where I where I learned about how beautiful classical music would be. I was a bit of a bit of a bittersweet teenager, but I learned all about classical music and you actually taught me in my first year. So I mean, tell me about your music. How did you how did you go about setting that up?
00:09:54
S2: That's a very interesting story. Actually, in the very, very early eighties, we blind musicians and I might add that here in Melbourne, from the available school they came, they became about 10 bachelors of music that went through the Melbourne University Conservatorium. And I think that is really amazing and needs really documenting. It was because of all the influence we had with those blind teachers. Yes, now. So one day we thought. Well, let's all get together and make music. Let's have a weekend of making music, so we did we we stayed at the Burwood school when the children were at on holidays for a weekend and we had lots of fun, made lots of music, a lot of things and we decided could do this. We never really saw it from real. Perhaps we should do that. So we did. And oh dear we were. We weren't too good, I can tell you. But we had a little cry as we battled on. We thought we're not too bad by the time we finished, but we thought we did that for about two years. And then we thought, Look, we can't keep this, this wonderful. This is really wonderful. We can't keep this to ourselves. We must. Involves the children and pass it on to them. So in 1994, there was a conflict as teachers of the blind in Adelaide, and so we said, were we going to go there too? And we'll show them what music can do for blind children because perhaps they don't even know because integration just started. And we said now that that integration coming into it, the children will be into closer to other schools. We must. What can we do? So Ian Cooper and Roma said, Let's have a camp here at Princeton. This was a French. It was a school, is a school up in New South Wales, in Mittagong. And I said, Well, we'll be able to get you'd have holes in the French. So in 19, so we proceeded to work on that already. And in 1996, we started with the first camp. And from there on, it's gone from every year right up to now. I think the last two years, it hasn't come because of the COVID, but right after then, every year we've met and it's grown and grown and grown from that list that yes. So it's a very interesting beginning, I think.
00:12:46
S1: Absolutely. And from there, I mean, I think up to a point, you've got about 60 kids coming in. My first year, that was two thousand and seven.
00:12:54
S2: Oh, what? And I can remember, we used to have a little church service on the Sunday, and we had to practice something to of choral work and we sang G42 of Man's Desiring. Oh God, so loved to learn that.
00:13:15
S1: I can understand because a lot of people had to meet with the braille music with you at our Abbey Ivy and a little bit with my piano teacher back home. But I didn't know a lot about braille music. But you know the idea that no sight read and learn six choral pieces was just amazing and did some wonderful at the end, which
00:13:35
S2: I know well, because I'll say our first great performance was the issue of man's desiring of this church service and
00:13:45
S1: box. This is what I, you know, I think lots of people came out, came out of our music camp with different things. I learned a little bit about brown music, especially from you. You taught me a lot about music, and I was very competitive with the other boy who was of the same blue two person class. I liked beating him because he never stopped talking. But, you know, aside from ground music, what I what I really think what a lot of people got was classical music and an appreciation of classical music. So I think that's real music's done. Wonderful things. But you, you know, you didn't just inspire people at music camp. You also did at Vibe and Vision Australia, and now you're getting an award this year. How does that feel?
00:14:36
S2: Well, I feel very, very honoured, and I was really quite surprised because I'm sure there were so many other people who were nominated for it and to have been the one to be chosen. I really am. It was. It was a real honour. And I thank them for it.
00:14:57
S1: Well, I think we've I think, you know, I think we've had the honor as as blind children of being taught by you, my my colleagues, them who's doing. The panel says they have experience as well involving eBay and and you know, we you know, you taught so many students over the years and inspired so many people to learn music. You're a very worthy award recipient. And it's just been wonderful chatting to you today and hearing the story. Thank you so much, Dorothy.
00:15:25
S2: I haven't mentioned the fact that in 1977, George Finley had up until then had been transcribing music for her for many, many years. And he always used to say, You know, when I give up. You're the one that needs to take over. You're the right person. So he said that I'm not ready yet. However, Nancy said 1977 he became quite ill, and he he asked the authorities what they were going to do because he and he had months to live and they didn't make up their mind what they were going to do. So he made up their mind for them, and they trained me for six weeks, two hours, twice a week. And my friend Gwenda, who was a former student of mine to read to me. And he said, Now we've done that, we'll send them the bill. They paid the bill and I've been there ever since and since the 8th of August 1977.
00:16:30
S1: Well, after all those years at Arbib and regional Australia, it's transcribing and teaching music, it's wonderful to see you receive this award. It's a fantastic achievement among with all your other achievements, and it's been fantastic chatting to you today, Dorothy. Thank you so much for being here.
00:16:47
S2: Thank you, Tess.
