BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE/EMMA SULLIVAN
This month, Women in Bass will shine in the Melbourne Girls Grammar School.
Launched by Emma Sullivan (not too long after International Women’s Day), Women in Bass will see female-identifying double bassists from Australia and New Zealand unite in a series of solo and group performances.
Ahead of the event, Emma asks some of the participants in her project: ‘Why did you want to be involved in women in bass?’
Here’s what they had to say.
Lisa Maree Dowling (Queensland)
My main reason for wanting to participate in the Women in Bass day was a deep desire to reconnect with the bass community in Australia after living overseas for my entire adult life. And, as Emma is posting performer profiles as the event is drawing closer, I can see that I’m just one of many who has had long careers overseas who has recently returned home. This is very exciting to see, and it’s extremely important for the next generation of female musicians to come together and hear our stories; to share in our music making and to know that there are many ways of playing the bass, and many ways of enjoying a career in music — and that they are all equally valid.
It sends a powerful message that thriving in the music industry is about collaboration, support, and friendship. And I think having a space just for us ladies to communicate that is necessary to allow for a free-flowing exchange of ideas and experiences that are unique to us.
Allara Briggs Pattison (Victoria)
As a lady bassist, I have had the unique pleasure of working with other women in bass in a small ensemble […] From witnessing Esperanza Spaulding perform to teaching emerging female students, my experiences of women and bass are extraordinary, and this is why I want to be involved with the Women in Bass day this Sunday.
Amelia Cherry (Queensland)
When my teacher first told me about the Women in Bass day, I was so excited and immediately jumped at the opportunity to celebrate other female instrumentalists: Emma’s initiative to create a concert that celebrates women from Australia and New Zealand who are crushing it in the bass world, I knew I couldn’t miss it!
As a student, it will be an inspiring experience for to work alongside the women that inspired me from the beginning. I want to show my appreciation to these women for inspiring me to play the double bass and that girls can do anything. Yeah, the girls! Yeah, the bass girls!
Victoria Jones (New Zealand)
As a player who is at the tail-end of her career as a professional bassist, I have never been given this opportunity to spend a bit of time with a significant number of other women who have chosen to follow the same career path as me.
When I was studying bass (in NZ, and in the United States and Germany), many years ago, the vast majority of bass students around me were men, and the men were generally the players who got the jobs.
In my 34 years as a bassist working for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, I was the only woman appointed as a permanent player throughout that time; although women (including Emma Sullivan!) were hired as casual/contract players occasionally.
I am hopeful that things are changing.
Another reason I want to come to Women in Bass is to hear my friend Phoebe Russell. We met at Gary Karr’s Karr Kamp in Canada, and I’m so happy to see that Phoebe’s great talent is being recognised. I’m also really looking forward to hearing lots of other great bass girls and women.
Sisters are doin’ for themselves – cos if we don’t, who will?
